Saving money on New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve has always been known to be a pricey event. Hotels and bars host celebrations with midnight champagne toasts, a balloon drop, appetizers and drinks. But you don’t have to spend a lot of cash in order to have a memorable New Year’s. Instead, host your own event this year with all of your closest family and friends. These are some affordable ideas to help you start 2015 without breaking the bank:

Buy pre-made
Buying pre-made items like pastry shells and pie crusts will make it easier for you to whip up your favorite desserts in no time. Plus, you won’t have to dole out the extra cash for the ingredients to make the pies and pastries. Nobody will notice that some items on your table are store bought unless you tell them. Feel free to stock up on other pre-made items, like chips and dip, pretzels and mixed nuts.

Make it a pot luck
You don’t have to be in charge of preparing every single appetizer, meal, dessert and drink for your New Year’s party. Instead, send out party invitations that tell your guests it’s a pot luck. Each person can bring something for the dinner, which will save you money and help you focus on conversing with your guests rather than tending to the stove.

Decorate with last year’s memories
You don’t have to spend lots of money on New Year’s decorations. Instead, use photos from 2014 to fill your home with past memories. Hang some colorful ribbon on the wall and glue on a few clothespins, which will be used to display your pictures. When it comes to dressing up your dinner table, use what you already have. Your table settings don’t have to match – in fact, mixing and matching items is trendy and creates an eclectic dinner display. Fill the walls with color by cutting out different hues of cardstock in circle shapes and taping them to the wall to look like festive confetti.

Even after the holidays have passed, you can still head to the store to stock up on decorations for next year. Everything will be heavily discounted, and when the end of 2015 comes, you’ll be happy you took advantage of the deals.

Host a cookie exchange
Don’t feel like going through the trouble of putting on an entire New Year’s dinner? You don’t have to. Think of something more simple, like a cookie exchange. Ask everyone to bring two dozen of their favorite holiday cookies. When guests arrive, start putting all of the treats out on beautiful cake stands and shimmering platters for a festive holiday display. Label each plate of cookies with the appropriate name. People can pick and choose which cookies they want to try. You may also want to include a hot beverage bar complete with hot chocolate, peppermint tea, apple cider, coffee, etc. You can set out spirits that may go with your hot drinks, like peppermint schnapps, pumpkin pie liqueur, rum or cinnamon liqueur.

Cover champagne bottles in glitter
Nobody has to know that you didn’t splurge on multiple bottles of Dom Perignon for your New Year’s party. Cover your champagne bottles with a layer of sparkling glitter. Simply brush a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the bottle and sprinkle gold or silver glitter all over the surface. After it has dried completely, use gloss finishing spray to coat the bottle.