It is so easy these days to find a party tray full of delicious goodies. You can just go to your favorite restaurant and put in an order for party trays. This is very tempting because it’s almost always a guarantee that the food will be great. This is what everyone tends to expect from expensive catering services.

Unfortunately for most people, expensive catering—or any catering service for that matter—is not a luxury they can afford. No worries though, since they can make cheap party trays by themselves. They will also be able to save money by serving affordable yet delicious fare.

Fruit and Dessert Trays

One of the easiest cheap party trays to assemble is the fruit tray. You can arrange each kind of fruit, preferably the dry ones with skins like strawberries, grapes, cherries, and unpeeled bananas, in separate piles or mix all of them together on the bottom platters. On the upper tiers, assemble the slices of green and red apples, bananas, pears, and more cherries. Give the platter an exotic, tropical touch by adding slices of yellow mangoes, kiwi, and guavas.

There doesn’t have to be dozens of each kind of fruit. Just one tiered platter of sliced fruit will suffice. Just keep in mind two important things: incorporate lots of colors and make sure the fruits are all sliced and fresh.

It is easy to make cheap party trays full of dessert. Simply whip up some sweet and creamy concoctions and scoop them into small, plastic cups. Add bits of strawberries or cherries for additional flavor. Arrange these cups in a dessert tray or you can also assemble them on tiered stands as well, along with home-baked cheesecake, brownies, cupcakes and gelatin. All slices/pieces should have its own paper muffin cup for convenience’s sake.

Deli Trays

Meats, cheeses, chips and crackers are trademark cheap party trays. Stores like Costco and Walmart sell ready-to-serve deli and sandwich platters at very low prices. For only $35 you can already provide enough sandwiches for as many as 25 people.

If you don’t want to serve cold cuts for sandwiches, you can roast a hunk of meat and keep it in the oven until you can finally slice it in time for the party to start. If the result’s really delicious, you can even serve it along with the finger food.

Finger Food Trays

Speaking of finger food, these are very easy to make and you can truly save money by making them yourself. You can buy just one or two pizza dough and you can already make dozens of pinwheels. Quarter the dough and flatten them further until they are thin enough for pinwheels. Add the cream cheese, bits of ham, olives, peas or any other ingredient you want. Roll the dough tightly and then cut in 1-inch lengths. Pop them in the oven and voila! You’ll have cheap party trays full of finger food.

Note that this article aims to provide you with practical ideas for cheap party trays. These tips are not only recommended because they are cheap and won’t require hosts to spend much but also because the aforementioned are very easy to prepare.