How To Throw A Hoedown On A Budget

Definiton of a hoedown by Google is “a social gathering at which lively folk dancing takes place.”

We did not dance it was way too hot! We did however have amazing music!

The moment we decided to throw our son’s graduation party the Viking  and I knew we were going to throw a hoedown for him I mean it made sense we are the homesteaders and we had the perfect stage with the chickens, the bees, and the garden out back! All of our friends and family gave us wonderful feedback that it was a wonderful special day barring the 96 degree hot humid weather that we could never have prepared for.

Here is the lineman himself enjoying the graduation festivities! He had a great time and here he is getting a plate of food which was all home-made including barbecue, pulled chicken, baked beans, pasta salad, coleslaw, potato salad, and hush puppies! YUM!

So here are our strategies and tips in throwing a successful hoedown on a budget!
1. Find a good band or play some great tunes! We found a great band for our hoe down check out the bank we booked Massive Grass local to Coastal NC… I know you will agree they are amazing!
2. Be creative! My brother-in-law painted this fabulous sign for us and both my brother in-laws and significant others helped us set up signs, tables, chairs and more!
3. Enlist friends and family for help!  We could not have pulled this off without help!  Be humble ask for help!
4. Join up with another family as we did to have them help with the expenses plus it made for a more festive day for our graduate!
5. Keeping it frugal instead of having sodas we made homemade lemonade and tea from scratch. My Mom made the tea and I made the lemonade both were a huge hit! Everyone loved my Mom’s tea and well the Johnson fellows love my lemonade this is one of my best friend’s sons.
6. For the adults we made homemade cider and had enough for all adults at the party for under $125.00 that is a huge savings over buying commercial brands of beer or cider.
7. We hired a friend to make our son’s cake and that made the cake more personal and it was absolutely delicious! If you are an accomplished baker you could make one yourself!
8. Try to have as much comfortable seating as possible. We rented tables and chairs but we used as many tables, chairs, and tents that we had on hand.
9. In the heat fans are so much appreciated!
10. Cook the pork butts or whatever your meat is the day before so you know it’s all cooked evenly unless you are serving hamburgers or hot dogs of course which are yummy too!  We will post about the Viking’s process on his amazing butts! 😉
11. We spread straw down to keep dirt from being tracked in the house.   We did however end up with straw in the house LOL!
12. Set up a children’s area with coloring books and a bubble maker one of my best friends who is a Kindergarten teacher provided the goodies and our co-hostess provided the bubble maker which was a huge hit!
13.Instead of hiring a photographer one of my other best friends and I traded services so she took photos for me and next year it’s my turn to take photos for her of her daughter who will be graduating next year! She used my SLR camera and took all the photos I requested what a gift!

We placed the gifts out back in the garden it was truly a fun day for everyone involved it was just so hot! The only thing I think I would do is have misters laying around for our guests!

Now I have to brag on the Viking and show you his homemade DIY awning he made which is totally awesome! It was all handmade with tarp that was a dumpster diving find and he used gallon jugs, wood pieces we had from a mill, grommets, and well it was just amazing and it so tied in with our hoe down theme!

Remember to keep your hoe down laid back and fun and most importantly invite your close friends and family who appreciate your fun and relaxed style of entertaining.

I wish you all a beautiful week….until next time!

Fondly,