Welcoming 2013 is cause for celebration. However, if you plan to party with a house full of parents and children, a New Year’s Eve shindig has the potential to put huge dent in your wallet.
Fortunately, there are ways you can preserve your family’s budget, so that you don’t start 2013 in a financial pit:
Fancy Cup Tags: Fancy doesn’t have to mean expensive. One way to reduce the amount of money you spend on cups for a New Year’s party is to attach a pretty tag to each one. Doing so will identify the cup’s owner and eliminate the need for guests to keep reaching for a new one when they want a refill. Even if you are uses champagne flutes or other types of glasses for adults, having identification tags will help reduce the chance of breakage. Plus, you cut down on the price of soap, water and electricity to power your dishwasher. To make blinged out ID tags for glasses, simply unfold paper clips and string through some charms, glass beads or plastic beads from the Dollar Store. Then, add a cardstock tag, and wrap the decorated clip around the stem of the glass. For kids drinking from plastic cups, modify the tags by decorating cardstock with glitter glue, beads and sequins. You can either tape the tags to the cups or tie them on with festive ribbons.
Decorations: Don’t spend an arm and a leg on expensive New Year’s Eve party decorations when you can make your own at a fraction of the cost. Put your kids to work cutting confetti from old magazines, construction paper or colored newspaper inserts. You could also use scrapbook paper punches to add a little zing to the confetti. Next, blow a little air into a balloon, insert the neck of a funnel into the balloon’s opening, and then pour some of the confetti into the funnel so that it flows into the semi-inflated balloon. Once the confetti collects at the bottom of the balloon, continue to fill it with air. Finally, hang the balloons on a wall or hand one out to each guest and let them pop them at the stroke of midnight.