Decorating Your Parties for Fall-Part 2

Okay, you’ve got the idea to change up the seasons and go with a fall look. You took a nice rust colored tablecloth out of the bottom drawer and ironed out its wrinkles. You found that straw turkey Aunt Sue gave you 3 years ago and blew the dust off of it and set it on your table. You went to the store and bought a medium size pumpkin and put a jaunty top hat on it. Now you’re getting the idea.

How about a nice gourd vase? Take a tall gourd, cut off the top and hollow out a space inside. Fill with a little water and insert some mums. You’re set. (Don’t forget to place that gourd on a plate or tray of some kind in case it leaks.) Or insert a bud vase into the hollow space and put the flowers in that. Or forget the flowers and just make an assortment of different kinds of gourds and squash.

Or buy an assortment of kale at the store and display it in all its glory in a shallow bowl.

Don’t underestimate the power of raffia, that straw like stuff that you can use instead of ribbon. Get some Indian corn and tie them together with some raffia. Just tying some raffia around an ordinary glass vase and filling it with some bright yellow and rust mums screams fall. In fact tying raffia around almost anything makes it look festive and fall like.

Fill some glass containers of various sizes with dried beans, nuts, birdseed, cranberries, kumquats, limes, tiny pumpkins. Tie some raffia around the lid and you’ve got a beautiful display.

Bring in some branches instead of flowers. They can have leaves or they can be bare. Put them in a vase or even a galvanized bucket and they will look fresh off the farm.

When all else fails, fill up any kind of container with wonderful, crisp apples. Try getting different kinds and different colors. And then when its time for dessert, just bring out a sharp knife, a selection of cheese and you are all set. Centerpiece and dessert all rolled into one. What could be better?!

Fall, Glorious Fall--Planning Your Party in the Fall

Fall, glorious fall. For those of us living in Southern California, fall means continued warm weather, Santa Ana winds and the hope that cooler weather might surface NEXT month.

Therefore planning a party around the seasons is challenging. But for the rest of America, fall means an explosion of color, crisp weather and a big change from summer. Well, even though we’re in So Cal, we’re going to pretend that we actually have a fall because it’s so much fun to decorate around the season.

As with everything Party Planning Perfected does, we’re going to tiptoe into to the season. Let’s start with some simple decorating.

Anyone who has grown up or visited an area where the colors actually change knows that it’s as though nature decided to have one last hurrah before the harshness of winter. This is your big chance to mix and match any color from yellows to bronze, from golds to reds and burgundies. Throw in some browns and oranges and you are ready to change it up.

Let’s start with setting the table. Since we’re celebrating that summer is over, get rid of your pastels and bring out some deeper colors. How about an orange or brown tablecloth? Or bring out your red place mats. Go to your nearest forest or backyard tree and gather up some fallen leaves. Scatter them on your table and you’ve got a free and timely centerpiece.

Look around and find a clear bowl. Fill it with cranberries, oranges, apples, persimmons or anything colorful. Once again you’re just bringing nature’s bounty into your dining room.

Pumpkins and squash are the stereotypical signs of fall but that doesn’t mean they can’t be just as fun. Try lining pumpkins up in various sizes on your table. Or how about decorating a pumpkin with markers or flowers? Cut some holes in your pumpkin and poke in mums for eyes, carrots or green beans for a nose and some marshmallow teeth? Or let you imagination run wild. There is no end to what you can create.

Planning a Party with candles…Who doesn’t look better by candlelight?

When you’re a guest at a party, you want to have fun, sound intelligent and interesting and, unless you were just dropped off here from Mars, you want to look good.

If you think you are looking particularly fetching you are probably going to act more confident and have a better time.

So, when planning a party, you want to guarantee success as much as you can and one way to do this is to make your guests feel as comfortable, and therefore, good looking, as possible. Short of having them each meet with Clinton and Stacy of What Not To Wear immediately before your party, how on earth are you supposed to accomplish that? What a surprise, we have an answer. And it will not only make your guests look good, it will set a lovely tone for your entire party.

