Entertaining Ideas
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Wine and Cheese Party?
Any tips? I need ideas for invites, decoration, wine and cheese choices, and overall tips... thanks!
Re: Wine and Cheese Party?
I know Joelen has some links in her blog.
I would go online and order invites (I like polkadotdesign.com and paperstyle.com). They have lots of cute, reasonable invites. Or if it is more relaxed, you could just do evite. As far as decor, I would keep the lighting low, use lots of votives for lighting, and decorate with wine corks and grapes, burgundy and bronzed colors.
After that you have a lot of options, I like to stick to a certain area (i.e. California wines, american cheeses, South American wines and cheeses, French wines and cheeses) or go with a certain theme, like white wine or sparkling wines, and then get cheeses to go with that. Check out Martha Stewart too...I have one of her cookbooks that has a whole section on wines and cheeses, I would imagine there is something on her website too.
I also recommend sticking with a theme or region. A couple years ago I did a "Summer Whites" party. I sent out an Evite and asked guests to wear white clothing and come over to enjoy some white wine to help usher in another summer. Although, since this is Arizona, I think the party was in April so we could enjoy being outside before summer actually arrived and it got too hot. We served a variety of white wines (chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc, sparkling white, etc.), cheeses, fruits, crackers, and artisan breads.
If your theme is going to be a particular region, the opening line of your invitation (or your Evite event title) could be, "Join us for an afternoon/evening in Napa Valley/Italy/Argentina/Spain." Try to find cheeses from that region to compliment your wine choices. If you're planning to have background music, find some from that country.
Oh, and be sure to have enough wine charms for all the glasses, or tie different colored ribbons around the stems so your guests can tell which glass is theirs if they set them down. Me, I never set down my wine glass, so I never have that problem! Well, maybe never setting down my wine glass is my problem.
Sunday Suppers did a great cheese table here:
http://sunday-suppers.blogspot.com/search?q=cheese
I love these easy DIY invites using real red wine to make the rings.
I agree with pps that you need a theme. You should also decide whether you want to have people taste and guess or taste and learn. For guessing: use gift bags to cover the labels of a selection of South American reds (for example) print up descriptions found on the bottle, at the store or online and get guests to vote which wine fits which description. For tasting: provide a well-paired cheese, chocolate or fruit and tell guests which flavors to look for.
I'd keep any real tasting activity to less than an hour and then just let people enjoy the offerings.
Our Share of the Harvest:How a couple cooks from a CSA share. Pick Up Day Week 15
Maybe my previous Wine & Dine and cheese tasting events may provide some inspiration:
WINE & DINES
Is there a local vineyard in your area? See if they have recommendations for which cheeses (and chocolates!) to serve with each wine.
We had a tasting one time, and the hostess had a red wine with the MOST delicious chocolate ever! It was a chocolate covered caramel, with sea salt on top! Sounds gross, but it was rich, and the combination of sweet and salty with the red wine made me melt!!