If you are looking to entertain this holiday season, a cocktail party is a fun and easy way to get together with friends and family. With basic planning, hosting a party in your home can be simple, elegant and stress free.
Plan a Party Theme
Choosing a theme for your party is an important step. If you center your party around a theme, it narrows your focus and allows you to make quick and easy food choices. Often times, one of the hardest parts of hosting a party is deciding on the menu. With these theme ideas and suggested food choices, purchasing and preparing food is a snap:
- Wine and Cheese Tasting – Chose wine and cheese from several countries. Create simple but elegant platters including cheese, crackers and meats from the countries you choose and place them around your party area. Chose both red and white wines and place them adjacent to the platters. Try adding signs welcoming your guests to each country and the names of the cheeses to add a special touch.
- Tapas – This Spanish cuisine consists of small, individual dishes of food that can act as appetizers. There is a wide range of choices and examples of tapas dishes include empanadas, albundigas (meatballs), manchego cheese crostini and roasted almonds. Since this food is finger food, it is a great option for a cocktail party. Simply serve Spanish wines, sangria and other native spirits and you’re set.
- Regional Cuisine – Selecting food from a specific country is a great way to keep choices easy. A great example is Japanese cuisine. With wonderful bite sized foods like sushi, gyoza (dumplings) and tempura-battered vegetables there are delicious and varied choices. Cocktail choices range from plum wine and sake to drinks such as Sake Sunrise, Saketinis, Samurai Rock and Tamagozake.
These are just a few examples of how choosing a theme for your cocktail party adds a fun twist to the event but also helps to narrow the focus of your gathering to better plan the party.
Create Elegant Platters and Food Presentations for Your Cocktail Party
The way that you present the food adds to the mood of your party and adds a simple note of sophistication to your affair.
To create an elegant cheese platter, use large wedges of cheese. It is not necessary to pre-slice the cheese, just provide a cheese knife. Be sure to garnish your platters with a fruit that is a part of the cuisine to add a nice hit of color and to offer a sweet option for the palate. For an extra touch, add placards to each with the cheese name and origin.
Placing edible flowers on your platters adds an elegant touch and makes it look as though it was prepared by a caterer. Pansies, nasturtium, sweetbriar roses and geraniums are all edible flowers. If you decide to use these, be sure to purchase organic flowers or select flowers from your garden that have been properly washed.
Set the Mood for Your Cocktail Party
Make sure to pay attention to the little details that set the mood for your party.
- Music – choose music that is soft and subtle. Instrumentals, jazz and classical music work best.
- Lighting – dim the lights and place candles where safe and appropriate.
- Ambiance – add small touches like fresh flowers, bowls of fruit and disposable hand towels in the restroom.
Hosting a Holiday cocktail party can be simple and elegant. With minimal planning you can throw an event that your friends will talk about for years to come!
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