A Message from The Frugal Hostess

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More Halloween Party Ideas and a New Friend

The Frugal Hostess is always on the look out for new ideas for saving money while living an excellent life.  To that end, she's recently add a new friend slash long-lost sister to her RSS Reader.  Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet The Broke Socialite!

TBS and TFH have become fast friends, and The Frugal Hostess reads The Broke Socialite's every word.  So, when this post showed up today, FruHo knew she had to share it.  Here are some of TBS's great ideas for an inexpensive Halloween fete.  Enjoy!

The Frugal Hostess is always looking for more friends. Feed the comment beast.  You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

Five Halloween Party Ideas

Hmmm, The Frugal Hostess has been so busy talking about organic food lately that she hasn't been much of a hostess.  To rectify that, here are five quick ideas for Halloween parties.

The Night of the Living Dead – Tell your guests that their costumes must be zombie-inspired which can lead to hilarious mash-ups like “Undead Jon and Kate Plus 8” or “Zombie Michael Jackson.”  Give all the food you serve names like “Mummy Eyeballs” for deviled eggs or “Gravedigger’s Dip” for seven-layer dip; that way, you can serve an easy menu of favorites but still get the added punch of being on-theme.  Keep the decorations simple by just using black fabric and spiders and bats cut out of black card stock.  (inspired by Birds and Cherries)

Closet Halloween – Costumes have to be made up of items in your guests’ closets (think hobo, gypsy, etc.); decorations are made from fabric scraps and old clothes; and the menu is made up of Spaghetti and Mothballs, Hanger Steak, etc.  This is a great “girls’ night in” (ghouls' night in?) party if you ask the ladies to bring unwanted clothing or accessories for a swap.

Dead People Dinner Party – Guests have to dress up as someone from the past who they’d like to have dinner with, and stay in character for the night.  You could have each person tell you who they’re going to be in advance and craft your menu to reflect the guests.  So, if you’ve invited a wanna-be Audrey Hepburn, dessert might be Tiffany-blue iced cupcakes; for a Ghandi-impersonator, a gourmet salt-tasting course.

Pumpkin-Carving Cocktail Party – Buy a pumpkin for every guest or couple, and put out hors d’oeuvres and a self-serve bar.  Cover your dinner table with newspaper and knives, and let people carve their pumpkins.  Have a pumpkin beauty contest with prizes at the end, and be sure to save the seeds to toast and add to salads.

Trick-or-Treat Tailgate – If you live in a neighborhood with a lot of kids, invite friends over to watch the adorable trick-or-treat action.  Set it up like a tailgating party with easy food like hamburgers and hotdogs or fried chicken (getting Popeye’s is not cheating).

Party on Wayne.  Party on Garth.

photo by Steve Chasmar

The Frugal Hostess just made a Wayne's World joke.  Things are clearly getting critical.  Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

Halloween Centerpiece Extraordinaire

The Frugal Hostess worked on her Halloween centerpiece this weekend.  What do you think?

The Frugal Hostess spent an hour and a half arranging squash on the dining room table. She clearly needs something better to do.  Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

Halloween Bat Mobiles

In case you missed it, The Frugal Hostess decorated for Halloween.  You can catch up in yesterday's post.


Ingredients
Thin cardboard (like a gift box)
Assorted Halloween-y papers
Black glitter
Glue
Hole punch
Scissors
Black ribbon or string
Pencil

Directions
1.  Draw a bat on a piece of thin cardboard.    This is pretty easy; The Frugal Hostess did hers freehand and then replicated it.  You can also Google a bat shape and trace it.

2.  Cut out the bat shape, and then trace it to make four more identical bats out of thin cardboard.  [If you are using this decoration inside, card stock will work just fine.]

3.  Trace those bat shapes onto your Halloween-y paper.  FruHo used papers on two bats (meaning she needed four shapes) and glitter on two bats (more on that in a minute).  You should pay attention to what side of the bat you're using for tracing; if your bat is at all lopsided (or "jaunty," as TFH's bats are), you'll need to keep track of which cut out goes with which bat.  Just number them or something simple.

4.  Cut the bat shapes out of the paper you've traced it on, and glue it to the cardboard bats.  [Gift box/tampon box - use what you have!]

5.  If you decide to glitter any of your bats, The Frugal Hostess suggests that you spray paint or color them with markers first.  She didn't, and as a result she had to use about twice as much glitter and still had gaps.

6.  When the bats are dry, cut a one inch slit in the bottom of two bats and the top of the other two bats.

7.  Punch a hole (if you have a hole-punch that is smaller than standard, that will be better) in the bats that have been cut from the bottom up, and string the ribbon through the hole.  The length of the ribbon will be determined by where you're hanging it.

8.  Push the bat with the ribbon into the bat cut from the top down, so that they interlock.  Presto, flying bat mobile extraordinaire!

The Frugal Hostess has bats in her belfry.  Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears, or follow on Twitter.

Halloween Porch Decorations

The Frugal Hostess likes to decorate her front porch for the various holidays and seasons.  She sometimes buys decorations (usually at the after-holiday sales), but she really prefers throwing things together.  After the graduation party a few weeks back, TFH decided she would definitely make a fabric banner for Halloween using purple, green, black, and orange fabric.   Easier said than done, as it happened.  None of her fabric scraps were the right colors, and the thrift stores were suspiciously barren of fabric scrap bags.  [Do note that most thrift stores sell giant bags of fabric remnants for next to nothing - like, two dollars - TFH just had bad luck.  If you like to use fabric in your crafts, get thee to a thrift store.  Plus, you usually get random colors and patterns that you wouldn't pick out but are glad to have.]  She was finally able to score single napkins and pillow cases in the right colors, and away she went.  Instructions are here, if you missed it.

