Party Hints

First and Foremost:

Get it right and your party will be a success!

Before you do anything else you have to determine what party style you have. Think about things like dress, costume, food decoration and invitation, just to name a few things to start off your plans. Consider your likes and dislikes, it seems obvious but some people end up forgetting about themselves just to please guests. Well, needless to say that you will end up with a bitter taste in your mouth and resenting having thrown a party and did not even enjoy it… Think about the last party you attended and remember what is it that made you feel good at the party, what was it that made you feel uncomfortable. That’s a good start!

Next thing – the budget. You set how much you will be able to spend and stick to it.

Determine what party style you’d like to have: a beach party, BBQ in the park, in a hotel, a restaurant, at your home, in your back yard. Will you have a fun activity party, a dinner party, a pot luck party, a “celebrating something party”, a movie and pop corn party, a disco party, a themed costume party; your imagination is the limit.

Planning dinner parties and entertaining guests does not have to be a harrowing experience. Do you enjoy cooking? If yes, you can prepare your favourite food for your guests. If this is something you feel is completely out of your realm, stick with recipes that you have had success with in the past. You should never try out a new recipe at a dinner party without having at least experimented with it first.

The kind of food you serve will also depend on the occasion and the number of guests you plan on inviting. If you know the people, you can make inquiries as to whether they have any food allergies, so you can be careful not to include these on the menu.

If you don’t particularly enjoy cooking, you have other options. One, you can ask each guest to bring something they prepared themselves. Such a party makes for a great potluck. Another option is for you to use a catering service or ask some of your guests to help with the cooking. Of course, you don’t want to start cooking roast beef half hour before the beginning of your party. But, but simple meals can be prepared quickly with the help of your friends. With the help of your friends cooking may not be such a drag after all.

I hope these tips and hints have been useful – enjoy your party planning!

Find more hints and tips on the next page.

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Bring Your Party Theme To Life With The Right Party Decorations

If you are looking for a fun excuse to throw a party, especially after a long drought of officially sanctioned party days, you might want to consider some days that are not during a long weekend, or a big festive season, patriotic holiday; unless you plan to have the holiday as the theme for your party. The reason is many people go away for long weekends and holidays and you may not have the people you love to spend some time with for the party.

Chinese New Year: No one has been celebrating New Year’s for longer than the Chinese, and this is reflected in the 15-day-long event. Chinese New Year is a great opportunity to decorate the house for more than two weeks, leading up to the culmination of the holiday, the Lantern Festival. Reds, blacks, and yellows are the big colours of the day. Traditionally, many Chinese families have decorated their houses with flowers and bamboo, Dishes of fruit (oranges and tangerines), and traditional candy trays. You will also want to include a lot of Chinese paper lanterns, a delicate and beautiful addition to the party décor. Dragons are also a part of the holiday, but remember that they are considered sacred so utilize this theme in an educated manner. Noise makers are a traditional part of the Lantern Festival, and ward off evil spirits for the New Year, as well as being great party favours. It is the peak of our summer in Australia, make it outdoors (just in case, have a backup plan).

St. Patrick’s Day: It almost goes without saying, but the theme for the day is green. Buy green balloons and shape them like clover for a great effect. You can also purchase shamrock-shaped balloons and hang them about your house. Hang some Irish flags above the door for good luck, and use a lot of green and white ribbon. Get yourself some St. Patrick’s Day paper plates and napkins and your theme is totally set!

Other themed party – Valentine’s Day, Australia day, WA day, Christmas in July, Spring time, Summer time, Winter time, Autumn time and something very unique to Australia: Fundraising parties; there is a myriad of good causes you can help.

For any special occasion, even other than national holidays, throwing a party is a great way to relax with your friends, neighbours or co-workers and socialize. These holidays are great as they are so colourful and full of tradition. Party suppliest hat bring your party theme alive will make the event unique and will be something your guests always remember.

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Some food styles

All dinner parties start off with appetizers, it can be drinks and hors d’oeuvres or little canapés. While you want to have a variety of appetizers available, you should not have so many that the guests will be too full to enjoy the meal. This is designed to be just a taste of your exquisite culinary skills. Some suggestions for appetizers include:

* Fruit and Yogurt – fruit kebabs

* An array of fruits with a yogurt dips.

