Cheap Holiday Party Food

I'm sure I have posted our Fav's before, but in case it has gotten lost in the shuffle, or to remind you again....here was our list of food for the parties!

1. nacho dip and chips (recipe is on this site, and I have learned that buying chips from mexican restaurants is cheaper than store bought chips, and much yummier!)

2. Hotdogs in sauce (buy the big thing of bun length hot dogs at aldi for like $3 or such, comes like 24 hot dogs to a package), cut hot dogs into coins, put in pan or crockpot (if starting a few hrs early!), add equal amounts of mustard and grape jelly (yep!) and stir in. When everything melts together it's yummy!

3. Veggies and dip of course (gotta have ONE healthy option! lol)

4. pretzels and french onion dip (1 16 oz tup sour cream, one packet onion soup mix)

5. "witches brew" but could be used for any party and varied- 1 can frozen: oj, apple juice, grape juice (I used grape hi c!) 1 liter lemon lime soda (or ginger ale). The second party I did 1 can oj, 1 can fruit punch, and 2 liters lemon lime. Like I said, versitile.

6. Take and bake pizza from either Aldi or Walmart (about the same price)cut into squares so it goes farther! ;) I used 3 or 4 the second night and had 1 left over- but we also had 16 kids not counting our own 3 and us! ;) it was a full house!

7. Kids these days are so sophisitcated! They preferred WATER to the brew! ;) that was fine, because you can add rum, vodka, etc to the brew for an adult party! So, keep lots of filtered water on hand for kids! (you all have filters on your sinks, right? much cheaper and easier!)

Birthdays on a budget! UGH!!!

Yeah, it's birthday time in our house! Our oldest daughter is turning 13!!! we will officially have a teenager in the house- even though she's been acting like one for months already! LOL I am not sure how I feel about this yet. LOL I was putting up pictures around the house yesterday of the family and how we have grown, etc, and WOW! is all I can say! Pictures make a house a home, for sure, but also it sure shows the progression and how we have been lax at taking pictures the last few years :( I sure will start to remedy that now! :)

Anyway! So, my daughter wants a "big bash" for her big turning a teenager thing. Well, she wanted to invite 50 people! ROFL! At a certain age you no longer have to have "fun stuff" for the kids to do physically, and you can return to doing parties at your house. Our house is not big enough for 50 kids! LOL She has invited "28" she said....will see how many actually come! So, that is ONE way we are saving money.....No money out for the "venue". She actually loves having things here, so she is excited! But we all know where the big money comes in....the food! Well I have posted our menu, but I will post it again here, and tell you how we are going to save money.......

From our Angel Food Ministries boxes we will be able to use (so it will cost us nothing this week):

3-5 pkgs meatballs with mustard and jelly sauce (I usually do hotdogs, but since the meatballs are in the boxes, might as well use them!)
2 lbs ground beef
2-6 pkgs 12 oz 'deli meat"- this will be used for the sub sandwich....sandwich was planned before I realized what was in the boxes!

From Aldi-

2 pkgs "velveeta" cheese ($4 each)
2 cans rotel (.30 each?)
2 pkgs (large) different deli meat (if we get ham with afm boxes, will get turkey and chicken)
4 pkgs sliced good cheese ($2.49 each I think I saw yesterday)
1 jar mayo
1 jar miracle whip
3 bags tortilla chips ($1 each)
1 bag pretzels($1)
1 bag chips ($1.49?)
8- 12 can pkgs of soda ($3.00 each?)
2 big buckets icecream ($4 each)
1 bag strawberries (frozen, $2?)
1 bag mixed berries or raspberries (frozen $2?)
1 pkg cool whip ($1?)

Here we are right at $60 or so. Some prices are inflated since I don't know how much for sure they will cost me. I may be able to get a deal on the soda... will look around this week. So, for 30+ kids, that's about $2/kid. Not bad. I don't have on here the french bread- that will be about another $5 to put about 4 loaves together to make a 6' long sub sandwich! woohoo! LOL

Entertainment is a movie my daughter has requested (Twilight), and music, so that's simple overall. Mostly it will be a lot of labor of love (aka cleaning the house and decorating! LOL)