Party house!

Thursday 6th November, 2008 - £7,499.83 in debt…

Think of the most highly-organised person you know. Is this person a barrel of laughs? No, of course they’re not - they’re too busy ironing their socks in alphabetical order. This is why I choose (yes, choose) to be a bungling incompetent. I like to think it makes me a more approachable and entertaining human being.

That is, until there’s a party to organise. I normally start six weeks in advance, making lists, making purchases and making enemies left, right and centre.

I always have a theme, design the invitations myself, and don’t ask for anything in return apart from my guests’ eternal respect and adoration.

As the Christmas party season approaches, I thought I’d share the money-saving wisdom I’ve gleaned from hosting my own over the past few years.

     1.   Start planning now, list everything you need to buy, and shop around on the internet.

     2.   For party music, record the best bits of your friends’ record collections onto your MP3 player. If you don’t have a sinister-looking ‘docking station’ to play it through, just buy a phono lead from Tesco for about £2.50: It connects from your MP3 player or laptop’s headphone socket to the back of your stereo.

     3.   Borrow wine glasses etc, or buy disposable crockery. You can get some excellent plastic ones from Party Plastics - as it turned out, they’re sturdy enough to re-use (especially the shot glasses) so I’m keeping mine for next time.

     4.   It’s not unreasonable to ask guests to contribute towards drinks, especially if you’re doing cocktails. If you’re asking for money and having a theme, keep it simple so that nobody has to buy a new outfit.

     5.   Trawl your local supermarkets for booze offers, or use a cash and carry.

     6.   Beware of cheap spirits: any savings you make are likely to be spent on cleaning the puke out of your carpet. Instead, cut corners on food, fruit juices and other mixers.

     7.   Value range party food, nuts and crisps are brilliant: stick them in a bowl and your guests will be none the wiser.

     8.   Decorations can also be done on the cheap, if you have the time and energy. For my last shindig, I painted (!) pictures for the kitchen walls with cocktail recipes on them. I also used some Christmas lights outside (even though it was summer), and I’d recommend going for the retro look with paper chains and lanterns.

Any tips you can add would be greatly appreciated. Is there anything else to cut back on, while still making an effort to throw a good party? Or are parties all about extravagance, celebration and throwing caution to the wind?