10 Tips That'll Help You Save Some Money When Hosting A Holiday Meal

The holidays can be a truly stressful time of the year. To make matters even more dire, holiday gatherings take place at regular intervals around the calendar and aren't contained to just a singe gauntlet of gatherings in November and December to close the books on another year. No matter what holiday you've offered to host, the stakes can feel dramatically high. There's a pressure to perform that seems at least partially irrational. After all, the people you'll be having over for a holiday meal are your closest friends and family, not a bunch of strangers that will head away and immediately begin judging you.

There's a jovial atmosphere to be had here, for sure, but it's your job to bring this calmness and enjoyable spirit into being. That's perhaps where the highest degree of pressure lies. To do this, you'll often need to stretch your budget a little. This can be a challenge for many, especially during periods of high inflation – as remains the case today. Fortunately, there are quite a few things you can do to keep your costs relatively low when hosting others for a holiday meal. No matter what time of the year you find yourself cooking for others, too, these mindsets and tools offer themselves as a big help to keep the stress levels low, the budget under control, and the entertainment and fun atmosphere flowing.

One of the easiest ways to change the conversation surrounding the cost of hosting a holiday meal is to simply go potluck. Rather than taking on the task of sourcing and cooking every part of the meal yourself, potluck is a time honored tradition in which everyone who joins the party brings something substantial for everyone else to share. You might cook the main meat component, or you could opt to work on a specialty dish that you're known for – perhaps a unique macaroni dish or your famous stuffing. Handling just one element of the dinner, or perhaps even passing the entirety of the cooking tasks off to others and just focusing on table settings and decorations is a great way to spread out the financial and emotional burden of hosting this kind of event.

Potluck meals aren't just beneficial to the host, they also give everyone an opportunity to share something special to them with their friends and family. Joining a potluck dinner as a guest is an opportunity to pour your heart and soul into just one single item that will grace the table. This allows you to get creative with your recipe or to double down on a traditional favorite that you know your companions love. Potluck dinners become something of a spectacle in which everyone gets to enjoy food items that speak to unique tastes, experiences, and interests of the group.

Instead of planning a full out potluck dinner, you might consider just delegating a few tasks to others. If you are cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for example, you might ask your parents to bring the green beans or spinach dish, and your aunt and uncle to chip in with a dessert. Smaller contributions from guests can make a big difference by taking important parts of the burden off of your individual load while still remaining largely a standard meal. If you plan to delegate tasks like this, it might be best to give specific instructions to your trusted designees. Rather than just asking for a side from your sister or a vegetable dish from your dad, give them specific explanations of the kind of recipe you would like to see on the table.

Many families and friend groups come together for holiday meals in a way that resembles this kind of delegated responsibility. Even without considering the financial aspects of putting together a comprehensive holiday meal, the practicality of whipping up three or four sides, a main meat dish, and perhaps even desserts and starter selections begins to approach a level of absurdity in many household kitchens. Your oven may not be able to handle all of these demands on the schedule that your meal prep expects. Even if it can you only have two hands and a finite amount of time. Small, delegated tasks can be a big help and often introduce the beneficial side element of reducing your financial load as well.

Regardless of the way you intend on doling out jobs and getting every dish into and back out of the oven, it's always a good idea to plan for leftovers. For starters, there's an element of stinginess that factors into the visual spread of a holiday meal that's cooked to exacting portion sizes. Right or wrong, there's a feeling of cheapness that descends over the offering if there isn't much left over after everyone's had their fill. Sometimes this can't be avoided with certain dishes, but on the whole leftovers remain an important emotional aspect of general holiday cheer.

However, there is a more practical reason to cook more food than you will strictly require. Large roasts like this are generally more cost effective than individual dinners. Buying an entire turkey or a massive ham just makes more financial sense than purchasing individual legs or pork chops that stack up to the same net weight. As a result, by cooking more food than you need on the day, you'll provide yourself with at least a few extra meals that are more cost effective than a typical lunch or dinner. Moreover, the tradition of piling up a sandwich full of leftovers during the days that follow a Christmas dinner or Easter feast is one that brings serious nostalgia into your home, bringing back fond memories of childhood for most. There's a major feel good element to this practice that makes the financial benefit all the more worthwhile.

Before going shopping for your supplies, it's critically important to put together a subsection of your overall budget. Evaluating the amount of money you can reasonably spend on hosting this get together is something that should always be done before you start making purchases, and ideally before you even commit to the task. A "party budget," so to speak, allows you to confidently go into the hosting task knowing that your finances won't be disastrously impacted by the event for weeks or months to follow.

Budgeting for the holidays is always an important task, and this can be both in gift giving and in other elements like planning travel or having people over for dinner at your home. In the weeks that precede a holiday meal, it's a good idea to take stock of how much discretionary spending you have available to you. These times of the year are always a little more expensive, so you may already be doing this. However, as is the case with present purchasing tasks, setting a budget for yourself that won't break the bank and then sticking to it is crucially important. If you can't afford to host a holiday meal this year after evaluating your budget, consider starting a little earlier next year and offer to take the reins then.

Just like an early budget features heavily in a successful hosting of a family get together, beginning the purchasing tasks as early as you reasonably can will also yield the best results. If you plan to buy a frozen turkey or any other meat product that's frozen, you can realistically invest in this part of the meal as early as you can reasonably find the cut or bird you're looking for. As long as you have enough space in your freezer, buying this part of the meal early allows you to purchase it as part of a previous month's expenditures. This is valuable whether you frequently use a credit card that delivers cash back and pay it off every month or manage your budget strictly in cash. Most people will have at least some surplus every month in their budget as a natural buffer. Therefore, instead of relying on the discipline necessary to save a portion of this surplus specifically for holiday spending later on, you might be better served by making key purchases ahead of time.

