Christmas Party Suggestions
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Christmas Party Suggestions
| Mon, 11-17-2008 - 9:48am |
I need to grow a spine, lol. I got talked into hosting the Christmas open house this year! My best friend lives down the street from me and has agreed to "co-host". I will be at my house simply because I have more room (my basement is finished, hers isn't). Soooo, I need suggestions on how to throw a low cost party.
I am going to start looking out for

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Bex, I am not much help really, but I do have one suggestion for low cost appetizers that you can do a day or two ahead of time.
Hey Bex,
Sounds like fun. This sort of stuff is often dependent on how much you want/have time to cook. Here are some thoughts off the top of my head:
1. Pita chips: These can be dipped in all sorts of stuff and seasoned all sorts of ways. I have a cookbook that has 3 or 4 varieties I think so if you want those recipes let me know. You can get big packages of pita from Costco if you have a membership and they really aren't hard. Just mostly have to be around for an hour or so to stir them in the oven. Then you can look for dips to put out with them. Again, if you can go homemade it will be cheaper. Hummus, I have a white bean dip that's really good, spinach dip, that hot artichoke dip. Stuff like that. One super easy thing is to take a block of cream cheese and pour either salsa or some sort of sauce like raspberry chipotle sauce over it and serve it with tortilla chips or crackers. It looks nice and it's tasty.
2. Big plate of veggies and dip. Again way cheaper if you prep it all but that is a lot more work. Again, Costco could be your saving grace here.
3. Get a good mix of spicy, salty and sweet. You can buy big cans of mixed nuts for a pretty good price at Costco. Much more expensive at the grocery store but if you have a store with bulk bins, that might work. You could also buy raw nuts and spice them.
4. I have a great punch recipe that is sort of 'fallish' and then I have a hot cranberry citrus drink that is good and not terribly expensive. I bet you could even spike it.
5. Keep an eye toward identifying a few recipes you could maybe make 5-7 days ahead that will either keep or freeze, a couple you can do the day before and then only 1 or 2 that need to be made just in time. If you haven't entertained a lot, it's no fun to be scrambling like a madwoman all day and into the party because you're still making some elaborate dish you thought would be a lot faster to make.
I don't know how you did your invites but I really would encourage you to try and get an RSVP or change your invitation to ask people to bring something to share food wise. That sort of builds in the quantity control. That way you could make a few items to make sure you had a bit of variety and then let them fill in. It also really helps so that you aren't trying to accommodate a lot of dietary requests/needs. Those with those requirements will bring something for themselves.
Hope that helps. If you want any of the recipes, let me know and I'll get them posted.
Peg
Why not ask people to bring something? A entree, dessert, appetizer, etc....
Less pressure on you and sure to have enough for everyone.
Just my two cents.
Good luck.
MYM
Thank you all for your great suggestions and recipes (I printed them out!!!!). I think it will be okay. Between what my cohost is bringing and what some of the guests are bringing, we should have more then enough. I just sent out the evite
Bex -
At Christmas time, Kroger's puts it's shrimp cocktail trays on 2-for-1 sale.
sounds like fun!
a spiked bowl of punch is festive & will stretch your alcohol budget
don't forget popcorn; you can do
A few ides, hope this helps:
Sliced roasted bell peppers on small sourdough slices with feta cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. You can blacken your own peppers on the stovetop, or buy roasted ones. Wal-Mart sells loaves of pre-sliced sourdough bread in small slices in the deli. You only use a little feta and olive oil on each, so it's not expensive.
Croissants are great - you just buy pilsbury croissants, roll with ham or turkey
Oh lucky you, I LOVE hosting parties!
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