Try candlelight. EVERYWHERE. You can get inexpensive votive candle holders and bags of tea candles at.... Set them out everywhere. On your dining table, coffee table, end tables. Put them in your bathroom, entry, outside. Make them high, make them low, place them everyplace your guests will go. If you have taller candles, intersperse them and the effect will be magical. And the side benefit will be that all your guests (not to mention, YOU) will look their very best.

Now if you’re having a daytime party this really doesn’t work and you have to rely on good, old fashioned makeup. But at night you can give yourself and all your guests a little boost.

Another trick is to changing all the light bulbs in your home. By simply replacing your old bulbs with GE Reveal bulbs, you can bring out vibrant colors of fabrics, textures or create focal points with spotlighting. GE Reveal bulbs make everything look better. They are more expensive but they do give everyone a pinkish cast rather than the usual harsh yellow cast. Your guest will look their best, and a guest happy with her/his appearance will be happier in general. You can find GE Reveal bulbs at most discount, grocery, home improvement, office supply, and super center stores.

So go forth and conquer, knowing that when you plan a party you have left no stone unturned. And no matter what else happens, you’ve probably boosted the self esteem of everyone lucky enough to visit your house.

Leave a comment if you have a suggestion of what other party ideas you are interested in.

Pacing Your Party Throughout the Whole Event- Part 2

We’ve talked about the importance of pacing in planning and preparing for your party. Making a schedule for yourself so you can accomplish all the party preparations in a somewhat leisurely manner is so much better than frantically running around to get everything done.

We will assume here, for the sake of argument and because we like to look on the bright side, that you have planned your party beautifully. The house was cleaned up by 10am, the food has all been purchased, the dessert was made yesterday, as was the main course casserole and now that it is 2:00pm you are putting the finishing touches on your table setting.

You go to the head of the class in terms of scheduling your day well. You have plenty of time to prepare your last minute food items and still take a nap. Bravo!! Well done!! We’re coming to you from now on for tips.

But, there’s another kind of pacing we haven’t talked about and that is pacing during the party. In other words, how much time should you allocate to each part of the evening?

To do this, we will pretend you are having a casual backyard barbecue for 6 people.

Appetizers: Let’s give everyone about an hour to arrive, get drinks and get settled. Have your appetizers and drinks all ready to go. An hour will give your guests plenty of time to get something to eat, drink and visit, but not so much time that they begin to wonder if you’re sending out to another state for the food. During that hour, you can visit with your guests and do any last minute cooking that needs to be done.

Dinner: This depends on several things:
How well is the dinner progressing? Is everyone having fun and conversation flowing? You might not want to disturb the chemistry if everyone is having the time of their lives. If things seem a bit dull, it might be time for an earlier change of scenery.

Do you have other activities planned? Is this party basically a get together over dinner or do you have a program planned? Games, sing-a-long, watching a movie? If there are specific activities planned for after dinner you need to keep in mind how long you want the entire evening to take.

If your guests are the kind that are going to want to leave by 11pm and you are showing a 2 hour DVD, then you’d better not spend too much time on appetizers and dinner. If midnight is the shank of the evening to your merry making friends then, again, factor that into your time schedule. What day of the week is it?

If your party is on a Friday night, your guests might be tired from working all day and so want to end earlier. If it’s Saturday night they get to sleep late the next day so would probably be able to stay up later. If it’s Sunday night, again work rears its ugly head so you might want to plan an earlier evening, either by starting earlier or shortening up each section of the evening.

Dessert: Dessert is often something that you have to play by ear. If you’ve been sitting at the table for ages, you could probably serve dessert and your guests won’t groan about being too full. You can serve it at the table (often easier) or adjourn to another part of the house. If you’re playing a game or watching a movie, you could consider serving dessert either during the activity or when it’s over.

If everyone is exclaiming about how wonderful the food is and how they all ate too much (music to any hostess’s ears), then you probably don’t want to offer dessert until everyone has had a chance to work up at least a little bit of an appetite for it. In that case you could get up from the table, mill around or sit in another spot and visit until you think dessert would be a welcome sight.

