One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is EAT! I make meals or goodies that I don’t normally make . . . friends and family do the same . . . and whenever we get together to celebrate the holidays, sometimes we end up acting more like grazing cows than humans. Don’t get me wrong. Our family Christmas feast is a full-on, sit-down, stuff-your-face event with all of our favorite foods. But other social gatherings offer a help-yourself-as-many-times-as-you-can selection of foods and before you know it, you’ve filled your plate five times in one evening. Oh well. It doesn’t happen very often, right? Right?!

So, what does eating have to do with saving money? Well, as anyone can tell you, preparing for a holiday feast can get pretty expensive, not to mention stressful, especially if it’s left up to one or two people. Everyone knows someone who insists on taking care of absolutely everything, while others don’t seem to mind letting everyone else do all the work. So, for those of us that fall somewhere in the middle, it helps to share the responsibilities of preparing the meal. If you’d like to try divvying up all the work among family or friends, but don’t know exactly how to go about doing it, here are a couple of strategies that might work for you.

First, let each family or guest make their own favorite dish or two to bring to the table. Or, if you’re like my family and you already know who-likes-what, simply count up the number of different favorites and then split them up evenly among everyone. Then again, there’s my dad who insists on buying the shrimp, but doesn’t want to cook it! LOL (Love you, Dad!)

Second, try letting each family pick a part of a multi-course meal: appetizer, main dish, dessert, or drinks. For example, we have something called “Neighbor Night” and four families get together on a somewhat regular basis. Well, at least we try. And we’ve agreed to rotate responsibilities whenever we get together. For instance, whoever is hosting the party at their house provides all the drinks. The other three families then supply the rest, and it changes with every party. That way no one is stuck with the same thing every time.

With the economy the way it is right now, I don’t know too many people who can foot the entire bill on a huge holiday gathering. But then again there’s just something fun, exciting, and comforting about sharing a meal with the people we love and sharing our favorite things with them all. It’s not only easier on the wallet, but also less stressful knowing it’s not all on our shoulders. And who knows, you just might discover something new about yourself, your family, friends, and oh yeah . . . food!

Yum!