 
Next, she planned to use some of the things she made last year.  In a fit of new home owner crafting, The Frugal Hostess made bat mobiles, witches' hat garlands, a pumpkin still life, and a bunch of other stuff last Halloween.  While the decorations themselves fell apart, paper perhaps not being the most long-lasting of choices for outside decor, TFH saved all of her templates, ribbon, and other odds and ends in a box in the basement.

But wait!  Didn't her basement flood recently?  Oh no!  What happened to all of the templates?  (Doesn't that just sound like something that would get uttered in all seriousness in an accounting office somewhere?)  Well, Dear Reader(s?), they were rescued.  Whew.


For the door, FruHo (Yes.  Like J-Lo.) envisioned a creepy black wreath with a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.  Because she already had the skeleton and couldn't figure out what to do with it.  Here's how it went down.  TFH had purchased a huge lot of embroidery hoops at a thrift store a while back, because they are the perfect thing to use for paper craft mobiles, wreaths, etc.  She took two of them, one large and one small, and taped them together.  Then, using a pair of black tights that she sliced up, she wrapped the wreath shape to cover the tape.  (You could also spray paint it).  Next, she took a long and winding black scarf and wrapped it around the wreath, followed by a long piece of black velvet ribbon.  All of this was loosely secured with a couple of safety pins.  The final touch was to dangle the little skeleton from the wreath.  Now, you are probably normal and thus lacking in a storehouse of embroidery hoops, but the point here is to use what you have rather than spending a fortune on decorations.

To flank the fabric banner, TFH decided to make a couple of bat mobiles (mow-bull, not Bat Mobile like what Batman drives).  Detailed instructions are forthcoming soon, but these would be slightly less complicated than last year's bat-a-palooza, while making use of the already existing bat templates.  Brill.  She got out the box of templates, placed it on the table, and began to work.  She cut out the bats, did all the steps, blah blah blah to be explained in a later post.  And then she walked away from the table for a few minutes to talk to The Frugal Husband.  At which point one of the assholes cats peed into the box of templates.  That's right, folks; the templates that had been carefully tucked away for a year, then rescued from flood waters, were destroyed by cat piss.  All the more reason not to spend a lot of money on decorations, in The Frugal Hostess's humble opinion.

BOO!

The Frugal Hostess is turning into a cat lady. Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

Fall Things to Think About

OK, she knows it's still summer and hot and buggy, but The Frugal Hostess has been giving a lot of thought to fall parties and holidays. It's probably because of all the back to school sales. There are so many cool things to celebrate in the fall.  Here's a quick list of things you might want to do/think about/plan.

1.  End of Summer Party: The weekend before the fall equinox (Sept. 22) is the perfect time for this.  Serve really summery foods like watermelon and tomatoes; make fruity drinks; and invite your guests to wear their bathing suits.  Depending on who you're friends with.


2.  Free/Cheap Fall Decorations: Save jars and scrub off the labels (or use glass vases).  Fill with fallen acorns, those prickly sweet gum balls (what are those things called?), and/or little pine cones.  Look for fallen sticks and branches, and bunch them together in pots.  Bonus points if they have pretty leaves.  Tie a fall-colored ribbon around a smaller arrangement of sticks and either position on its side on a shelf or stand up on a table.


3.  Halloween: Lots more coming about Halloween, but for now think about your Halloween costume.  Look through your closet first.  The Frugal Hostess has been a cowgirl, a biker (in much skinnier, leather pant-wearing days), and a hippie using her own clothes.  You could also maybe pull off Holly Golightly in a Little Black Dress, a hobo with a flannel shirt, or a man/woman (whatever you're not) with some makeup.  Now's also a good time to look for costume components at the thrift store, before everyone in the world is doing the same thing.

A Note to Ho-Bags at Halloween: You know who you are.  That girl.  The one who dresses up as Slutty Nurse, Hooker Pirate Wench, Sexy Cop, or Naughty Librarian.  You are an asshole, and you make all other women feel like they are Grimace from McDonaldland. 

4.  Calendar:  There are usually three times more parties and events in the fall than in the summer, so you will need to be a little more organized if you want to enjoy the season to the fullest.  Be sure that you include things like football games - The Frugal Hostess is sometimes held hostage by her husband's football needs.  Also, look up the various fall festivals near you; that's a good way to entertain yourself and feel like you're living in season without spending a ton of dough.

5.  Fall Food:  The Frugal Household tries to be careful about eating in season and saving things for certain times of year, so TFH is getting really excited about the return of sweet potatoes and butternut squash to her plate.  Whatever your fall food traditions, it's fun to start thinking of them and building the anticipation.

photo by Micky

The Frugal Hostess gets lonely. Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

Tuesday To-Dos

The Frugal Hostess, as she's mentioned, is a planner. And, since she's cheap, it makes sense to do a lot of advanced planning if she wants to make things herself or look for supplies at garage sales. Here are some of her to-dos for the next week:

1. Start vanilla and vinegar for Christmas gifts. They each take about six months of sitting in the basement. These are super cheap and easy gifts to make, and they are actually useful, unlike some of the CPC that people give as "gesture gifts." TFH will look for cool bottles to put them in at her regular thrift stores.

2. Think about Halloween decorations. Look through craft supplies to see what Halloween items are there. Flip through old magazines for ideas.

3. Pick a date to host a Midnight Supper party. This will most likely be in late September so that dinner can take place outside. Maybe look at a full moon night?

photo by Joe Lanman