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Creative Food & Dinner
Party Ideas
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Consumer: food and drink news
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"Do you have a recipe you'd like
to share?"
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Home Party FAQs & Recipe Ideas |
"Will
I have enough drinks for my guests?"
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"How many hors d'oeuvres do I
need for my party?"
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Menu Planning Tip.
"Beware of ...
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Find more creative ideas and
help here
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Party A & Q
Question:
"I'm having a small christmas dinner
party - should I give my guests gifts or should I ask them to bring gifts?"
Answer:
Party Hosts, especially
around the holiday season, usually give a small "Hostess Gift" like goodie bags or favors - but they don't
have to be expensive or extravagant. They can be as simple as decorative recipe cards featuring that night's meal
or a cookie recipe with few home-made cookies in a cellophane bag tied with a beautiful ribbon. Most dinner
party guests offer their Host a gift. If you'd like to ask guests to do a gift exchange instead here's a couple
of suggestions. If you're guests know each other, have them select names in advance and do a "Secret Santa"
gift exchange. If many of your guests don't know each other brake the ice in a fun way with a "White
elephant" or "Thieving Elves" gift exchange game. Each guest brings a gift with a limited value (usually under $10
to $20) and draw names or numbers to select gifts. The 1st guest selects one gift. The 2nd guest can
then select from the remaining gives or take the one from the guest who selected before them, and so on. Just be
sure that guests know what to expect in the invitation.
"Have a question? Need advice?"
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What's a "Progressive party"? It is a trend that takes the elegance of a "Dinner party"
and the reduced stress of a "Pot luck" and combines it with good friends and neighbors. Do you remember "Block Parties"?
When a neighborhood got together, got permission from the city to block off a small section of the neighborhood street, and
had a giant, front yard party that spilled out into the neighborhood street. That same feeling of community has been
reborn in a fun and sophisticated new way with the "Progressive Party". A group of neighbors get together to through
a party. The party starts at one location (one neighbor's house) and as the evening progresses the party will move
to a different location (home in the neighborhood). Here's how it works. Each neighbor takes on one specific portion
of a dinner party menu such as:
- Cocktails & Appetizers
- Main Course
- Fruit & Dessert
- After dinner drinks & coffee
Each household then schedules a specific time for the others to come to their house
that evening. Then each home will then create a party at their house around their section of the dinner party
menu. On the day of the party the neighbors walk from house to house in their neighborhood - getting to know each
other and enjoying each part of the dinner meal. Example: After Cocktails & Appetizers at one home,
the entire party "progresses" to the next home for the Main course, and then the next for Fruit & Dessert, etc.
This not only creates a feeling of community but takes the pressure off of one single household doing all the work for the
party. Since you are walking, you are only steps from your own home. Need more information or help organizing
a "Progressive Party" for your neighborhood? Call or contact us today.
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 Entertaining Tip: 3 tips for
feeding a crowd.
Are you expecting
a crowd for dinner? Here are 3 simple tips to help service flow a little smoother.
1.) For a crowd
of 8 guests or more, consider a Buffet or Family style (each dish placed on the table so guests may serve themselves) dinner
service instead of a plated dinner. Not only you can make a Buffet style service as casual or sophisticated as you'd
like but it helps the Host spend more time with their guests and less in the kitchen.
2.) Have you
ever witnessed a "Buffet bottleneck"? It usually starts right at the beginning - as guests shuffle slowly through the
line fumbling with containers of plates, forks, knifes, etc. Once they gather their utensils and plate they end up juggling
them throughout the rest of the line. Take a few minutes before your dinner to bundle together a fork, a knife, and
a spoon then tie them together with a napkin. Guests can simply grab their utensil bundle and go.
3.) Drink service
on a Buffet can be another time consuming process. Some Hosts try to move the
Buffet line along by placing glasses and drinks at the end of the line. Unfortunately, it just slows the line down
at the opposite end. If your guests will sit-down together, why not avoid the backup by pouring a goblet of water for each
table setting. Then create a separate drink station on the other side of the room.
It gives guests a chance to stop, put their plates down and casually come back for their drink instead
of trying to balance food, utensils, and a drink.
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After the Party ...
Room Carpet Cleaning
Sometimes recovering from a great party can be more stressful then planning one.
Here's a little help to make your post-party time a little easier. Consider hiring a cleaning service. We work
with Oxymagic of Virginia. We offer an optional one room carpet cleaning - "powered by oxygen"with an "In-home"
theme party package. Another great way to let us create the celebration and you to enjoy the party! Click
here to learn more about our service packages.
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Tapas Parties
If
you glance over the menus in some of the most fashionable eateries in Downtown Norfolk, you may notice one of the fastest
growing culinary trends. While the fast foods giants are urging us to “super-size” our meals
to gargantuan portion some of the more contemporary restaurants in Hampton roads offering a “sample-sized”
dinning experience. Inspired by festively, distinctively bars of Spain, Tapas have become the dinning buzz word for
the year. To read
the rest of this article...
Download Vivid Expressions article & newsletter
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