party planning ideas

lmg423

We're having a few friends over for a holiday party. There are 8 (20 somthing) couples, a two year old, 9 month old and maybe another child.

I'm thinking we'll just have lots of appetizers and desserts. We don't really have enough room for a full meal at a table.

What kind of appetizers would you suggest? That would be filling enough to constitue a meal.

Also, I would love to have some kind of holiday cocktail - however, two of the women are pregnant and it will be on a tuesday so i don't think people will be getting trashed.

I'd like to have some kind of punch that could be made alcoholic if you want. Any ideas?

 

I'm not much of an entertainer. Any suggestions are welcome!

lsgarver

First, don't worry about "not being much of an entertainer".  Just provide for your guests, make them feel welcome and have fun.

For apps, you need a mix of heavy, medium and light.  Examples:

Heavy: Usually the substantial proteins like shrimp cocktail, meatballs, beef skewers, small ham sandwiches, satay or chicken and cheese in phyllo.

Medium: Usually dips and veggies like stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, mini quiches, spinach and artichoke dip in a bread bowl, hummus with veggies and pita.

Light: Snack-type things that you can sit around in bowls and people can mindlessly munch on like nuts, chips, M&Ms, chocolate covered pretzels, Chex Mix, etc.

Since you're going for a meal, I'd go with at least 4 of the heavy, 2-3 medium and 2 light.  Make at least one of your heavy apps sandwiches or wraps so it's easy for you to prepare.  Other things that can be prepared in batches like meatballs or chicken wings are also good choices.  Avoid planning every app to be one that needs individual preparation.  It's fine to prepare 30 spanakopitas which need to be individually wrapped but you can't do that for everything you serve.

For the punch, how about something easy like a a cranberry or pomegranate spritzer or mull some apple cider and have brandy, bourbon or rum for those who want to add it?

TarHeels&Rebels

Oh my.  How long do you have to get this all together?  Depending on how you feel about hosting, you might be best served by serving mainly frozen apps warmed in the oven and only making a couple things yourself. 

Some recipes are below.  Also, if you have old church cookbooks, they're one of the greatest sources for easy, affordable, quick apps ever.

First, look through all the apps here.

Prosciutto wrapped asparagus

Spicy cheddar snacks

Bacon cheese dip

Spinach and parm crostini

Alton Brown's shrimp cocktail

Baked brie with honey walnut sauce

Peppered steak crostini

Pimento cheese toasts

Crab dip

Smoked salmon crostini

Beef cocktail sandwiches

Pepperoni cheese puffs

Smoky cheese ball

Alton Brown's hot spinach & artichoke dip

Crab salad canapes

Cracker spread

Parmesan pinwheels

Spinach pastry diamonds

lmg423

thank you, thank you!

 

this is what i needed to see. i have a hard time planning

MrsVMS

Pillsbury has a ton of recipes using their biscuit and crescent roll dough. Pig in the blanket, ham cheddar & chive rolls (individual biscuit dough filled with velveeta, ham cubes & green onion). Lil' smokies & meatballs in BBQ sauce are an easy way to get some meat in there.  For some lighter apps tomatoe/mozzarella salad, sour cream & onion spread w/ crackers & veggies. For an easy punch, freeze oranges and cranberries for a few hours. Put frozen cranberries and sliced oranges in punch bowl to keep punch cold.  Add cold cranbenberry juice, ginger-ale or lemon-lime soda and raspberry flavored vodka to the mix.

Adjudi-Kate

I don't know if the kids you mentioned coming are yours, but I thought I'd mention a very nice thing that my childless friend did for us.  A group was coming for a dinner party at my friends house and a two-year-old and two one-year-olds were invited.  She actually went out and bought a couple of age-appropriate toys at a garage sale.  My kid and my friends' kids were entertained for a solid hour with those toys, giving their mommies a chance to actually talk to the adults, instead of just trying to wrangle the kiddos out of the non-babyproofed areas of the house.  It's hard when you go somewhere and you have to spend the whole party following your kid around saying "don't touch that!"

 As for an appetizer, my personal favorite is a Buffalo Chicken Dip served in a crock pot.  We serve it with Scoops chips.  Easy!