Cocktail Plates
The Food Rules of Your Cocktail Party
Hosting a cocktail party is a fun way to spend time with your family and friends. But when you serve alcohol your guest are sure to appreciate a few bites of food. As you are thinking about what to serve you should also think about how many people so you can have an idea on how much food you will need. For cocktail food, usually six bites every hour per person. However depending on the guests I would calculate a bit more then that.
Finger foods are good for cocktail parties. No big clean ups, and they can be prepared before everything gets started.
Your guests would like to have a napkin or even a small paper plate will due. This way they can mingle while they snack. And still not much clean up involved.
Appetizers as a rule are small in portion usually bite size. Sausage rolls, mini cheesecakes, chocolate dipped strawberries are all awesome ideas for cocktail party food. Pair up smoked salmon or caviar with martinis. Or you may choose to go simply with cheese trays paired with wine.
Whatever the cocktail party food of choice you need to be sure that you enjoy yourself at your cocktail party as well. It will not be too entertaining if the host is nowhere to be found, it could in fact make some guests feel uncomfortable. Make sure that you have chosen a food that you are familiar with, and a food that can be made ahead of time. You should not have to slave in the kitchen when you are hosting a fun filled cocktail party.
About the Author
I love having friends over and will share my experiences with you. I want to give a helping hand to everyone who want to have the best party.
my sweet 16 is in 10 days! and i need some HUGE help!party ideas,? invitations?entertainment????? PLEASE HELP!
MY 16TH Birthday is in 10 days! im inviting around 30 people.most are family, friends from church a d some from school. my colors are dark pink, pale pink&Gold. iwant it to look very fancy, oldfasion&cocktail all at the same time. im using gold silver ware, white plates w. gold lining. and im gonna try to go to tj max and find some champane fluets.tea lights and lots of tuel.rose petals and a plastic pink carpet. i want tealights everywere and my party will be at night. since i wont have dancing what kind of genre music should i have? franie j? more oldie but elegant. and what kind of activities can we do? i have older sisters so maybe there friends can put on a fasion show?my 2 older brothers will be butlers and serve stuff and open the door.:) im on a budget so i cant overspend? any ideas?thanks. my friends arent use to no dancing parties so i need big help!
For refreshments:
I suggest, since you can't drink, putting milkshakes in the champagne flutes for you and your friends... or apple cider. As for food, you can't go wrong with a nice plate of candy (should be easy to findaround halloween) and some crackers and cheese. If you're serving a dinner, you might want to try to make something yourself to save the costs of a caterer. As to a dessert, cake and Ice Cream are always nice, but if you're looking for something really elegant, you might want to buy/ make some cookies and cupcakes and put them in different sized- boxes (decorated to your party's colors using construction paper, ribbon, etc.) and stack them on top of each other (biggest on bottom) to make it look like a cake.
For decorations:
If you want it to be elegant at night, it would be fun to have it outdoors. But these decorations work fine inside, too. Take some polaroids of yourself and tape them onto the sides of a tent or inside the house to remind everyone whose party it is. Place a few tealights around, but not too many. People look way better in the dark than they do with a whole bunch of candlelight in their face. You can make some paper chains or other decorations from ribbon and construction paper. A white tablecloth is great for whatever you're using to hold snacks/ food/ drinks.
For entertainment:
Music is definitely an important part of a party. I suggest just putting on some of your favorite CDs into a boombox or stereo system. That way, you can listen to some great music... without some huge prices. If you don't have any music that fits the party, then you can go out and find a cheap easy listening CD. It seems that the main entertainment, since there's not going to be dancing, has to be something else. However, I suggest having some dancing so that you can worry less about planning lots of entertainment. Socializing and dancing works for a while, but you want to make sure your guest don't get bored. I suggest eating first, then a bit of dancing. After that, you can open some presents.
which brings me to...
Games:
If you want some party games, a fun one is "right on!" (a.k.a. the right game). In this game, you set up as many chairs as there are guests in a circle. Each guest sits in a chair. Then, you or a "butler" can call out any random personality trait (i.e. Your birthday is in july, your dad's name starts with a vowel, etc.). If the statement applies to you, you move over one seat to the right, whether or not someone else is there. If someone else is there, you have to sit on top of them. Stacks can get really high (I've seen it up to four people at once!), but that's ok. The first person to make it back to his/ her original seat wins.
Another fun game is the "dice" game. Put some prizes in the middle of a circle and have as many people that want to sit down on the floor and play do so. Place a few prizes, probably about 20, in the middle. Make some of them good (like a dollar) and others bad (like a glow stick) and others silly (like a "mystery" prize). Two or three pie tins, each with a couple of dice inside, should be placed evenly around the circle of people. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes, and then begin the game. Whoever has a tin rolls the dice, and if they get a specific number or numbers (set at the beginning of the game. You might want to choose six and ten, since those add up to sixteen.) they get to take something out of the middle.
For example, Jonny gets a two on one die and a four on the other, which adds up to six, so he takes a dollar out of the middle, then passes the tin to Carol. Carol gets a five and a six, which adds up to 11, so she takes nothing, and passes the tin to Ronny. Ronny gets a total of ten, but the only object left is a penny, so she has to take that. She passes the tin on to Sammy, who gets two sixes, which adds up to twelve, so he takes nothing and passes the tin on to Matt. Matt gets a total of six, but there are no more prizes in the middle, and still two minutes on the clock. Matt can steal! He takes Jonny's dollar. Play continues like this until time runs out. It's a fast- paced game of shouting, so it might not be the best for your elegant party. However, you might want to keep it in hiding just in case the party starts to get less party-ish.
That's all I can think of for now, but if I think of anything else, I'll let you know.
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