Archive for April 24, 2008
Party Planning Part 3 – The Food
Now that we know the why and have determined who we will share this party with; let’s move on to the all important “food” decisions. Many factors go into deciding what kinds of foods you will be serving, or if you will be serving food at all. First and foremost is the budget. Unless money is not a factor in your life it is important to set a limit on how much you want to spend on this party. While limiting, this will also help to focus you better on the decisions you make moving forward.
“What can I bring?”, this statement usually is spoken by those invited when you inform them of the party. Decide in advance if you want to have some help with the food or not. I personally prefer to “do” the party myself, thus keeping my party theme clean and not having to find a place for the wonderful nachos someone brought to my Julia Child revisited Paris Bistro meal. If you decide to let your guest bring food; have an answer ready as to just what they can bring. I find that asking them to bring a bottle of wine usually works in this situation.
So now let’s decide on the menu. Based on the number of people coming, the time of day or night and how many plates and flatware you have; you can begin to set the menu. My wife and I are currently planning a small gathering of the new neighbors for a cocktail party. Our theme is the Kentucky Derby. Based around mint julips, we have chosen to have a couple of hors d’oeuvres , four to be precise. As it is a cocktail party we don’t have to consider seating arrangements. If you are planning a sit down meal, how many can you get comfortably around your table? Think also about serving pieces, once you make the food you have to get it to the table and present it in an attractive manner. If you are planning a rather large group event take the time before the big day to set all the serving pieces out on the table to make sure they fit or you have a plan “B” to handle this. For the large formal buffet we had in NJ a few months ago, my wife, my good friend, Jean, and my mother-in-law planned the table setting. I was strictly in charge of the food. It was extremely important that I know what went where; as I was responsible for getting it all out, quickly and in the right spot. We actually drew a template with the serving pieces and the food that went on them specified. I know, it sounds really anal but when crunch time came I was able to get all the food in the right place in a very short time.
A few do’s and don’t's to consider. Do write your menu down, in fact print it and put it on the frig. When our kids would come home from college for a holiday the first question they always asked was, “is the menu posted?”. To them this signified that we were looking forward to their arrival and a good time was at hand. Do try to stay within budget both on the food and number of guest, a very crowded room and a “screaming” wallet don’t make for a good time. Do plan on enjoying your own party; after all this is why you are going through all this planning. Do plan on how all this will get cleaned up; DO say yes to a friend who offers to help clean up.
Don’t “try” new dishes when 20 people are coming; most of us can’t pull this off, stay with what you are comfortable with. Don’t make this into a competition. Don’t worry if you run out of something, “stuff” happens and probably if you don’t make a big deal out of it no one will notice.
One final Do, Do try to keep your sense of humor throughout, it just may save the day!
Feel the Power – . As an added benefit for those who are members of the emealsforyou clan we have included a guide to using our emealsforyou.com site to make planning and executing the party easier in the category section called “Feel the Power”.
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