How to host a fabulous cheap easy party

So, here are some frugerati party tips (which is really just an excuse to post a bunch of pics from my party) for hosting a fabulous cheap easy party.

Here it is in a nutshell:

• Find a fabulous place.
• Hold your party in the summer.
• Have people bring food.
  
  
  

Speaking of fabulous places, this was the view from the spot where we had our party. The place I work for has a community room at the top of one of its buildings. People can sign up to get the room once a year for - get this - free.

But you may say, "Bromeliad, that's nice, but not everybody can get a free party room with a Manhattan view, especially since I live in Wisconsin."

I have found that nearly every town I've lived in has some fabulous place for a party, possibly one you don't even know about.

For example, here is where we held my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's a Tudor-style mansion that has been converted into a community room for an apartment complex. A friend was a member. We got the place for $25.

Here is a historic home that was once owned by the local history museum in another town I lived in. The entire house, which was decorated with period antiques, and yard could be rented for weddings or parties for $100.

.

Or you could do like these folks and hold your party in a public place - like the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.

If the place is fabulous, you don't need much else. Skip the decorations, the fancy table settings, the crepe paper and the punch bowl. You don't need it.

Point 2, hold it in the summer. Why? Because you can add fabulous outdoor places to your list of possibilities. And, also, it makes point 3 easier. Summer food is easier to prepare and keep around. No re-heating required.

And it's so easy to keep kids happy when they can go outside.



Total cost to us for the party of the year: About $20.

Have you found a fabulous party place? Tell us about it.