When throwing a party, one of the most important things to consider are the decorations. Decorating not only makes everything look nicer; it livens up the party.
However, after putting all that money into party essentials like food and beverages, most people don’t want to spend more dough on decorating.
Decorating doesn’t always have to be expensive. Here are some suggestions for throwing a tailgating party for under $20:
When throwing a party, classic decorations like – balloons and streamers are always a good way to go. At The Dollar Store you can buy 24 balloons in assorted colors for only $1. You can also find colored streamers for a $1 each (spending a total of two to four dollars).
Next, make sure to decorate the table on which the food will be placed. That is where most of your guests’ attention will be focused when they aren’t absorbed in the game.
Instead of putting your food on a plain table, cover it with a tablecloth. Buy a piece of green fabric that will fit your table (around five dollars) from Wal- Mart. Then, use white paint to make it into a football field. (You can buy 16 oz single color paint bottles at Wal- Mart for $2.88.)
Now that you have your own little football field done, how about some footballs? Since some of the foods that you will be having at your tailgate party might require the use of utensils, make some utensil holders. All you need are open cans and paint. Make sure to take any paper off of the cans and wash them very well. Paint the whole can brown. After it dries, paint a white vertical line on the middle front and back of the can with three white horizontal lines going through it.
If you will be serving finger foods (pigs in a blanket, cubes of cheese, or mini sandwiches), buy plain wooden toothpicks from The Dollar Store (again it will only be a $1) as well as, a piece of brown foam sheet (it will be around $2 from Wal-Mart). Draw footballs on the brown foam and cut out the pieces. Use the white paint to draw the football lines, and tape the toothpicks to the back of them. Now, instead of serving your guest’s finger foods with normal toothpicks, you can serve finger foods with football toothpicks.
After you are done with all that, you will be ready for a fun- filled, delightfully decorated party. The best part is no one will know you did it on a budget!
Pictures by Rust and Sunshine, Hostess with the mostess, and Solo