Where Do I Store My Party Supplies?
I know what you are thinking. Wow, Leslie is at a Restaurant Supply store. Hah … I Fooled you. I am in my basement! Looking at where I store my party supplies.
One of my favorite things to do is to entertain. I love the opportunity to make others laugh, feel special, and enjoy good food. On average, we entertain about once a month. Of course, that means I need a surplus of stuff for parties. And a place to store all of our party supplies.
Although we host a lot of fun events, the biggest one by far is our annual Holiday Party. Each year I prepare food for 200 people and we have held this party for over thirty years. So you can only imagine that I have purchased a few party supplies over the years.
What if You are Just Starting to Entertain?
Don’t panic. If you are just starting out, you don’t have to buy anything. But if you start entertaining frequently then you might want to collect a few things you can use over and over.
The first thing I invested in was wine glasses. A party supply store was going out of business and I bought 100 of them. For ten cents each. (I never would have bought that many, but I couldn’t pass them up! And we still use them all of the time.)
I bought my first vases at the flower mart. The smartest thing I did was to buy twelve of them. They were under $5 each and I use them all of the time.
As you can see from the shelves above, I have lots of vases, glasses, candlesticks, and water bottles. But trust me, there is so much more!
So where do I store all of my party supplies? In our basement. It’s a room I don’t really share because it’s not finished and it’s really only used for storage and laundry. (If you would have told me a month ago I was going to post pictures of my basement on this blog I would have said you are crazy! California basements are tiny. And not glamorous!)
As you can see I have lots of vases, glass cups, candle holders, jelly jars, shot glasses, and tons more. Please note, these photos do not include my butler’s pantry where I store all of my china, dishes, wine glasses, and champagne glasses. And six drawers of linens.
Where is the Best Place to Buy Party Supplies?
You are probably wondering where I buy all of our party supplies. I shopped a lot of places including online, restaurant supply stores, flea markets, Craig’s List, and more. I am really good at shopping for sales. I mentioned I bought a lot of our wine glasses on sale and many of the other items were from flea markets.
One of my favorite online stores for party supplies is Save-on-Crafts. I have no idea why this is such a big secret but they have everything and their prices are really good.
As you can see from the photo below, I have a lot of ball jars. Our everyday drinking glasses are ball jars and I also use them for dinner parties. I also use them as vases and to store fairy lights. I have even served dessert in ball jars. I will admit though, that I have way too many! But they are so inexpensive and fun to use at any dinner party.
I do try to store everything in plastic containers to keep my supplies clean. It makes such a difference.
So, am I a hoarder? Absolutely not. And that’s because this stuff is all organized. It really is. In truth, I am an entertainer. And after years of hosting parties where I do everything (as in cooking, flowers, table settings, etc.) I have discovered it is a lot cheaper to just buy and reuse this stuff than renting it.
The good news is that I use this stuff. All of it. The bad news is I didn’t take as many photos as I should have. Which means that I own a lot more party supplies than what you see here. Things like coffee pots, chafing dishes, trays, platters, more vases, coffee cups, soup mugs, chargers, votives, and shot glasses. The list is quite endless.
These plastic bins of shot glasses are not for wild crazy drinking parties at my house. I use these for appetizers at our Christmas party. I promise.
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That is excellent! One of my past jobs (when I had my own catering)was strictly catering. So I didn’t need that type of equipment I have serving platters but my main thing was tons of food! So I had tons of containers! I downsized majorily! I love your postings and your style. One day I may have my dream kitchen (God willing). But for now I have a little cottage one which fits for a missionary in Mexico. Can’t wait to see what you “cook” up in your new abode! ????
I didn’t even know houses in So. Cal had basements. Lived there almost 30 years, never saw one. Lucky you. 🙂 Dessert shots – perfect!!
You are so organized. Everything is fantastic. You remind me of the energizer bunny! Maybe those shot glasses have something to do with it. Just teasing! I use shot glasss for single flowers on place settings sometimes.