Another way to view the evening is to guess at what time your guests will leave and work backwards, thinking about how long each part of the evening will take and set your beginning time accordingly.

And if you’re off… that’s okay. This is an art not an exact science. As long as you and your guests are having fun that’s really all that matters.

Pacing Your Party Planning with Preparation- Part 1

Pacing.
What does that bring to mind? There’s the kind of pacing that you do when you’re worried about something (maybe the upcoming party you’re having this Saturday?) when you walk back and forth repeatedly.

Or the kind of pacing that refers to length of a stride, so you can measure a distance without a tape measure. (Like when you need to see how many tables you can cram into a backyard meant to hold 20 people when you really want to have appetizers for 40).

It could also mean the rate at which a person walks or runs, as in setting the pace when you’re late to get the wine you forgot for dinner.

Or it could mean to apportion your time or efforts in an efficient manner. When planning a party you might consider all these but we’re talking specifically about the latter.

Pacing in so far as party planning is concerned has to do with two main aspects of the party. Namely, planning and preparation and the actual party itself. We’ll talk about planning and preparation here.

Let’s imagine we’re going to have 6 people over for dinner. It’s going to be a casual backyard barbecue. Hmmmm… sounds lovely if you’re the guest. If you’re the host you need to get off your duff and start pacing out your preparations.

First, think about what you are serving. You need time to buy it, prepare it, cook it and serve it. Make a list of everything you need to buy for the party including paper goods (napkins, birthday candles, etc.), candles, flowers, ice, and food.

You don’t want to wait until the very last minute to go shopping as then you will be pooped by the time it comes to the actual cooking let alone looking fresh as a daisy for the party itself. The more you can buy ahead, the easier it will be.

You can buy all the non food items weeks ahead if you’re that organized. But, if you’re serving something really perishable like seafood, you may have to leave those purchases for the day before or even the day of. You also can pace out your shopping.

Keep in mind which stores you need to visit, what you are buying there and their location on your route. Plan as efficient a day as possible, keeping in mind that once you buy refrigerated or frozen food you really need to head home to keep them chilled.

Next, think about how long it will take to do everything. Give yourself a realistic time table. Remember, you need to clean up the house, set the table and prepare the food as much as possible before hand.

Now, there are some people who like to cook in front of their guests or even with their guests. If you are comfortable enough in the kitchen to do that then by all means factor that into your time table. But most people (and dare I say 99% of the squeamish planners among us) get too nervous having to cook with a bunch of people looking on. If that sounds like you, consider a menu that allows you to prepare most of the dishes well ahead of time.

Cooking time. Don’t forget to schedule time to bake the casserole or heat up the apple pie. I dare say there isn’t a party giver among us who, at some time or other, put stuff in the oven and forgot to turn it on. That results in a substantial delay in the food service which will tax your creative powers to delay.

Don’t forget to allow for serving time. Those appetizers aren’t going to clear themselves and you need to allow a some time to transition from pre-dinner to dinner service. Because you have wisely set the table before hand you just need to do the last minute filling of the water glasses and you can always ask a nice guest to help you with that.

Planning a party is not magical, it just takes thinking ahead about the different parts of the event and how long each will take to accomplish. Don’t forget to schedule some time for the unexpected. And don’t feel stuck to your original time table. If you can stay even reasonably on track you are doing well.

We like to give ourselves lots of extra time, so that we don’t get so upset about the fact that the dog really did run off with the marinating steak or the fact that the barbecue refuses to (today of all days) turn on. And, if you’re really lucky, things will not only go according to schedule but ahead of schedule and you can have a long, rejuvenating nap so you are at your very best when it’s “show time.”

A Great Party Starts with Simple Cutting Board Appetizers

For the faint of heart, having someone over for so much as a piece of toast, can cause a cascade of fear and panic. The choices are overwhelming.

• What should I serve?
• Where should I serve it?
• How should I serve it?
• Should I serve something right away or wait until … when? Oye.