* Vegetable tray with a sauce for dipping.

* Crab legs with a seafood sauce

* Brushetta cut into small bite size pieces

* Kebabs made with pineapple, mandarin oranges and cubes of cooked ham

There are several ways you can serve and display the appetizers at your dinner party. If you have a large room, you can place trays of the appetizers at various points – on tables, coffee tables, etc. Place the appetizer in a decorated corner with a tea light candle inside a single muffin tray (it will reflect the light creating a nice mood).

You can also serve the appetizers as you work your way through the guests. This also gives you a chance to chat with each one making them feel welcome. Remember to have plenty of napkins for the guests to use.

Our favourite

The wine and cheese Appetizer party

FYI did you know that cheese combined with wine can lower your blood pressure? (well even if this is not true is worth trying lol)

A wine and cheese party can be a fun way to relax and make new friends and as we say, it’s also a great way to lower your blood pressure.

Make it lots of fun by having every guest bring a bottle of wine and an exotic cheese. It’s a fantastic way to try new wines and cheeses … and a perfect conversation starter. A cheese and wine party is also the perfect way to relax … both yourself and your arteries. Wine is good for lowering blood pressure … and so is cheese.

Red wine contains a protective antioxidant — the flavonol called resveratrol. Those are powerful antioxidants to protect your arteries against the damage done by free radicals … and helps prevent hardening of your arteries. The flavonoid in red wine also keeps your blood platelets from clumping together … stopping this first step in the formation of deadly blood clots. A glass of red wine keeps your blood flowing smoothly through your arteries.

Even more important for your blood pressure … recent studies have shown that drinking red wine improves the function of your artery linings. When the linings of your arteries are working well … they freely dilate and bring down your blood pressure.

A Wedge of Cheese

Although cheese has lots of saturated fat and can raise cholesterol levels … a little cheese is good for you. Like red wine, cheese is good for you if eaten in moderation.

During the cheese making process, while the milk is fermenting … peptides are released from the milk proteins. These peptides help control your blood pressure … by inhibiting the enzymes that convert angiotensin.

Relax with a Glass of spicy Shiraz  which will pair well with a few cheeses: Cheddar (sharp), Edam, Gouda, and St. Nectaire, yummy! Your heart will love you for it.

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Catering for a Party

Dealing with catering service providers is part of planning a successful party. A caterer normally provides food and beverages and they have an important role in your party. If you have experience with caterers, you are in luck. But if you have never hired a caterer before, below area afew tips that may help you with that task.

If the party venue offers this service, it is also possible that you don’t need to worry about hiring a third party caterer. Even if catering is not provided by the party location, they may be able to recommend someone to you. If your party site manager, recommends a caterer you should still do your homework. Just like any other vendor, a caterer should be able to provide you with several references and you should always contact the references before contracting one.

You should look for reliability, trustworthiness, quality, and never assume that a caterer recommended by someone is surely the best possible solution for your event. One caterer may work great for one event, but not so well for others. A caterer may be experienced in smaller parties, but not experienced with parties with two hundred invited guests and others the opposite.

There are two different styles of catering:

Seated Dinner – Seated dinner setting will normally require more staff than a buffet. Serving the food requires more severs. With a seated dinner, you will need more tables and chairs because most of the guests will eat at the same time. A seated dinner offers less flexibility for your guests, because they usually have a couple of options to choose from. To simplify the process, menu options should be included with the party invitations so your guests can choose which selection they prefer. The pre-selection process enables you to work with your caterer on the final count.

Buffet – You may be able to get away with less chairs and tables with a buffet dinner. Buffet gives your party guests more flexibility, and they don’t all have to eat at the same time. A buffet dinner also gives your party guests more options to customize their food selection. The buffet requires fewer servers and less staff. Guests can pick and choose what they like. In addition to the obvious advantage of a more flexible dinner, your guest can go back for seconds. Because buffet dinners require minimal service staff, you may even be able to save money with this option.