However, it's also worth noting that you may be able to find bargain pricing on these kinds of expenses if you make your purchase outside of the traditional window for holiday meal prep. Frozen turkeys become a hot commodity in mid-November, so if you can find one in October you'll get ahead of the rush. You may then have your pick of the litter and potentially secure the purchase for a reduced rate. The same goes for many other ingredients, spices, and staples of a traditional holiday meal.

It's also a good idea to keep your ingredients and cooking checklist as simple as possible. Many people hosting a holiday meal for the first time find themselves sucked into an idealized vision of putting out an elegant spread. Frequently, this means variations. To deliver an extravagant meal, you might think that it's necessary to offer mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and maybe even an additional option like a gratin or potato pancake. All these variations have their place at the dinner table, of course. But investing your limited time and financial resources into the ingredients and cooking process required to deliver numerous takes on the humble potato is just something that most people won't realistically be able to achieve.

The same can be said for the actual ingredients you purchase. You aren't running a Michelin star restaurant, so investing in the best possible set of raw materials really isn't necessary. Buying store brand ingredients like breadcrumbs or spices can save you a heap of money when your shopping list comes together. Moreover, in many instances there is literally no difference between a name brand item and a generic alternative, ingredients like sugar, salt, or eggs are essentially all exactly the same, no matter the price you pay for them.

If you are planning to buy new tableware ahead of your first holiday meal at home, you might be tempted to go for themed plates, placemats, and cups. Indeed, there's absolutely a special charm found in these kinds of details. But if you're looking to host a holiday meal while remaining within your budget and ideally saving a bit of cash along the way, this is a splurge that simply isn't worth the focus.

For those who haven't purchased a nice set of plates and other dishes, the thought of buying fancy wares may seem daunting. There are so many options, and this becomes even more fraught when considering holiday themed varieties, too. Instead of getting lost in the weeds here, your best bet is to just invest in a basic set of nice dish ware. Classic, white plates and accessories are an ideal choice because they can be used for any upscale gathering that you might host no matter what time of the year it may be. They're great for holiday parties as well as routine get togethers that feature an elevated menu and style. Alternatively, if you already have nice dishes then skipping this purchasing decision altogether is the best way to save a few bucks. Hosts will be hesitant to serve fancy dinner on their standard plates, but if you already have a set of "fine China," then there's really no need to splash out for something new.

Holiday spirit is routinely amplified with the help of decorations both inside the house and around the exterior. No matter the holiday season, many people who find themselves hosting friends and family for a special meal will feel a bit of pressure to set up extra decorations to make the environment exude even more festive ambiance. This can be a challenge if you don't already have lots of themed decorative decor that's appropriate for the season. Even so, there are a few important things to keep in mind when decorating your home ahead of welcoming guests.

First of all, you're under no realistic obligation to actually decorate. This is entirely a choice that you can choose to make or disregard. For those hosting a holiday meal for the first time, it might be better to skip the decorating task altogether or scale it back substantially in order to focus more of your efforts and attention on the meal preparations. Setting this expectation for yourself can do wonders for both your mental state and your wallet. However, if you are planning on decorating it's a good idea focus your attention on areas with the highest impact. Any part of the home that people will congregate in should take precedence, with other areas like back hallways leading to bedrooms or even the kitchen might warrant a scaled back treatment or see it skipped altogether. It might be nice to decorate your entire home, but focusing on the areas that people will actually see can help make this part of the task easier in many regards.

Grocery purchases are just like any other expenditure that you will encounter on a regular basis. No matter what you're buying, there's almost certainly a way to find a discount or other cheaper means of making the purchase. For some, this might mean leveraging membership at a retailer like Costco or Sam's Club. These bulk retailers provide huge value when it comes to saving money on exactly this kind of purchasing need. You may not frequently go through three or four dozen eggs in a weekend, but when making deviled eggs for a large house full of guests, any opportunity to save money on this and other grocery staples can add up to become a big deal.

It's also a good idea to look for coupons and other discount offers from your local supermarkets. Even without a membership at a discount chain like Costco, finding discounted prices on the things you need to throw a great holiday meal isn't exactly rocket science. In the weeks leading up to the event, sign up for an account at retailers like Walmart or Target. Veterans and active duty service members may also be able to use their military discount to reduce the price of these purchases at some outlets. You can even look to the newspaper in your area for coupons that can be cut out and redeemed for free items or reduced prices. These kinds of reductions are easy to take advantage of and can really swing the balance in your favor. All you have to do is take the time to look.

On the subject of your interactions at the supermarket, it's important to keep in mind that these retailers are designed to make you spend money. For one thing, the longer you stay in a grocery store the more likely you are to become a victim of splurge purchasing. Understanding this and the other tricks that supermarkets use to get customers to spend more can help you stay focused as you gather the ingredients and materials necessary to host your holiday meal.

In addition to coupons, in-app offers, and price reductions by other means, you'll want to shop smarter when you hit up the supermarket for your holiday cooking necessities. Many stores feature one additional number on their price tags that can be of great assistance in this effort. Looking for price-per-pound information is a great way to ensure you're getting the best deal. Often, this is featured in tiny print along the bottom edge of tags. All kinds of goods from toilet paper to ground beef are listed at cheaper total price-per-quantity figures when buying in larger volumes (this is one particular strategy that entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban focus on when giving advice for smarter money management). Yet another trick that supermarkets play on their customers involves placing cheaper items and generic brands lower on the shelves than the more expensive alternatives. Physically bending down to save money can be inconvenient or even difficult for some, so just grabbing the thing at eye level is generally more convenient and more expensive. Knowing these tricks and entering the store with a plan to defeat them is a great way to save money as you prepare for any festive season.