You can drive yourself downright nuts. And we’re only talking toast not a formal, sit down dinner party for 12!!

Well, not to worry. That’s what this blog is all about. Our goal is to take some of the worry and basic overwhelmingness out of entertaining. We’re going to start small and work our way up.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing a friend handle appetizers in such an easy, breezy fashion I had to share it. She was having a few people over to show off her new apartment. We were going to check it out and then go to lunch. Nothing to it, right? All she had to do was straighten the place up, wait for the oohs and ahs and we would be out of there. She really didn’t need to do a thing.
However, she thought it would be nice if we just had a teensy little bite before we went out. Now, this is the part that can strike fear into your very soul. There are just too many choices of things to do. Paralysis by analysis sets in and before you know it you just call everybody up and meet them at the restaurant. They can see your place some other time, like never.

Our hostess was apparently not one of the nervous Nellie types and carried this off with ease. You can follow this same format next time you need to serve appetizers. If you copy this exactly you can take every bit of the guess work out of things.

This is what she did:

1. Use an ordinary wooden cutting board as your serving tray

2. On the cutting board make a little pile of Mediterranean flat bread or pita bread cut into triangles in one corner, a little pile of pita chips in the opposite corner, and a little pile of almonds in the middle.

3. Take two martini glasses (or wide mouth wine glasses). Fill one with tzadeki and humus (or any dip you like) and one with a variety of interesting olives. Place these on the cutting board.

4. That’s it. You’re done. You can purchase everything at Trader Joe’s and assemble your lovely appetizers in a matter of minutes.

5. Don’t forget to serve this with pretty cocktail napkins.

6. Have everything ready before your guests arrive. Place your tray on a coffee table, kitchen counter, or wherever you expect your guests to congregate.

My mother always said “if you can read you can cook.” True, but what she didn’t say was cooking was only part of the picture. It’s the deciding that can be so problematic. So, follow this next time you need to serve appetizers and you are DONE.

All guess work has been taken care of and you will look like the hostess with the "mostess." And, if you’re not careful, you just might want to do it again.

A Dinner Party Made Easy With Help from Costco

Recently we had the pleasure of attending a dinner party that was pretty much catered by, of all places, Costco. No, they didn’t send a server, they didn’t arrive hours earlier and transform the house, didn’t clean up the dishes. But they did provide delicious food and make life much easier for the hostess.

We had a scrumptious, already prepared and cooked chicken, boiled small red potatoes, steamed broccoli, a spring mix salad, and fresh fruit for dessert. A little wine (yes, Costco again) and the meal was complete.

As the guests sat around devouring the good food, compliments were plentiful. And it turned out that all of the food had been purchased at Costco. The hostess was as relaxed as I’ve seen anybody be at a party. And why shouldn’t she have been? She saved herself lots of work and the finished product was as delicious as any cookbook would have guaranteed.

To make your party even more special, make a flower centerpiece from Costco’s flower center. You could even buy your dishes, silverware and glasses there. You, in essence, could have nothing in the morning and a full dinner party by that evening if you wanted.

Now, that might be going a little far. Most people have the basic table necessities before they invite others over to share food, but it’s that pesky meal that seems to throw people. So next time you want to invite others over for a good time, don’t let the menu stop you. You can go to Costco or your local grocery store and buy, already made, delicious food so all you have to do is sit back and watch everyone have fun.

Everyday's A Party...Planning the Party is Part of the Fun!

Everyday’s a party, or it could be and the planning of the party is part of the fun. You know, you don’t have to invite people over to your house to have a party. Throw a party for yourself and your family. It’ll be fun and it doesn’t have to be a lot of work. Consider it baby steps to learning how to get ready for the Big One (and I don’t mean earthquake either.)

You can celebrate that somebody made a sale, didn’t fall asleep in class, dusted the furniture or just because it’s Tuesday. You can make up a reason or go with no reason at all. But instead of what you normally do, let’s jazz it up a bit.