Ha!! Sometimes I truly think I might be the energizer bunny! What a good idea to use shot glasses for single flowers… might have to steal that idea!
I would love to see your collection of China and colored glasses, etc. Simply love all your posts!
And more volleyball games, please!
Ha! Hopefully the future holds much more of both!
Good to note that all of your basics appear to be clear and neutral. It allows the food and flowers to be the stars of the show!!! And having a basement in California proves that your house is a unicorn…
Exactly! haha, I guess that would be a good thing to call it!
Thank you for sharing your storage area. I love seeing this part of your home too. It’s a great setup for storage. Thank you for the wonderful idea.
Lisa
You are welcome! Thank you for following along 🙂
Love seeing how you store party supplies. My collection is growing. I need to organize now. Would love to see more pictures!! Thank you for sharing!
Of course, so glad you found helpful.
You have inspired me to organize my entertaining storage shelves in the basement. I love the idea of the plastic containers so nothing gets dusty. The table scapes you show are beautiful.
Thank you so much, I love hearing that I have inspired projects of others, good luck!
Such a great collection! You have a great storage method. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
I would never think you’re a hoarder. You are so organized and also its awesome you have a basement to store all these items. You are always surprising me.
So glad I am keeping you on your toes, haha!
Fabulous!! Great idea to keep things in bins so they are clean and ready at the get go. I also love to entertain and have a collection of things but not quite the amount that you have collected. I live in Utah and I have a big basement but I need to organize things better so I can see everything better. I forget what I have haha. I would love to see how you organize your linens.
Karin
It can be easy to forget, I find it can be fun to organize and remember what I have.
Great job!!! You are very resourceful by buying so much that can be used over and over. I too was surprised that there are basements in California. Any issues during earthquakes? I can only imagine how that would play out😥 I too love to host but I’m definitely not as “fancy” as you. But, I am learning from you so thank you. Enjoy your family. It has been fun following especially during quarantine times!
I love hearing that we have similar passions!
Good morning! I found you via Instagram several months ago, but this is my first time posting. I just wanted to say that both your Instagram and blog posts inspire me to clean (ha!) and entertain! Thank you for showing us your basement-although I love your “pretty” pictures, posts like this are so useful. (Confession: I have some overflow items stored in our basement near the cats’ litter boxes. Every time I bring them out I have to give them a good cleaning-litter dust. It never occurred to me to put things in boxes like you do!! 💡) Anyways, thank you for being a bright and encouraging part of my morning coffee routine. I think what you do/your job is a big deal-you inspire many to make their homes a haven for friends and family. “Small things with great love”. You are appreciated!
Wow, thank you so much Sofia. It brings so much joy to hear that you are following along with me and are inspired!
Leslie! I love the Tips for storage in your basement. I too have a very small basement (I live in Long Beach, CA, house built in 1937) and have been reorganizing during Covid19, but forgot to utilize my basement! I currently store my faux Christmas trees in there, but now I am going to purchase shelving similar to yours to maximize my small storage space. Thank you for these tips!!
You are so welcome! I am glad you found this helpful!
Wow. You are truly organized. Love the idea of the clear bins. I will be doing that, thank you! We also have a basement and live in SoCal. We also use it for storage and all my Christmas and entertaining stuff is down there. Thank you for sharing.
I am so glad to help!
thank you for sharing the “good stuff” . Often I am hard on myself and do feel like a hoarder. I have jars, vases , chafing dishes . I have collected for years and always feel like I should get rid of things just because it is too much, even though I love to entertain as well. It is nice to know I am not alone in this collection of goods.! haha
Haha yes!
Thank you for sharing this glimpse into your storage system. How to store entertaining supplies so they are accessible and ready to use is so important for me, otherwise they are of no use. This post is very helpful.
Oh you’re so welcome Angie! So glad it was helpful 🙌🏻
Hi! Could you advise as to the name of the plastic containers you use store the vases, and where to purchase them, please? I have several small votives and other varius-sized vases. I am looking for the plastic containers with lids. Thank you!