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The Affordable and Easy Party Food –

Throw a Great Party Without Spending a Fortune

When Bridget Jones, the heroine of Helen Fielding’s hilarious novel Bridget Jones’ Diary, invited friends home for dinner, she served them blue soup (courtesy blue string that she had used to bind the celery). This was, of course, after she had planned an elaborate three-course dinner involving shepherd’s pie and soufflé and other such delights. And therein lays one of the keys to holding a fun dinner party: don’t bite off more than you can chew!

If you are planning a party, you already know that food can be one of your biggest expenses. However, you can take several steps to cut your party food costs. It is not necessary to purchase expensive appetizers and beverages to throw a great party. A little imagination and effort can make your party a memorable occasion.

Here are some ideas and suggestions to help you save money on food when throwing your next party:

Have a Potluck …

A potluck is certainly cheaper than hiring a caterer and you will save a lot of time and money by having your guests prepare a dish to share with others. Potluck is fun and you will surely end up with an interesting assortment of foods. To make things simpler, include a suggestion as to what type of dish you would like your guests to bring such as a dessert, main course, or salad.

Finger Foods are Fun …

Small sandwiches, chips, dips, and vegetable trays are relatively inexpensive and you won’t need to bother with place settings and bringing out your best china. Simply supply napkins and small paper plates and allow your guests to serve themselves from an assortment of bite size goodies.

Back to Basics …

Fruit and cheese are excellent choices for casual party foods that don’t require fancy place settings or dishes. Buy fresh fruit in season when you are likely to find certain varieties on sale and fill your table will a variety of cheeses, crackers, and olives, dried fruits and nuts.

Go Italian …

If your party will be a dinner party where fingers foods are not appropriate, you can try spaghetti with garlic bread and salad, or you could find a good deal on pizza that you can have delivered. You will save time and it is quite easy to find a bargain on different types of pizza.

Thrifty Thirst Quenchers …

For party beverages, two litre soft drinks and bottled water are cheaper and very easy to serve, beer and wine in cases. Provide ice and cups and allow your guests to serve themselves. Tea and coffee are cheap as is lemonade that you make fresh or from concentrate. An alternative idea is to ask your guests to bring their favourite drinks, especially alcohol. You can save a lot of money by doing so.

Your party does not have to cost a lot of money to be a huge success.

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Some Fun Do’s and Don’ts to Have a Great Party

A dinner party is meant to be an occasion for joy. What good is it when it leaves you an emotional and physical wreck from the strain of too much cooking, not enough breathing, and too much worrying? An easy way to ensure a fun dinner party is to remember some of the best dinner parties that you have attended. What did they have that others didn’t?

Too many people spend too much time worrying about the food and drink (will there be enough?), seating arrangements (who goes next to whom?), and such things as table linen (beige napkins or white?). That is not to say that you can ignore these matters altogether, but just that you should be able to work out some sort of balance that allows your dinner party to become a fun occasion.

A huge step in the right direction is to make a list of everything that you liked about the fun dinner parties that you have attended. That way, you know what you can do to make yours a success. Conversely, you can also list some of the things that you hated about your least favourite dinner parties, just so you know what not to do.

Now here are some more dos and don’ts:

• Do not wear yourself out worrying about the food. You’ll only end up cooking too much and crowding the table. Stick to two or three courses that you know you can handle well, and if you have fastidious guests, make sure you know their likes and dislikes. For instance, if a guest is on a diet, you should know what to serve him/her

•  Unless it is a really fancy dinner party, don’t fuss too much about table linen, cutlery, serving dishes, etc. Stick to the basics and focus more on making the conversation around the table witty and pleasant

•  Prepare all your food in advance. Nothing is worse than a host scurrying to and fro from kitchen to living room to attend to both the cooking and the guests simultaneously

•  Do not invite people that you don’t like

• Ensure your guests know that they have to be there by a specific time

•  Pre-plan for potentially embarrassing incidents such as a drunken guest, tension at the dinner table because the guests aren’t getting along, etc;

•  If you think someone has had too much to drink, make sure she/he doesn’t have more

• Make sure no guests leave your party to drive intoxicated;

• Finally, if you feel you absolutely cannot handle the cooking, order your food, but make no attempts to hide that fact!