Throw a Great Party and Save Money on Drinks

Nobody will know the drinks are cheap if you don't tell them. Unless you are hosting a party for a group of beverage-savvy guests, they more than likely won't be able to tell that the drinks you are serving are not the most expensive brands. With soda, you can buy many more drinks when you buy the cheaper brands than if you buy the expensive brands.

Don't hand your guests a can of cheap soda, however, but instead pour the drinks beforehand or pour them in another room and hand them their drinks already in a glass. Alcohol is a similar situation; with so many inexpensive brands of alcohol available, why purchase the more expensive brands if you are on a tight budget?

If you insist on giving your guests expensive alcohol for fear they will notice the difference and berate you (what sort of people are you inviting to your party, anyhow?) try this trick: start the evening with the more expensive alcohol, and then slowly start introducing the cheaper stuff. If your guests are avid drinkers then chances are by the end of the night they won't have any idea what is in their drinking glass, let alone how much money it cost to buy.

Not every party needs to have alcohol. Unless your friends are enthusiastic drinkers, you may be able to get away with not serving any alcohol at all at your party and saving quite a bit of money. You can either request that people bring their own drinks, or simply not serve anything other than soda and water.

You can get away with not serving alcohol for many reasons...maybe your party is in the middle of the day and you don't think your guests will expect alcohol anyhow, or perhaps you could even reply to questions about the lack of alcohol by intimating to your guests in hushed tones that one of the other guests is recovering from a drinking problem. It doesn't matter if Uncle Bob truly is a recovering alcoholic, but if that gets your guests to stop asking about alcohol and start having a good time, then it's a good plan.

Powdered drinks save an amazing amount of money. If you are hosting a party for kids or some sort of party for adults where alcohol will not be expected, you will want to look into serving lemonade, fruit punch, or whatever other beverage you like that can be purchased in powdered form. This will save you a substantial amount of money over supplying sodas or juice boxes to the guests, and you will be able to offer much more for the amount of money you spent.

If you have a big drink cooler, then you're set: buy a tub of powdered drink mix, add water from your tap and ice cubes from your freezer, and there you have a satisfying beverage for your guests at a fraction of the cost you would have paid if you had bought liters of soda, bottled juices, or any other type of drink.