How to Throw a Budget-Friendly Holiday Party (Cookie Exchange)

Follow these five tips on How to Throw a Budget-Friendly Holiday Party for a stress-free and fun evening with your friends!

The holidays are a fun but stressful time. There are tons of activities, the cold is starting to become uncomfortable, your children bring home all the germs and can get you sick, and your bank account just keeps getting lower and lower. Gathering together with friends and family is what gets us through and today I’m sharing all my tips on how to throw a fun and festive party without the stress or high expense.

HOW TO THROW A BUDGET-FRIENDLY HOLIDAY PARTY (COOKIE EXCHANGE)
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1) Host a Cookie Exchange or Pot Luck.

This kind of party helps relieve you of the burden of buying and preparing all the food. Not only does this reduce your stress and amount of money spent, but it is also really fun and enjoyable for the guests to be able to share and contribute. No one likes to show up empty handed to a party anyway and everyone loves cookies! Chocolate Snowballs, Chocolate Peppermint Blossoms, Red Velvet Cookies, White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps, Peppermint Sugar Cookies… are some of our favorites, what is your favorite holiday dessert?

2) Send e-invites!

This will save you time on shopping for the invites or going to print them, as well as money on the card itself and the postage. We live in a digital age and as cute as that little invite is, it will sadly just get tossed. There are a ton of sites to help you create an invite like evite.com or punchbowl.com. I personally like to use Canva.com and just send it as a PDF or upload it to a Facebook event group. With e-invites you can easily resend it a day or two before to remind your guests of the party and to make their treats.

Besides including the time and place of the event, be sure to include asking them to bring a plate of cookies for the exchange.

3) When it comes to Holiday Decorations, keep it simple!

You already have your home decorated for the holiday so not much more is needed.

For the table where you’ll set all the cookies, decorate with either Christmas/wintery decorations you already have or purchase a few inexpensive pieces that you’d be able to use in your home after the party is said and done.

My go-to place for decorations is Target. Their dollar section always has decorations for the current holiday ranging from 3-5 dollars. I got my cake stands, straws, festive sign, and jars from there. I love how they’re cute, budget-friendly, and nice quality. I also got all these flocked trees at Target ranging from $3-$10 each. Not bad at all!

4) Get MONEY BACK using the Ibotta app!

Ibotta works with so many retailers including Walmart, Kroger, Dollar Tree, JoAnn, Groupon, Target… To get cash back, be sure to check out the offers before shopping so you know what to add to your list. For example, at Target, there is currently an offer to get $1 back on a 2-pack of Philadelphia cream cheese and $0.60 back on chocolate chips. I know I’ll be needing both of those for some of my holiday baking. After I purchase the items (along with all my decorations I pick up there), I upload the receipt and in 24 hours I get $1.60 cash back.

I love that I can go to just one store, buy awesome things for less money AND get cash back on top of it. (All offers were valid as of publishing date. Don’t forget to check your app for details as offers change frequently and may not be available in all areas.)

If you didn’t find everything you needed at the store, no need to waste time and energy hopping from store to store. Ibotta even partners with online retailers like Amazon where you can get up to 10% cash back. Yep! You heard right. You can have what you need for your party (and other Christmas presents) delivered right to your doorstep AND get money back. A Christmas miracle!

5) Keep your Holiday Drinks simple and family friendly with a Hot Chocolate or Milk Bar.

Since you’re having cookies, you’ll of course need something to drink to wash them all down. Milk is always great with cookies and is definitely affordable and family friendly. Just pick up some cute paper straws and milk while you’re at Target (or disposable cups if you don’t want to have the hassle of lots of dishes). Ibotta currently has an offer for $.25 back on a half gallon or more of any organic milk. More money in your pockets!

If you live where it gets pretty cold, having a Hot Chocolate Bar is a great option for drinks. Keep the slow cooker full of hot chocolate and put out a few yummy add-ins like candy canes, marshmallows, whipped cream… If you want to save money here you can just use mugs you have or go ahead and buy styrofoam cups while you’re at the store or online.

Now go and enjoy the holiday season with your friends and family and a plate full of cookies. Don’t forget to earn cash back on all your holiday purchases, so you can get something for yourself once the holiday madness is over. Download the Ibotta app and start earning cash back today.

Want to grab more great money saving tips for every day? You’ll love these 5 Simple Meal Planning Tips to Save Time, Money & Sanity! They’re a lifesaver for me!!