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Six Ways to Save: Big Celebrations

edding brunch for 80? Family reunion for 150? It's the perfect season to celebrate life's special events. And because keeping costs down is on top of everyone's party to-do list, we asked the most fun-loving frugalistas we could find to share their secrets. It turns out a big budget isn't nearly as important as big ideas. "Creativity and personal touches definitely outweigh the money you'd spend to do something chic and memorable," says Erika Lenkert, author of The Last-Minute Party Girl : Fashionable, Fearless, and Foolishly Simple Entertaining (Contemporary Books 2003). "The more personal it is, the more impact is leaves."

Diary of a New Homemaker
for Friday, June 5, 2009

Welcome back to The New Homemaker

One of my other projects that absorbed too much of my time is now out of the way, I've finished the upgrade on the site (almost--couple of stragglers), and it's all purty again. How you like?

If you catch any bugs or problems, please let me know. In the meantime, now that this is my main blog, I hope to be spending more time with you for reals.

A Seasonal Taste:

From House to Home 6/11/07

• Hand paint the cement or wood floor of a screened-in porch to look like a faux rug with diamond-shaped pattern and a squiggly border in favorite colors. Get young family members involved and ask them to splatter the paint like Jackson Pollack once did.
• Buy fresh herbs and plant them outside. Liven up your meals by adding fresh herbs from your own garden.
• Organize a special Father's Day (June 17) and invite dads who might be forgotten (whose children have grown and moved away, whose spouses have died, or who may be divorced). Make the food simple such as bratwurst, corn on the cob, and blueberry pie.

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A Taste of the Home Cooking Section:

Patriotic Slushies

his 4th of July, beat the heat with a frosty red, white, and blue drink that's as much fun to make as it is to slurp. Made with fruit, these patriotic slushies are tasty and nutritious. Kids mash up the fresh or frozen strawberries, blueberries, pears and bananas and as one mom from Ohio pointed out, "It's another fruit serving in one day."

To keep in the holiday spirit, sing or hum some traditional patriotic songs like "The Star Spangled Banner," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "America the Beautiful" while mashing the fruit; you can make a family game out of seeing who remembers all the words. Old Glory never tasted so good!