Ok, niceties aside, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you had a fabulous party? Let me clarify... by fabulous I mean effortless, beautiful, festive, affordable and a joy for you and all your guests. Well, today is Saturday and my friend (the beautiful, the talented) Monique is having a birthday tomorrow. I will be throwing a fabulous party for her at her house. It will be a Fiesta themed party with the appropriate cocktails...margaritas and sangria!! I will be preparing a spicy lime tequila chicken that I will grill to perfection and pair it with homemade tamales (not my home, but more on that later), charro beans and fresh guacamole. Honestly, I have not fretted over this party for one second. Does that surprise you? Well, my dears, entertaining is my passion and over the years I have assembled all the basic elements that I need for any get together. Over the next several postings, I will walk you through the preparation, recipes, festivities, etc. to show you how easy it is to throw a fabulous party. I will also be posting pictures of all the phases of the event, so you can truly see how successful and effortless a great gathering of friends can be. I will warn you though of one thing.....I will probably have a cocktail in my hands at all times. Well, it is a party after all!!!
Until next time....Keep it Sassy! Keep it Fabulous!! Spread the word!!! The Design Divas can't conquer the design world if we keep this a secret!! I don't mind, really. Blab, Girl, Blab!
Chintz
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2 comments:
I've been wanting to reply to this for ages but I have to wait until I am home to do so as can't access blogs from my laptop at work. I hate giving parties - well I love them, I like people enjoying themselves but I get anxious about preparation, will people enjoy themselves, will there be enough food, and often it isn't until people are about to leave that I finally relax and begin to enjoy myself. So help me, give me a fool proof way of preparation that means I enjoy the work, enjoy the preparation and enjoy all the party. Please, I want to be fabolous toooooooooo
Welcome Bambi, Moire here.
Although this is Chintz's thread, I know that he's in Las Vegas this week being fabulous at the Hospitality Design Show, so I thought I would add a little comment of my own.
My favourite way of cutting down on the work required for a party is to make it a 'Bring a Dish' affair. And my very favourite bring a dish affair is the 'bring a dish from where you come from' party. I have organised many of these parties in the past, both at home and at work, and they have always been a roaring success.
People get really enthusiastic about cooking food from their own home-town/country/continent and always pull all the stops out. I've had people bring dishes from India, China, Lebanon, Iran, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica, France, Czech-Texas, Germany, Serbia, Chile, Ireland and Scotland (to the same soire!)
Then all you have to do is make one dish from YOUR home country or town, and provide suitable decorations and beverages. I normally ask where everyone's dish comes from in advance, print out some flags ahead of time and stick them to cocktail sticks. Then when people arrive, they can choose their flag and stick it into their dish.
When you think about volumes of food; everyone usually cooks a dish to feed 4-6 people (sometimes considerably more), which means you end up with 4-6 times more food than you actually need. Then everyone can have a small taster of everything, then choose their favourite dish and have some more.
It's also a great ice-breaker for people, as they can talk about their dish and where they are from, and discuss all the other dishes and which are their favourites.
Try it out next time you think of having people over for supper.
Have fun and be fabulous!
Moire
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