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Creating a Family-Oriented New Year’s Eve Party

December 12, 2009 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
2010confettiball

2010confettiballIt’s New Years Eve and everyone is ready to celebrate. If you have kids, you probably hire a sitter so that you can attend a party. This year, help yourself and your friends with a family party where everyone can have fun including the kids. After all, ringing in the New Year with your entire family can be just as, if not more, fun than without them.

Planning is at the top of the list when it comes to a party. This party will be family-oriented so that adults and kids can both have a good time. That probably means no alcohol except the celebratory glass of champagne at midnight. Having fun doesn’t mean that alcoholic drinks have to be involved, not at your big bash anyway. For kids, try some sparkling cider or grape juice so they can join in the toast at midnight as well.

The Invitations

These need to go out as early as possible so that everyone can plan. Even before Christmas, folks are talking about how they will celebrate the New Year. One of the best things about a family-oriented party is that no one has to find a babysitter or stay at home.

With that in mind, invite your close friends and their families. Remember this could mean a large crowd. Plan ahead so your home can hold a large number of people. Make sure your invitations are from the entire family.

Setting Up

Arrange your party so that the adults and the children each have their own space. Two rooms should be fine but remember children don’t really care much how it looks. They just like to know they have their own area to enjoy their night in.

You can set them up in the garage, the den or the family room. Any activities that you have planned for them will take place here. Include sleeping bags and pillows in case someone crashes before the ball-dropping hour.

The centrally located space can be for the adults. You can set up for party games, socializing and the food area here.

The Decorations

How you decorate will depend on you and your guests. The kid’s area will make more of an impact with a great decorating design going on. For the adults, decorating with party favors gives you something to share with everyone when it’s time to go.

Having a party with adults and children together can be a lot of fun and you can prove that this year by hosting a family-oriented party of your own. Give the babysitters a night off for once so they can enjoy a family-oriented party too.

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Inexpensive Ideas for a Halloween Party

September 22, 2009 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
orangebatshappyhalloween

glowdecorationsHalloween is such a fun time. From the costumes, to the pumpkins and trick or treating Halloween can be scary. Having a Halloween party doesn’t have to be the scariest part. There are many way to keep the party fun yet inexpensive.

Start with the invitations. There are some inexpensive invitations that can be downloaded from the Internet. The cost only includes the price of the paper and ink necessary to print them off. They come in all colors and themes to fit any Halloween party. Be sure to deliver your invitations early enough for everyone to plan on attending.

Decorations can make or break your party but they don’t have to be expensive. Carve a few pumpkins for the kids and use them to brighten the walkway. Let the kids create ghosts and goblins from empty containers or boxes and cover them with pieces of cloth or construction paper. Add a few cobwebs and spiders to the decorations. These can be found at a very reasonable price at many of the Dollar stores. Include homemade bats and those scary green witches and don’t forget the scary music. Halloween CD’s can be found a very reasonable price.

What about the food? It doesn’t have to be expensive either. A simple punch highlighted by spider ice cubes is a great refreshment idea. Chips and salsa or brownies decorated with powdered sugar ghosts are always a hit. Remember to use Halloween phrases such as Spider punch, Graveyard chips (blue tortilla chips) and blood salsa and Ghoul brownies. This will help to scare those guests while keeping them filled with delicious treats.

Costumes are also a necessity when it comes to Halloween parties. If the party has a theme, make costumes that follow that theme. Look at thrift stores for the clothing you might need. Colored hair spray, gloves and wigs can also be purchased for very little cash outlay. Old sheets, boots, scarves and hats can also be used to make the perfect costume.

Games are an important part in making a Halloween party a success. It doesn’t take a great outlay of money to have fun games to play. How about Mummy bingo? Make the bingo boards from old card board boxes. Use candy corn as markers just be careful that the kids don’t eat all their markers before the game is done. Ever heard of Guess the Ghost? It’s a fun game and it requires only a party guest and a white sheet. Cover the guest and let all the remaining guests try to figure out just how this Casper is.

These are just a few simple inexpensive ideas for a successful Halloween party. Use your imagination and items you can find around the house to make your party a complete yet inexpensive success. Happy Halloween!

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Budgeting on the 4th of July

June 30, 2009 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
eagleinsky

eagleinskyIt’s your turn to host your family’s 4th of July Extravaganza! Even so, your budget doesn’t have to be extravagant to create a festive place for everyone to gather, neither does the meal. Family, friends and fun is what the day should be about, not how much money you can spend. So with some simple planning and a little creativity, 4th of July can be done on a very limited budget.

Chicken is a great entrée and is usually inexpensive. Watch for sales in your local paper and buy ahead of time and freeze. Simply remove from the freezer, cut them up and place on the grill. Add some barbeque sauce or some of your favorite herbs and spices and you have a great start to a meal fit for a king or queen.

A cheap side dish is corn in the husks. Where we live, corn in the husks is sold at the local farmers market for about $2 for a dozen. Not only can you get it cheap, but it can be thrown on the grill with the chicken in the husks and it’s easy to cook.

How about watermelon for dessert? It is definitely one of the least expensive foods for how many pieces you can get. Mix with other fruits for a fruit salad, or serve by itself and you have a great summer treat!

There is nothing wrong with asking others to contribute a side dish for the day. Ask your favorite aunt to bring her special deviled eggs and you will probably make her day that you thought of her.

Decorations can be easy on a budget as well. White, blue and red decorations are available any time from mid May on, so you should find colored plates, cups, and silverware and table cloths at the dollar store. Buy some small flags and place in vases on the tables as centerpieces and before everyone leaves, let them take one home. That way they will always have something to remember your 4th of July party!

When issuing your invitations, ask everyone to dress in white, blue and red. This will make your backyard look decorated and everyone helped! Think about playing patriotic songs on the stereo for background music to help everyone remember what the day is about. And don’t forget to hang up the American Flag if you have one.

The 4th of July doesn’t have to be expensive to be fun and festive. Relax and enjoy your family and friends and be thankful for the USA!

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