How to arrange a party with a small budget

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

We experienced different times, including not too simple ones. And they counted pennies - and which student does not count? No, the parents, of course, helped, but there was not enough for everything, only for the necessary.

It seems sad, huh? But, let me tell you frankly, we were not at all sad! The secret is simple - we were young! Of course, we dreamed of a different life, we knew that things could be different, but all these little things - total deficit, lack of money - were very easy to worry about.

Now I will tell you a story that actually happened to me personally.

So, I am nineteen, I am a student, my beloved, who will become my husband in six months, is also a student. And we fools wanted romance. And yet - why fools? The age was such when nothing scares or scares.

We gathered at the dacha. What is seemingly scary here, all the more extreme? Just think - a summer residence! With a stove, by the way, and a gas stove. And even in the near Moscow region.

But the extreme was present - that January it hit thirty-five degrees. It was such an outstanding winter that the batteries burst and people made fires in the courtyards.

And we - to the dacha! After all, the main thing is the forest, snow, a wooden house. And we are together! (The others will arrive later.)

The first car that we caught stopped in the center - something "boiled" there and broke down. The second is at the Okruzhnaya. We unload and reload again. There are almost no people who want to trudge out of town, into the darkness, the cold. One was persuaded - the greedy one was caught, luckily for us. Oh, I will remember this "path" for a long time …

They "boiled", they stalled - in a word, they experienced the delights of the Soviet automobile industry. Somewhere they poured vodka, somewhere they begged for a bucket of boiling water.

The driver hated us and did not hide it. And we - we had fun: what adventures lie ahead!

With God's help we got there, unloaded the knapsacks. Snow is chest-deep, the gate cannot be opened - a shovel is in the house. And we are having fun again! We climbed over the fence, dragged things, opened the house.

In the house - as "nice" as on the street, there is no difference. They lit the stove, lit the gas - all four burners - melted the snow and cooked dumplings. We drank some tea. The bed was dragged into the kitchen - it was a little more humane there. We fell asleep, of course, under three ice blankets. The stove persisted and did not want to melt.

In the morning it was scary to stick out my nose. Upstairs, under the ceiling, where the heat from the stove was rising, everything was literally hot, and on the floor there was a bucket full of non-melting ice.

But again we did not grieve, and the stove in the morning was more merciful to us. And in the evening, friends were supposed to arrive by train.

We cleaned up the house, melted a couple of buckets of snow on the stove and went outside to decorate the Christmas tree. We chose the fluffiest one, put on tinsel, balls and garlands. We cleaned the path to the house.

And everything was easy for us, everything was funny, everything was joy. Friends arrived, two couples - crazed, numb in the train and during the long journey from the station.

The work was in full swing: the guys chopped firewood, laid the table, and we, the girls, prepared the festive table.

So we come to the budget for this risky event. What was planned on our festive table? Let me remind you: we are students, inept, and in the country there is another acute phase of deficit.

We tried our best: we cut vegetables on Olivier - with sausage, of course. The cucumber was salted, and one. Neither fresh nor pickled, but - it's gone!

Next is the salad with pink salmon. Quite cheap and very simple: a can of canned pink salmon, rice and onions. Mayonnaise, of course. Then cheese salad with garlic and beetroot salad with prunes.

The herring is a skinny Iwashi, there was no other. But nothing, got away - with an onion and fragrant oil. To her - potatoes, where without her.

What else was there? The cans of sprat and saury begged from my mother, pies from the master's table given by a pitiful granny are in a paper bag. And also - half a barrel of dry sausage, just stolen from the parent's refrigerator.

All together, whoever could and had time.

Of course, we dressed up and put on makeup, but the shoes were not useful: they put on felt boots for the dresses, the floor was still mercilessly blowing.

There were simple candles on the table and very enlivened the modest country setting. The colored lights on the chandelier blinked. The vase smelled of a pine branch with cones. And our "creations". We were happy! And when they ate and drank, they rolled out into the street together.

They made a fire and danced around the decorated Christmas tree, bawling songs in hoarse voices.

Then they danced and bawled at home, danced very "slow" dances to Joe Dassin.

We played charades, cities and something else - I don’t remember.

Some of the guys dressed up as a Snow Maiden, it was funny.

Calmed down at dawn. We woke up in the evening and happily ate what was left, and the leftovers, as always, turned out to be very sweet.

We left late in the evening. To be honest, I really wanted to go home - to a warm apartment and under a warm shower, to my mother's jelly and grandmother's pies. Well, did they leave us something tasty? They are not so heartless!

In the train we fell asleep together.

How many years have passed since then, Lord! How much water has flowed under the bridge! How much was everything in our life: both good and bad - everyone.

But that New Year, carefree, crazy, reckless, very fun and very budgetary - the most budgetary in my life - I still remember and consider it the best!

Maria Metlitskaya - the author of novellas and short stories. In his books, he describes the ordinary fate of ordinary people. Juicy language, fascinating stories, light irony distinguish the style of a true master. Metlitskaya, without excessive moralizing and depressing notes, raises serious moral, ethical, social and psychological problems that almost every one of us faces. The publishing house "Eksmo" has published a new book by Maria Metlitskaya "Diary of a mother-in-law".

Maybe because we were young and absolutely fearless? Yes, maybe.

And yet, this is not the only point. Then we knew how to create a holiday for ourselves out of nothing.

And now? Of course, we were lazy, of course, tired and, alas, did not get younger, of course, we were spoiled - it is dreary and reluctant to cook a lot, and besides, there is everything in stores, for every taste and budget. Delicacies - caviar, sausage, fish - have become quite common food.

The outfits are also quite affordable - no need to run, humiliate yourself and get out.

But we have lost something, definitely. The acuity of sensations, or something.

Still, probably youth …

But - I insist! - a holiday is, first of all, a state of mind, which does not depend on the thickness of the wallet and the availability of delicacies on the table, it is not necessarily an expensive restaurant or overseas countries.

The holiday is the family and loved ones who gathered at your table. And also what is prepared for them with your hands, and what is hidden for them in bright bags for under the tree. A holiday is all that you put your heart and soul into.

Maria Metlitskaya specially for "Cleo"