tintinalli's Profile

My fiancee and I regularly host barbecues at our house, and we feel that asking our guests to bring anything is simply tacky. We're also past college with stable careers, so that is a major factor. We're currently planning our annual June barbecue, and this is how WE save money on feeding/drinking 40+ people every year:

1) Plan ahead.

Make a list of dishes that you'd like to serve several weeks ahead of time, and then scour grocery ads and coupons until the week of the party. For example, I love making a fruit-based salsa, so for the next couple of weeks I'll wait until I see which store has mango, pineapple or another item on sale, buy it, chop it, and freeze it to get ready.

The same goes for meat, which is usually the biggest expense. Clean out your freezer weeks before your party so you can stock it with ribs, burgers, etc. as they go on sale.

2) Punches and Kegs

We always serve sangria and we've found a great wine base that's only $3.99 a bottle by making friends with our local wine shop - most stores also offer a 10% discount if you buy a case. Mix the wine with whichever fruit is on sale that week, add some flattened soda and sugar, and you have plenty of cocktails for everyone.

Our state has a local distributor for kegs, and by calling for info on a regular basis we've been able to keep up with which beers are on sale each week.

3) Cooking Methods.

We have a smoker and, while the equipment is an investment, it turns cheaper cuts of meat into delicious party meals. Brisket, pork butt, pork ribs, roasts, chicken legs/thighs are really economical and taste so much better on a smoker, and you can achieve the same effect using a smoke box on any grill.

By using the tips above, we recently "catered" (we're not caterers, but were asked to help out a friend) a graduation party for 50 people for $300.

I work in the visual department for a large retailer as well, and we always get asked for posters, decor, etc. A lot of the time we don't technically own the items (i.e. they're provided by Nike, Columbia, etc.) so we can't give them away. BUT, we're usually instructed to throw everything away at the end of the campaigns so if you don't mind a little recycling bin-diving, you can still get those items.

And make sure the person you're asking is one of the visual/display team members - since we're the ones physically tearing everything down, we control where it goes once it's "garbage". ;)

We have the basswood moose and absolutely love it. We bought him from a store called Area 51 in Seattle and named him David (after one of the employees - the buying experience was a story in itself).

There's an odd-shaped brick feature above our fireplace that we had no idea what to do with, and the moose fit inside perfectly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tintinalli/5106928095/