You know that friend who has a nose for a deal? They are in their element now, and if you ask, just itching to share their mad skills with you. Here are a couple of inspiring holiday maven-centered stories:

From Marketplace Money (Meeting a Market Maven):

Here’s a teaser, but you’ll want to click and read the whole thing, or even listen. It’s a fast and very funny tale about this reporter’s maven mom.

And from last Sunday’s Styles section in the New York Times (We’re Going to Pary Like it’s 1929):

This reporter had David Monn, an event planner for the wealthy, outfit his apartment for a holiday dinner party on a K-Mart budget. ($300 for decorations, food, and booze) For those of you who, like me, have never heard of Mr. Monn, here’s a description of the type of thing he usually does:

The Nakheel Launch of Trump International Hotel and Tower Dubai
“To transport the guests to this desert land, a carpet was custom made to combine the colors of sand…giant stilt walkers designed to be palm trees flanked the exterior of the event…” and so forth with the custom hoo-ha-ing.

But Monn doesn’t blink at K-Mart, or become overwhelmed by the other bargain basement places he visits. Here are some tricks anyone can appropriate:

1. Think white — it’s cheap, he says. For example, he used a a roll of quilting batting ($12.99) as a tablecloth, and copier paper to make stars (covered with, yes, glitter, your friend this time of year) hung from the ceiling.
2. Serve soup.
3. Infuse your main course with extra fat (cream and butter are relatively cheap).
4. Stock up on $2-buck Chuck, and
5. Cheat on dessert.

I won’t spoil the story with more details — it’s a worthy read.

Related posts:

1. Choosing Charitable Causes: The Questions Post Budgeting for giving can be tough — how do you...

Tags:   David Monn · glitter · Malcolm Gladwell · maven · Tipping Point · white1 Comment