If you have a dining room that you use once in a blue moon, dust it off and take it for a spin. Put a pretty tablecloth on it, or dress the table up with place mats. You can have the kids make fun place mats out of construction paper, cut newspaper to size or use up odd bits of fabric you may have lying around the house. The point is to do something out of the ordinary.

If you don’t have a dining room, set a small table up on your balcony and pretend you’re at a hotel. Or set your regular table that you use everyday but dress it up according to the previous paragraph. Have a scarf that you never wear? It’s an instant table cloth.

If you have special dishes, get them out. There’s no point in having pretty plates if you never use them. The same goes for utensils. Now is the time to enjoy your grandmother’s beautiful china and your great aunt’s sterling silver.

Make a centerpiece for your table. This can be as simple as floating a single flower in a clear bowl or as elaborate as your imagination will allow. A bowl of fruit can make for a lovely centerpiece or try using your collection of small bird sculptures.

The only rule of thumb for a centerpiece is to not make it so tall you can’t see over it to the person on the other side. If you keep it to no more than the height of your forearm resting upright on the table you should be okay.

Don’t forget to add nice glasses for a beverage and some pretty napkins. Even if you use paper napkins, fold them in some way that is different from what you usually do. Add some candles to create a festive atmosphere and your table is ready to celebrate anything from a promotion up the ladder to a promotion to the next day. .

How "Nonni" Saved a 5 Year Old's Birthday Party!

“Grandma” (or in our case Nonni), “I want a Star Wars Millennium Falcon Cake for my birthday.” Never did such a few words from such a small, normally non threatening person (in this case Ady’s adorable almost 5 year old grandson) strike such fear into an adult’s heart. “Sure honey, whatever you want,” was her automatic and frightened answer.

Oh NO!!! A Star Wars Millennium Falcon Cake?! Like father like son, Ady thought, remembering the fascination her son had 30 years ago with Star Wars. She knew the Star Wars craze was back but didn’t expect it to be back in her kitchen. He might as well have asked for a piece of the moon. How on earth was she going to accomplish a millennium falcon cake?

Now, there are situations you can walk away from, and situations where you can fake the results, but when your own grandchild is involved you’ve got to come through.


Thank God for the internet, the repository of pretty much all knowledge these days. A quick search revealed a picture of a handmade cake. That was all she needed to be off and running. “I can do this, I can do this,” she told herself, because, at the end of the day, wouldn’t you jump through hoops of fire or vats of buttercream frosting, for your grandchild

1. Get a Duncan Hines (thank you very much to the guy who invented box cake mixes) delicious basic cake mix.



2. Make a pattern out of paper in the shape you need and then cut the cake to match
   


3. Buttercream frosting is next and you can buy it in a can or make it from a basic recipe found on the C & H confectioners sugar box. This becomes the delicious “glue” that holds everything together.
   


4. Star Wars men added to the top completed the picture and Nonni once again secured her place as the "Nonni" who could do ANYTHING!
   

Other people go to the gym or take a class in school or put together an Ikea dresser for that feeling of mastering something difficult. But let me tell you, completing the Millennium Falcon Cake ranked right up there. And, as with most things that seem daunting at first glance, looking back the whole thing was really simple.

Could anybody do this? Absolutely. Could YOU do this? Without a doubt. The idea is much trickier than the doing. Once you break it down into simple steps it really is a piece of cake.

Make it a Party with Flowers Flowers Flowers

Anybody who has ever tried to sell their house (or watched HGTV) has heard about curb appeal. That’s what makes the difference between a house that looks inviting “from the curb” or outside verses one that doesn’t look so appealing. What is it about a house with curb appeal that makes you take a second look and think, wow that looks pretty or sharp or cozy or inviting? My guess is that it looks well maintained, with paint that looks like it’s in good shape and a garden that looks like somebody cares about it.

Now, I can hear you saying to yourselves, lots of houses have fine paint and grass that is mowed, there has to be more to it than that. And you’d be right. It’s that extra step, the flowers blooming in a pot by the door or shrubs that form a pattern rather than looking haphazard. It’s going beyond what is required.

