Big holiday parties are easy to plan. In fact, planning is always the easiest part. We often host Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve dinner. And next month I’m hosting our book club/holiday party in the the neighborhood. I can plan with the best of them.
Here are my tips for hosting a casual get-together:
Plan the food: Sometimes heavy, sometimes light. Perhaps one item in the slow cooker so you have hot food that’s easy to prepare and ready to serve. Lots of finger food to minimize utensil use. Some salty stuff and sweet stuff.
Plan the layout: Food always looks better on pretty platters and serving dishes.
Plan the drinks: No solo cups in my house. We drink real drinks out of real glassware.
Yes, planning is the easy part. Actually making it all happen is the hard part. There’s cooking and cleaning and timing — oh, the timing! I usually manage to pull it off but not without frantically running around with a very large piles of pots, pans, and dishes in the sink.
My better specialty is the casual get-together.
It’s a Friday night and you’ve got some wine chilling and you’re in the mood to share. You want to invite some friends over for a last minute get-together and they accept. But a glass of wine is just a glass of wine unless you put out a little spread that looks delicious and tastes great with very minimal effort. Here’s how it’s done.
1. Buy a Hickory Farms Party Planner.
The Party Planner happens to be my favorite. You’ll see why in a minute.
2. Open the box.
I’m sure you knew to do that but you might not know if this is the gift basket for you until you open it. For me, I knew this one was mine when I saw three kinds of sausages (Signature Beef Summer Sausage, Spicy & Savory Beef Summer Sausage, and Turkey Summer Sausage), four kinds of cheeses (Smoked Gouda Blend, Farmhouse Cheddar, Creamy Swiss Blend, and Smoked Cheddar Blend), two specialty mustards (Cranberry Mustard and Sweet Hot Mustard), along with two bags of mixed nuts.
3. Set  out the food.
In this case, I used a marble cheese board (that I made myself) and added a little tray of crackers.
That’s it. Just like that, you’ve got yummy meats and cheeses that will satisfy most. Including me.
My favorite combo was a gluten-free cracker, a slice of turkey sausage, creamy swiss, and a dollop of cranberry mustard.
But I’m going to take it a few steps further and give you a few secrets to making your food spread more appealing to the masses.
And I have one last tip for you. To find the Party Planner and other delicious gift baskets, you can go to HickoryFarms.com, visit one of their nearly 600 Holiday Market stores and kiosks across North America, as well as in select retailers.
Disclaimer: Compensation and products for review were provided by Hickory Farms via MomTrends. I received a free sample of the product for the purpose of this review. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Hickory Farms.Â
I prefer to be entertained
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to be entertained. I really like events though where everybody brings something, you get to try so many different things.
I enjoy a little of each. I LOVE to put together a great Holiday party but having no muss and fuss when someone else hosts is the best!
I prefer to be entertained. Just easier that way!! Less clean up 😛
I entertain, but I’d prefer to be entertained.
I like a little of both. Its nice to have people over but I also love to visit people during the holidays.
I prefer to be entertained. Much less work!!
I prefer to be entertained.
Usually we’re the one to entertain, but I’d rather be entertained.
I would love to be the entertainer but but my Mom always has Christmas and my Mother-in-law Christmas Eve. One day when they decide not to do I will get to.
As I am getting older I prefer to be entertained as it is too much work for me.
I much prefer to be entertained. I love to relax at a nice get together.
I prefer to be entertained.
abfantom at yahoo dot com
I prefer to be entertained but either is fine!
I prefer to entertain.
I like being entertained it is less stressful
I prefer to be entertained! Too stressful and not fun for me to be a hostess!
much prefer to be entertained
I prefer to be entertained.
Entertainer.
to be entertained. just less stressful that way. xdanimarie(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would prefer to entertain but sadly don’t really do much of it.
I prefer to entertain, but on a small scale.
I like to do a little of both!
I prefer to be entertained, but this year Thanksgiving is at our home.
I love to entertain, and I also enjoy being entertained!
i prefer to be entertained. my house is a wreck LOL
I enjoy doing both
I love to entertain!
I like to be entertained – a lot of fun without all of the work.
Rafflecopter name Barbara Montag
thank you
I entertain and the whole family comes here to my house.
I prefer to have someone entertain me. Less cleaning needs to happen that way
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to be entertained, but like to help out.
I prefer to be entertained
I prefer to entertain, I like to make a lot of food and have a great time.
During the holidays, I prefer to entertain.
prefer to entertain.
I prefer to entertain. i love hosting parties and get togethers.
I prefer to be entertained
I prefer to be entertained, it’s easier.
I love to entertain during the holidays.
I prefer to entertain 🙂
Honestly, I like doing both. I think I prefer entertaining slightly, but we haven’t been able to do that much lately with our work schedules.
I prefer to be entertained because I worry I will mess up being a host
I like both but I think I like entertaining more
I prefer to be entertained but that is just because my dog doesn’t really like when people come over. Otherwise I would be happy either way!
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to entertain
I prefer to entertain during the holidays.
While I enjoy both, I prefer to entertain.
I prefer to entertain people.
Be entertained but it hardly happens lol
I prefer to entertain
I like both but I prefer to entertain.
I prefer to entertain and have everyone over to our home during the holidays.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
We are at that age where we prefer to either be entertained or left alone…lol
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to be entertained although I do also enjoy entertaining during the holidays.
We are having guests for thanksgiving.
For the holiday parties, I like to be entertained. For Christmas morning though- everyone comes to our house. Or, they’re invited anyway.
be entertained
carla
I like to do the entertaining. A close second though… I like being entertained. 🙂
I love our tradition of visiting family. I do enjoy baking & bringing something to contribute & helping decorate & clean up, but once it is over, I like going home.
I prefer to have it in my home.
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to be entertained!
I prefer to entertain.
I like about equal. I love to entertain and show off my cooking skills but sometimes it’s nice to go to someone else’s house.
I love to entertain!!
i prefer to entertain
I Love to entertain
I prefer to be entertained.
I prefer to entertain! 🙂
I like to be entertained!
I prefer to be entertained at the holidays.
I’m not a great hostess, but I’m a pretty good guest, so I will say I prefer to be entertained! 🙂
I prefer to be entertained – that way I don’t have to worry about what the cats are up to….
I prefer to be entertained most. Much less stress.
I prefer to do the entertaining. I’m not great at it, but getting the 6 of us somewhere is a challenge sometimes!
I enjoy both, but probably entertaining just a little more.
We go to my mom’s for every holiday, but we always bring something. I like to be entertained I guess. lol
I prefer to entertain. I get so much enjoyment out of it!
I prefer to be entertained. And, I love Hickory Farms cranberry mustard, their cheeses and sausages.
I like to entertain 🙂 Cooking and decorating is less stressful than depending on my conversational skills alone 😛
I like both. We always host a Christmas Eve party and enjoy it every year. We like to set out a nice spread of appetizers and special holiday treats for our guests.
I prefer to be entertained. So much less work and stress
I love to throw bug parties and everybody here at my house.
vmkids3 at msn dot com
I have a tiny house so I have to be happy being entertained
I like to be entertained! But I also like to bring something along.
I prefer to be entertained.
Entertain me!
Now this is exactly how I plan a party…I always get a party platter. Leaves me more time to mingle with guests.