How to Throw a Dinner Party With Just $60

Photo by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet

Test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin wants you to throw more parties. And her series Dinner With Friends will help you do just that. Each month Kendra hosts a real-life get-together in her apartment, then passes her expert game plan along to you: the menu, the grocery and prep lists, and all her tips and tricks.

I love every stage of a dinner party. The before: scrolling through recipes and texting friends to see who’s free. The during: mostly a blur, but I end up with a spill on my shirt and a cramp from laughing. The after: alone in a quiet kitchen, rinsing out wine glasses and marveling over how little the whole thing cost me.

Did that last part come as a surprise? Dinner parties have a reputation for being expensive to throw, the sort of thing you should save for a holiday or special occasion. But as a person who loves to have people over almost as much as she loves to stretch a dollar, I gotta say, that’s just not true. Low-key dinner parties are my favorite to host and attend; it’s just as fun to eat and hang with friends for no reason at all as it is for some big celebration.

With a little strategy and planning, you can host a gorgeous gathering for about $10 a person. I know, because I did it (and do it all the time)! Keep reading for the menu, a few hosting tips, and a breakdown of what to do and when—all so you can replicate this economical bash with no stress.

Jump to It

• $60 Dinner Party Menu

• Don’t Buy Party Decorations

• 3 Things Before Friends Arrive

• What to Do About Wine

• Grocery List

• Prep Schedule

$60 Dinner Party Menu

When planning a budget-conscious party (all mine are, TBH), it’s important to remember that you are in charge, not the recipes. Yes, choose dishes you feel comfortable preparing and that are easy to assemble in tandem (not four things that require different oven temperatures). But recipes are frameworks to operate within, not strict rules. If you can save some cash by making a few minor adjustments, you absolutely should.

What counts as an appropriately small tweak? Sensible swaps, like choosing a different nut or tender herb than the one called for because you happen to already have almonds and cilantro at home. Smart omissions, like leaving out an expensive or nonessential garnish. And scaling appropriately, to optimize a recipe for the number of people you’re serving (and their tastes—you know best!).

Here are the recipes I used, plus the adjustments I made to them, to cap my dinner party at $60:

Mortadella Bites

A cute appetizer that checks all the apero hour boxes—fluffy focaccia, salty cured meat, and a briny pickle—no cooking required. Go easy on the mortadella; the recipe calls for 2 lb., which is a lot. I needed barely a quarter of that, saving quite a bit of $$$. The pickled thing is up to you. What’s in your pantry already, or something you’ll have no problem using up? For me, it’s cornichons, so I swapped those in for the pepperoncini. The mayo felt unnecessary to me, so I skipped it.

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Brown Butter Pasta With Lemon and Parm

The ingredient list for this recipe is so short it looks like a joke, but you can coax quite a bit of flavor out of these staples by turning them into a luscious sauce. This dish is a great reminder that you don’t need a pricy protein to anchor a main dish; noodles are plenty filling and everyone loves them. And even a fancy box of pasta is still pretty cheap.

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Fennel-Celery Salad

Every buttery pasta needs a bright salad to serve alongside. Sliced thinly, the central ingredients create a towering tangle of crunch. Skip the pine nuts—they’re expensive, and there’s plenty of texture without them (but if you have another nut on hand, throw it in). And you can ditch the parsley too. If you get a fennel bulb with the fronds attached, those can double as an herb-like garnish.

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Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake

This fudgy cake doesn’t need the crown of whipped cream on top, but it does make the whole thing feel extra special. Maximize the flavor output of just one orange by using it in three ways (zest in the sugar, juice in the batter, and thinly sliced rind as a garnish). You’ll likely have some leftovers to enjoy with coffee tomorrow; after hosting, you deserve a treat.

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Don’t Buy Party Decorations

If you, like me, ever find yourself looking at some beautifully tablescaped dinner party on Instagram and thinking, “Dang, I guess I need to buy a 36-piece pewter servingware set,” I’m here to tell you: We have a disease. You do not need to buy anything. Close the app and take three cleansing breaths. A dinner party doesn’t have to have an “aesthetic.” A night of food and friends is successful so long as you have both those things (food, friends).

