Graudation..

[schellie69]

Hello, I hope every one had a great Mother's day, and a great weekend, My 2nd daughter and foster daughter graduated highschool on mother's day so my weekend was very busy, we had family in from out of state, I was very proud of my self even with family in and a grauation party and bbq that we had, I still mananged to stay frugal, here a couple of things that happend. my inlaws came into town saturday night we had them come over for coffee or tea after they had dinner, (they ate out their choice), my dh and I made a quick dessert chocolate chip cookie dough brownies it is easy to make I hade a box of brownie mix bought with coupons and sale so it was free a bag of cookie mix bought on sale and with coupons it was also free, a tub of frosting bought with coupon and mark down cost me 19 cents, tea was made with tea bags bought on sale and with coupon free. coffee made with coffee bought on sale and with coupon the whole can cost me $4.00 it is folgers, lemonade and koolade bought on sale when they where 10 for $1.00 so that was 20 cents for a gallon of both, so coffee and dessert cost me 75 cents for 15 people, now the bbq we had hambugers, hot dogs, and chicken tenders marinated. plus pototoe salad, deviled eggs, cucumber tomotoe salad, jello, the meat was all bought at sam's in bulk, the hambuger and hot dog buns were bought on sale, the condiments were bought on sale, and in my panty (stock pile) I got some pickles on sale and with a coupon, jello was bought on sale it was in stock pile, the tomatoes in the cucumber/tomotoe salad were bought a week ago in mark down (they were cherrie tomotoes a countainer cost 99 cents) I only used half a container cut the tomotoes in half, this meal feed 23 people for a total of $2.50 per person, I don't think this that is to bad, i had left overs which darling husband used in his lunch for work, and the kids had for dinner the graduation cake was $25.16 and it feed 27 people, i bought the cake already done at walmart, i just did not have time to make one, I did not include the paper plates and silver wear i bought for the cake we used regular plates and silver ware for the bbq, i did have a lot of dishes but it was cheaper then buying paper plates, just couldn't do that so for a litte over $3.00 a person i had dessert and coffee with in laws a family bbq and a grauation party, for 2 girls, it was fun and still managed to keep my budget under $200.00 for a week of food for the family and also the nonfood, and the whole graduation thing with family my total for this week this includes food for a week for 9 people, nonfood items, graduation weekend, and pet food my total was $190.00 i have $200 a week budget for food and supplies. I am doing the happy dance. I was really worried i would blow my food budget this week. but managed to keep it under budget. and I did not even really hurt my panty still have back ups. I am just so glad that things went well, and i know that the biggest reason that i did not blow my budget was all the great advice and help that I have gotten from here. everyone here has been so nice and great on answering questions and helping me. thank you all....having a panty helped alot, and remembering to buy things on sale and with coupons, and keeping those for back up helped because i did not have to buy as much when it was regluar price and watching sales before this weekend and buying things that i could store when they were on sale really helped. so once again thanks for all the help...

[Darlene]

I'm so happy for you! You did a great job. Hope you had fun too!
Congratulations to the young ladies!

[yankeegal]

You did a great job-I have my DD's graduation this Sunday and I hope I can do as well as you and come in under budget. I have a lot of the food purchased, except for the deli meat and fruit so I think I can do it.

[ewokgirl]

Great job! And congrats to the girls!

Speaking of graduation, what are some frugal (i.e. inexpensive) gifts? I need to buy gifts for a couple of kids at church (one boy, one girl). What did your girls receive that they've liked a lot?

[schellie69]

mine got just money like 20 to 25 dollars, in a simple card she loved it, my foster daughter got a bath set that was under $20 she loved that, it think the kids liked the money the best that way they could get what they wanted hope this helps

[ewokgirl]

Thanks.

[peanut]

WTG! We have a graduation to celebrate this year too. I'm contemplating how to handle it. It will be a small homeschool graduation get together. DD#2 isn't big on parties.

Jean

[frugalnana]

Congratulations to your daughters. You did a great job on a budget. I as well hope I do good. My son graduates on May 27. We are also planning a BBQ with family and his friends. We decided to buy the cake, dh said it would be less hectic for me. Since I will be preparing 4 days prior.
I have almost everything I need now. Just need to find a recipe for macaroni salad.