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

Have the holidays left you juggling your finances, scrambling to get out of debt or back on budget? Well, fear not, for the combination of the sub-prime fallout and bank competition has been bad news for bank investors but may be good news for you. Financial institutions are currently offering attractive high-yield savings accounts and low interest rate credit cards to attract more customers and accumulate more of their money. This creates a golden opportunity to reduce the cost of your debt right now, and buys you time to pay down your debt. Now could be a good time to start personal expenses tracking:

1. Transfer any Balances to a Lower Interest Credit Card. Market conditions mean that there are a slew of 0% interest rate credit cards available today. Many cards offer this “teaser” rate for up to 12 months, with no annual fee to worry about. While this does not reduce your overall debt, it does save you from accruing costly interest for the next year, buying you time to pay down your debt. It also has the advantage of consolidating your debt, giving you a single statement to manage. Here are two options to consider:

1. Negotiate a Lower Interest Rate with your Current Lender(s). Ask for a lower interest rate or the best “new customer” deal from your current card providers. Competition for your debt is fierce, and the cost to the bank of losing you is usually more than the expense of reducing your interest rate. For more guidance on the best negotiation tactics, read Three Ways to Ask for More Money.

1. Consider (carefully) leveraging your Home Equity. If you have equity in your home, you might consider using a home equity loan to pay off your credit cards. This is not for everyone. But given the typically lower interest rates offered on these loans, it might be a smart option to reduce your interest costs. Tread carefully here, however, and consult a pro before taking this step.

Once you’ve reduced the cost of your debt to a minimum level, you have to focus on reducing that debt burden. Mint suggests a four step approach:

1. Decide which Debt to Pay Down First. In the ideal world, you ought to pay down the debt with the highest interest rate (a nod to compound interest) first, regardless of balance. But the Snowball Method, popularized by Dave Ramsey, says the opposite and encourages you to payoff lower balances first. Psychologically, this approach makes it easier for you to get some quick wins and possibly gain the motivation to continue paying off the rest of your debt. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the Snowball Method might be right for you.
2. Set up Automatic Payments. This is a great way to ensure that you consistently pay down debt first, with the remaining money representing your new budget for your day-to-day expenses.
3. Yes, Tighten your Belt. It may sound simple, but until you’re out of debt you should be reducing or eliminating dinners out, travel or even that new gadget you’ve been eyeing. Think of the interest you’re paying now as a recurring expense that increases the overall cost of everything you’re buying. You’ll only be making it worse by continuing to spend more than you earn.
4. Get Better Organized in 2008. Understanding where your money is actually going is perhaps the most important first step to reducing your debt, preceding all the others. We designed Mint.com with the needs of the person striving to reduce or eliminate debt in mind. That’s why we made it easy for you to:
   1. See every transaction across your multiple accounts in one central place
   2. Set up budgets for the couple of categories you’ll want to watch most closely to get back on track
   3. And set up email or text alerts to let you know if your spending is exceeding those targets
   4. Find ways to save on bank interest and fees, as well as typical monthly bills.
   5. Use personal money management software like Mint to help track your spending.

   Sign up today!

And lastly: stay calm and keep your sense of humor. You are not alone in feeling under water. If you need any reassurance, please check out our Holiday Spending Hangover Contest (in preview now until its 1/31 launch). You’ll probably find that the stories submitted there sound familiar to you. Submit your own story and, who knows, you might win $5,000 yourself! That could represent a big step out of debt in 2008.

Is there a debt reduction idea we’ve missed? Please comment to let us know.

Further Reading on the Topic:

Personal Expenses Tracking

Personal Money Management Software

Free Money Manager

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!