webpossum's Profile

if the budget can stretch to allow for it, include a starter or side dish to make it feel like more of a celebration. Take advantage of the season to keep costs low. My fave winter dishes that are big on flavour are pumpkin or potato soups or my go-to salad for feeding a crowd for $5: roast a bunch of beets and garlic with some oil and basalmic vinegar. Let them cool and toss the beets with cooked lentils (canned if you're lazy, dried ones if you're broke). Add a handful of dried tomatoes (the ones that aren't packed in oil are much cheaper but just as good), some fresh parsley and a dressing made up of that roast garlic, a dollop of mustard and more basalmic. It's cheap, flavourful, super filling, covers all dietary concerns and best of all, it'll keep for days and days.

I get all my cheap party supplies in Chinatown and Ikea - like a previous poster said, it's often cheaper than renting. And don't forget that Ikea has a fabric section - can get charming fabric as table runners over that butcher paper or plain white linens. I've also known friends who used leftover slate tiles or cut and sanded slabs of raw wood from their yard to use as serving platters - it all looks like you spent a fortune even though it was actually free.

@ Modernist Cat -

well I'm now even more jealous. Sweet deals + stroke of luck = kismet. Tx for sharing the details, I'm off to scour my local craigslist and vintage shops!

I'm so depressed after reading these comments! It makes it sound like the majority of AT readers are antisocial curmudgeons and that can't be true.

I myself have no problem with space (my last apt was 300 sq ft and I'd still host parties with 30+ people), I love to cook and the cleaning is the kick in the pants I need to catch up on housework. I completely echo other people who say that $$ shouldn't be an issue - just have a few people over for a more casual get together. Eating a pizza with friends or having them over for tea still counts as entertaining donchaknow...

my biggest hurdle is finding a free weekend. Everyone I know (and myself included) is usually so busy, it's tough to find a night where everyone's free. And now that everyone's having kids or moving out to the suburbs, it's even harder!

word of warning: I splurged and got a Marimekko slipcover for a stool - bit of an indulgence but it does look fabulous. Stool was on sale for $19, slipcover was $59, shipping was another $29 and then today, 2 months after receiving it, I got another $50 bill from the courier company for duty and brokerage fees. Ouch.

lesson here: send it to a friend in EU and have them ship it to you privately. So not worth it otherwise.

seriously? Name your parents chose for you = education/social status or lack thereof? Yowza... Guess I'm screwed then...

I have 4 names and 3 of them are decidedly unusual - so unusual that I've never met anyone else with them. Ever.

Part of the reason is due to my background (Australian and Fijian parents, go figure) but mostly it's cuz my mum was a schoolteacher and had developed an extreme aversion to most names out there. Let's face it, after 10 years of little hellions named John or Jennifer, you'd go out of your way to avoid any reminder of those wee darlings.

As it turns out though, odd as my name is, I'm hardly unique. I grew up in a city where all my friends had wildly diverse backgrounds so "unusual" names were de rigueur. Not only that, those same kids have all gone on to become successful doctors, professors, researchers... clearly the lack of "respectable, solid" names hasn't held *them* back.

oh and to the sally305 camp? I have a master's degree and my values are just fine and dandy, thanks ever so. After some of your comments, I wonder whether the same could be said for yours...