On a budget? You can still throw a great party with all the guests your home can fit! How? By throwing a potluck! A potluck is the perfect answer to partying on a tight budget. When you have more friends and family than you can possibly feed, let the potluck bring everyone together without tearing your budget apart.
Who Brings What?
Before you make first contact with your potential guests through a friendly email, paper invitations or by phone, make a list on paper of the people you would like to invite. When you contact them to ask if they will be free on the date of the potluck, also ask if they have any dietary restrictions or special dishes. Lactose intolerant? Allergic to nuts? Vegetarian? Only drink diet soda? Does your aunt always make a gelatin mold? Does your cousin always bring devilled eggs? Write the dietary details down as well as preferences for what people want to bring during this first round of contact. Let people know you will call or email them back to confirm what they will bring. If you don't want to do two rounds of calls, send out what they should bring in the invitation or tell them during the initial phone call.
When you're deciding what to have people bring, don't get too specific. You may have family or friends who won't know how much time they have to prepare the day of your potluck, so they can't commit to a specific dish beforehand. That's okay, just give people general categories and let them have fun with what they choose to make. Here are some areas you should make sure to cover:
- Appetizers
- Dips
- Chips
- Buns or rolls
- Main courses
- Desserts
- Drinks
- Cups, plates napkins and utensils
Note on Food Allergies
Have guests with food allergies? A great way to keep everyone safe is to have your guests bring a copy of the recipe or ingredient list for the dish they made and place it alongside the dish on your serving table. This way guests can scan the ingredients and make sure they don't eat something that will give them a reaction. If there are children who are allergic to foods and are too young to read, keep any possible allergy-triggering dishes out of their reach. Your guests who have food allergies (or children with food allergies) will bring dishes that are safe for them, so rest assured there will be something appropriate for everyone.
Make the Appetizers
You could say that your contribution to the party is your hospitality, but you'll probably want to provide a little something like appetizers to your guests. Hosting the potluck is always the best, because you can make something easy and inexpensive and let others do the heavy lifting. If you’re providing some of the snacks, one of the best ways to save money is to make your own veggie tray instead of buying one pre-made. It doesn’t take long to cut up veggies and cheese and put them on a tray with a bowl of ranch dressing in the middle for dip.
Another great appetizer you can make yourself is a relish tray. A relish tray traditionally contains green and black olives, dill pickles, sweet pickles and pepper rings (pepperoncinis), but you can use any kind of veggie or snack item that you want in order to keep your guests happy and your budget on track. For example, you could grab a serving plate and arrange a simple meat and cheese tray with pepperoni, cocktail wieners, and different kinds of cheese and crackers. Meat and cheese trays with some crackers are always a hit because people can choose which combination they want to eat.
How Much Food?
When you tell people what to bring, have them include enough food to serve 4 to 6 people. That’s a normal amount of food for one average recipe. If you’re going to have 10 people, you’ll need two appetizers, two main courses and two desserts, plus some snacks and enough beverages.
Don’t Forget Other Necessities
In order to keep your potluck as budget-friendly as possible, make sure to pick out a few people who don’t like to cook or won’t be offended if you ask them to bring something other than food. These are your beverage, snack and accessory people.
Have someone bring paper plates, ask someone else (probably a few people) to bring beverages so there are enough for everyone, and ask another person to bring disposable cups, napkins as well as plastic utensils for as many people as are going to be there plus a few extra for serving. You can even ask someone to bring a roll of kitchen trash bags for all the debris you’re going to have to dispose of at the end of the potluck.
Be Prepared for the End of the Party
Many potluck party-goers are happy to take their leftovers home, but to make sure you don’t get stuck with a fridge full of food your family won’t eat, be sure to have disposable containers on hand. Your guests will be happy to bring home a doggy bag or two and you won’t have to let any goodies go to waste.
Potlucks are not only inexpensive to throw, they also bring families and friends together. Sharing food that your favorite people really put their hearts into can't help but make you feel a sense of togetherness that reminds you what is important in life. And because you won’t have to spend all your time in the kitchen, you’ll have time to relax and enjoy your party with your guests.