That said, I know us, and we also probably want to make it nice. But to do so, you just have to get creative with things you already have. Mismatched plates and glassware is a mood! Use a linen bedsheet as a tablecloth or tape down a length of butcher paper! Check the crafts drawer for ribbon if you’re into cute accent bows, and raid the fruit bowl for a centerpiece. Do you have a yard? Stuff a few small branches in a vase. Do you have a scarf? Spread it down the middle of your table like a runner. Lean into a style you can create with what you already own for a party that feels genuinely you.

3 Things Before Friends Arrive

With a DIY cinder block TV stand and a dented Ikea table, my apartment is not exactly Architectural Digest–worthy. Still, I manage to throw dinner parties with (if I do say so myself) impeccable vibes. My three favorite moves to set the tone involve no extra spending or errands:

Go on low-power mode. Turn off any overhead lights and turn on all the lamps you’ve got. If you have candles, light them. Is there a little light in your vent or microwave over your stove? Turn it on, that counts as a lamp. Instantly, everything and everyone looks gorgeous.

Employ a good soundtrack. Music fills the silence so conversation feels pressure-free. Pick something that’s gently groovy but not distracting, keep it at a moderate volume, and if you’re building the playlist by hand, add more songs than you think you’ll need. Mellow R&B is always a good place to start.

Make use of the giant black box on the wall—your TV. Chances are, your TV is right in the middle of the party zone. It’s easy to ignore, but better to integrate—think the Yule Log channel during the holidays, leveled up. Pop on something vibey and artful (bonus points if it’s seasonally appropriate) and set the TV to mute. When set against your playlist, you can pretend In The Mood for Love isn’t a heart-wrenching tale of longing and just soak in the visuals.

What to Do About Wine

When everyone coming to your dinner party asks what they can bring, I believe there are better items to request than wine—more on that here. But there’s a reason the most common answer to that question is a bottle: It crosses something off your to-do list and allows you to focus your budget on food. Even if you don’t ask for it, at least one friend is inevitably going to stride through the front door with a Pinot Grigio in their bag, so keep some fridge and freezer space available.

What to Bring to a Dinner Party

Grocery List

Get at the store

• 1 large fennel bulb with fronds

• 1 bunch celery

• 3 lemons

• 1 wedge Parmesan

• 5 oz. thinly sliced mortadella

• 1 1-lb. box short tube pasta (like mezze rigatoni)

• 1 box unsalted butter

• 1 large orange

• 1 jar peperoncini or cornichons

• 9 oz. dark chocolate (about 2 bars)

• 1 carton eggs (you’ll need 3)

• 1 pint heavy cream

Have on hand

• Kosher salt

• Black pepper

• Olive oil

• Sugar

• Baking powder

• Cocoa powder

Ask friends to bring

• 1 large piece of focaccia

• Sparkling water and wine

• If your pals are ambitious, you can also hand off the mortadella and/or pepperoncini (cheaper than wine, more useful for dinner)

Prep Schedule

Two days out

• Grocery shopping

Day before

• Chop chocolate → keep in a container in the fridge, or on the counter if your kitchen isn’t too hot

• Set aside serveware: platters, serving utensils, individual plates/cups/wine glasses/silverware. Make sure you have enough forks (a personal problem of mine; where do all my forks go?) and if not, borrow some from a pal

4 hours till dinner

• Bake cake → set aside to cool

• Slice fennel and celery → place in a large bowl, top with a slightly damp paper towel and keep chilled in refrigerator

• Shave parm for salad

• Juice lemons for salad

• Slice lemons for pasta

• Grate parm for pasta for the sauce (set a knob of cheese aside for garnishing later)

• Set the table

2 hours till dinner

• Whip cream and top cake with finishing touches

1 hour till dinner

• Set a pot of salted water on the stove for pasta (if your stove heats up fast, wait until 30 minutes out; mine takes forever)

Go time

• Assemble mortadella snacks → plate

• Dress and toss the salad → plate

• Finish pasta → serve out of the Dutch oven

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit

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