(11/20/25) BATON ROUGE, La. — Every year, parties and get-togethers for the holidays are an important tradition that brings abundant joy — and serious anxiety — into people's lives.

One of these stressors is always on the wallet, but Sandra May, LSU AgCenter curriculum coordinator for nutrition and community health programs, said there are easy ways to alleviate some of these issues.

To start, May suggests setting a budget for each party and gathering that will be held. This can prevent buying extra food or drinks that are not necessary for the event.

“You want to set a budget for how much you want to spend on each holiday or each event during the holiday,” May said. “There are many events like cookie exchanges and dinner parties for different groups and then, of course, the family gathering. So you want to make sure that you have a budget plan for each one.”

The day someone shops is also important for savings, May said. Grocery stores and supermarkets will usually increase the prices of seasonal foods the closer they get to the holiday, so she suggests shoppers plan ahead and not buy all their food at once. Some food, like those in cans or frozen, can be bought ahead of time and will allow for the more expensive perishable food that needs to be bought closer to the holiday.

She also suggests avoiding impulse buying and having a list for shopping.

“We typically over the holidays have lots of leftovers, and then some of them get thrown away. We kind of overestimate how much we need,” May said. “You just want to scale back a little bit.”

Also, when buying food products, do not just look for name brands and compare the prices with the store brands, which are in most cases cheaper and of the same quality.

For the menu, May suggests planning to cook as much food yourself as you can. More often than not, premade ingredients and meals will cost more than what is takes to make it at home.

“A lot of times, I prefer to make things on my own if I have the ingredients already at home. If I'm making a green bean casserole and topping it with dried onions, well, can I make my own dried onions?” May asked. “Maybe substitute some things that are a little bit cheaper that may not be your typical way of doing things, but you can definitely switch things up and sometimes it even works out better.”

Finally, May urges hosts and guests to enjoy conversations with one another during a gathering.

“Eat slowly, enjoy the conversation and enjoy the family time,” May said. “And as you eat during those conversations, you tend to eat less because you have time for your body to digest the food and feel full.”