Just because the economy is tanking, doesn’t mean the party is over. Entertaining at home is less expensive than you might think. These simple money saving tips will help you throw a great party for less than you’d spend on a big night on the town.

1. Go casual. If you think you need Champagne and caviar to have a good time, think again. A less formal affair encourages your guests to relax and have fun. It’s the difference between a Superbowl party and New Year’s Eve. Forget sit down affairs, go for finger food and wine. Decide on the budget you feel comfortable with and plan accordingly. Evite’s party budget estimator is a great way to figure out where and how to spend your money wisely.

2. Pick the right wines. Skip expensive cocktails and serve a choice of approachable and affordable red and white wines that will go with almost anything you serve. A Chardonnay that is mildly oaky will pair well with anything caramelized. “Toasted loves toasted,” says David Katz, Chef and Managing Partner of Pane Vino. Toasted bread, nuts or caramelized onions all make fine matches with a balanced Chardonnay. For a red wine, Katz recommends choosing something medium weight like Pinot Noir. Mirassou Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fit the bill nicely and are around $10 each. Other food friendly and budget friendly choices include a crisp Rosé or a sparkling Spanish Cava.

3. Know when to splurge and when to save. Some ingredients are worth the extra cash. Katz recommends saving when it comes to blue cheese with a domestic supermarket brand, but splurging on sliced to order imported prosciutto. Buying from a deli means you’ll end up with thinner slices and save in the long run. Wrap slices of prosciutto around Italian bread sticks for a quick and savory bite.

4. Prep in advance. Many great appetizers can be made in advance. Blue cheese mousse can be made days ahead then piped or spooned onto vegetables before the party starts. Meatballs made from any inexpensive ground meat or turkey found on sale can be made then frozen and reheated. Spiced toasted nuts can also be made hours before your guests arrive. End your party with a selection of homemade cookies and brownies, ice cream optional.

5. Get friends involved. Have a friend who knows something about wine? Ask them to bring a few of their favorite house reds. Is one of your pals a great cook? Get them to make an appetizer or dessert. Encouraging your friends to help out gives them a chance to take a more active role in the party, takes the pressure off of you as host and helps spread the financial burden more equitably as well.

Most importantly, make your party easy and relaxed. Stuffy parties that break the bank are no fun. Chances are, if you’re having a good time, your guests will too!

Amy Sherman is a San Francisco–based writer, recipe developer, and restaurant reviewer. Visit her blog at Cooking with Amy

Budget help is something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with great budget help tips in our blog article index.

It’s safe to assume that Daryl and Mary thought it was an April’s Fool joke when they first got our email saying they’d won our Holiday Spending Hangover budget help contest – but they believe it now! Please join us in congratulating our two Grand Prize winners:

• The Best Story prize went to “All you Need is Love…and a lot of Money” written by Mary B. of Somerville, Massachusetts. Hers is an epic tale including marriage, babies, moving, and a journey across America’s highways. We can’t wait for the movie.
• Daryl B. of San Francisco has won Best Video with his entry entitled “Daddy Need New Shoes” a lively tale of his whole family’s efforts to make the holidays bright for the kids, even though times are tough.

Check out these and many other creative entries at http://contest.mint.com.

We launched the “Holiday Spending Hangover” contest in January to help people share their debt-ache stories and get some encouragement to get on top of their finances in 2008 (read more here). Thousands of site visitors voted to determine the top ten stories and the top ten videos. Those entries were then judged by a panel of experts including J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly and Andy Williams of InCharge^® Debt Solutions on their originality, creativity, humor and relevance to the contest theme to determine the two Grand Prize winners. Daryl and Mary each received more than $3,500 in cash, and will receive free credit counseling provided by InCharge^® Debt Solutions, Inc., a leading U.S. credit counseling organization.

Mint.com thanks all of you who submitted and voted on a great collection of stories and videos. We encourage everyone interested in better managing their expenses to visit us at www.mint.com: it’s the fresh, free, and easy way to manage and save money online!

Further Reading on the Topic:

Budget Help

Budget Tracking Software

Online Budget Tracking

Money saving tips are something that we love here at Mint. Learn more with great money saving tips in our blog article index.

This year, instead of buying friends and family lots of material goods that they may or may not like or return, consider giving each other the gift of time. It’s not only less expensive, but can yield a much higher “return”. Here is a money saving tip: Do some greater good in the world by organizing a volunteer event with friends, family or co-workers (i.e. in place of that tired “secret Santa” gift exchange you may do each year).

Mint’s Point of View

When your family volunteers together, you demonstrate the importance of caring for others. By volunteering with family or friends, you’ll meet new people, learn new skills, strengthen bonds, and make a difference in other people’s lives. You also can’t help but become more appreciative of what you have. And when you consider that there are 3.5 million homeless people in the U.S. (1.4 million of them are kids), another 3 million more people in hospitals and retirement homes, and thousands of families disrupted due to military service this year — you probably have a lot to be grateful for. Why not “give back” by giving your time this season…and save some money by doing so?

Action Plan

Once you’ve sold the idea to your soon-to-be able group of volunteers:

1. Make a list of organizations you’d like to work with.
2. Set some guidelines: Do you prefer being outdoors, animals, assisting the elderly, helping the homeless, working with your hands? How much time can you spend?
3. Contact your target organizations to find out what volunteering projects they may have.
4. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few Web sites that will match you up with appropriate volunteer opportunities.

The Holiday Project is a national, non-profit organization in 31 states focused on spending the holidays with people in hospitals and nursing homes. Ways to participate include visiting with the elderly, making and wrapping gifts, managing and organizing events, and contributing cash and goods. For group visits, you choose the facility, setup, and manage visits with the help of the Holiday Project staff.

Network for Good is one of the leading Internet-based resources for donors, volunteers, and charities. They provide a search tool for volunteers to find opportunities based on their interests and geographic location, or to search for organization by name. It also provides searches for individual or group volunteer opportunities. Through the site, you can even volunteer abroad, keep online records of your service, and maintain a private journal.

Volunteer Match makes it easy to find opportunities with at least 50 organizations by searching based on your interests, skills, and schedule. They allow you to search for specific organizations, group opportunities, and even virtual volunteering opportunities. You can also request email alerts when new opportunities based on your criteria become available.

Idealist is a non-profit where people exchange resources and ideas, search for non-profit jobs, and locate volunteer opportunities and supporters. Using their search engine, you can find opportunities based on: area of focus, location, age, language, date, and specific opportunities for families or groups. Idealist also offers email alerts.

Volunteers of America is a national, non-profit volunteer organization in 44 states. Projects include working with: the disabled, day care centers, and teachers; and helping offenders transition from prison to the community. Volunteer opportunities are available for individuals as well as groups and can be short-term, weekly, or monthly.

If you’ve used some of these web sites to find volunteer projects in the past, please add your comments below…how were they to work with? If you have a different recommendation for help in matching your interests with your community’s needs, please share that, too.

And if you do organize a volunteer project, please send us a group photo. We’d love to post it on the bulletin board in the Mint company kitchen. And we might just send you some t-shirts to say thanks!