ALT-1 Great Money Saving Tips for Thanksgiving
As soon as Halloween is over, stores start to put their holiday merchandise out on display. Thanksgiving merchandise will be visible everywhere, whether it be grocery stores or other retailers. For people who have the responsibility of hosting and preparing Thanksgiving dinner, the stress will be even greater. No one wants to compromise on the traditional foods and decorations of the holiday, but no one wants to over extend themselves to the point of feeling financially strapped before Christmas.By being a smart and savvy shopper, you can take advantage of countless ways to save money on everything you will need to buy for Thanksgiving.*Shop early -One thing that is sure to save you money is starting your shopping as early as possible. If you are going to make the entire meal, start purchasing whatever you can in advance. Baking supplies will be considerably cheaper if you get them as early as possible. You will also be assured that there will be a plentiful supply of the things you need. Stock up on flower, sugar, spices, shortening, canned pumpkin, nuts, canned cranberry, beverages, butter and other supplies.Order your turkey or ham well in advance to be sure of getting exactly what you want. You will be able to get a fresher bird or ham by placing an advance order. You may want to buy the dry stuffing mix as well.*Look to alternative places to shop -For canned and packaged stuff, look to Dent and Bent stores, discount stores, Dollar Stores, or even warehouse stores, if you are buying in quantity. If you are going to make your own dressing or stuffing and you need to use bread, consider getting some bread at a day old bread store or bakery and freeze it until you need to use it. Even places like Walgreen's will carry food items in the hope of luring customers into their stores.*Make your own centerpiece or table scape -Instead of spending a lot of money on flower or harvest arrangements, make your own. You can purchase things like small pumpkins, Indian corn, gourds, squash or other things with fall and harvest flavors and colors. Consider assembling a centerpiece of fresh fall fruits so that people can choose to select fruit to eat. This is a great way to accommodate the needs of fussy eaters, especially children.If you want candle light, consider filling a shallow bowl with cranberries and water, then take tea light candles and float them in the water. Since tea light candles won't burn for very long, you may also want to consider putting a pillar candle in the bowl.*Make your own table linens -You can make your own table linens, and by doing so, you will not have to worry about having Thanksgiving linens in future years. Before the Thanksgiving shoppers are out in droves, head over to a store like Big Lots or somewhere else where you can find inexpensive or discounted table linens in solid colors. Using corn, sliced circles of citrus, potatoes that you carve a design out of or anything else with an interesting texture that you can apply to the solid colored linens to create a design, dip the items into fall and harvest colored fabric paints and then create a design on the linens.With corn, you may want to dip it into multiple colors, or use a small paint brush to cover the ear with the colors of Indian corn. Then run the ear of corn over the table cloth, napkin or place mat, creating a design of multiple colors from the pattern of the ear of corn.*Cook what you can in advance -There will be some things that can be prepared in advance. If you make your own cranberry sauce or relish, consider making that in advance. If you add things like citrus peel or orange wedges to your cranberry sauce, by making it in advance, the flavors will have a chance to intensify and it will actually taste better than it would if you made it the day before.If there is one thing that always seems to be true of Thanksgiving (and Christmas and other holidays as well,) it is that the typical things that people need to buy in the grocery or other stores will go up in price. The closer the time gets to the holidays, the higher the prices will be, and this is a deliberate ploy on the part of most stores because they know that consumers need the items they are raising the prices on, so they will buy them regardless. The more you can purchase in advance, the more money you'll be able to save. Stock up on things when you find them on sale, and use coupons whenever possible, especially if you find something on sale.Plan your menu well in advance because then you won't find yourself faced with the need to change what you had originally intended to make because you can't find the ingredients you need. The more you can plan and prepare things in advance and avoid buying anything you need during the week of Thanksgiving, the more money you will be able to save. Another great way to save money on your Thanksgiving meal is by asking guests to contribute something so you won't be stock with the burden of paying for everything. This is something that can be done with family members who should be able to understand that in difficult economic times, it isn't fair to saddle the entire responsibility for preparing and paying for the Thanksgiving meal with one person.