What does this have to do with party planning you ask? More than you might think. The same thing that makes one house have more curb appeal is the same thing that makes one party more special than another. It is the attention to detail in the little things.

One easy, inexpensive way to spruce up your party is to surround yourself with flowers. This doesn’t have to be an expensive trip to the florist. Take a look in your yard. Even the lowly geranium can look fantastic in a pretty vase with some greenery. Keep in mind this is not the ONLY way to spruce up your house but it is definitely one way.

This is what you are going to do:

• Round up flowers of whatever kind you have. If you have absolutely nothing in your garden, you might want to visit Costco, Home Depot or Trader Joe’s for an inexpensive bouquet.
• Cut greenery from trees and shrubs and use that as filler so you don’t need so many flowers. There is nothing off limits. If it has a leaf or even a pretty bare branch, cut it off and plan on using it. Don’t forget to try herbs such as mint. Mint stays fresh and smells wonderful.
• Find something to put your arrangement in. You are not limited to a traditional vase. Use a tea cup, a hollowed out cabbage, a small bucket, a drinking glass or a wine glass.
• If you are using something unusual, like a cabbage, get some oasis or florist foam that can be cut to any shape and will hold flowers in place perfectly while keeping them moist. You can buy this at a craft store like JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's.
• You can even lay flowers down on a buffet or table. Do this just before your guests arrive and some will stay fresh looking for hours without water. Or use little tubes to keep them moist. Use a clear bowl and float a single flower in it.
• Get plants from a garden store and put pretty paper around them or put the nursery containers in something pretty. When the party is over, plant them in your garden and your curb appeal will keep on growing.
• Put flowers everywhere. Put them on the table, either in the center or in little containers scattered on the table. Put them in the bathroom and on end tables. Don’t forget your kitchen counter. Even one little bloom in a thimble size vase will brighten up your party and make it look like you really cared.

So, even if you don’t do anything else, flowers will brighten your mood as well as your guests. Who can frown in the presence of all that beauty?

While your own imagination is going wild, send us your ideas to share with everyone. If you need additional ideas, just type in words like planning parties with flowers or unusual flower containers right into the google search bar on the right.

Effortless Pool Party for Kids and Grown-ups, Too!

There is something about planning a party at the pool that alternately evokes images of lazy days and frenzied terror. Going as a guest to a pool party sounds positively lovely. All you have to do is soak up the sun and strategically position the towel so you look your best without appearing to actually orchestrate it.
However, if you are the host or hostess it is another matter entirely. You are now the party planner and the success or failure of the party will fall on you.

• Is planning a simple pool party difficult?
• What if you get there and you have forgotten the crucial ingredients?
• What should you serve?
• Will the food hold up on a hot day?

What if… what if… what if…You might as well start to worry about lightning striking on a clear and beautiful day in southern California. It’s not going to happen and neither is the other stuff. And if it does you’ll just deal with it.
But we have to admit, a good party plan makes everybody feel better and we have a fool proof plan for you.

1. Here is your menu:

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (is there a kid around who doesn’t love these?)
• Deli roll ups (recipe to follow) for the adults or adventurous kids
• Carrot sticks, celery
• Apples, grapes, cut up cantaloupe or whatever your favorite fruit is
• Chips, Trader Joe’s Low Fat Pretzel Sticks and store bought dips
• Toll house chocolate chip cookies or Rice Krispy treats
• Drinks can be as simple as bottles of water
• It’s easier to store everything in a nice cooler.
• Paper plates & napkins
• Trash bag

Putting you party in the cooler keeps everything cold and you don’t have to worry about the food not holding up well. It has the added benefit of keeping all your food together in one place. If you don’t have a cooler just put a few bags of ice in with the dips.

2. Bring pool toys which can be purchased at your local grocery store, drug store or any discount store like Tuesday Morning, Big Lots or the local 99¢ store . There are great bargains at those store where you don’t have to spend a lot of money, but at the same time you can get a variety of pool toys. Blow up rafts, inner tubes, diving toys and squirt guns are great for the pool party. Don’t forget towels, sunscreen and extra shirts

3. That’s it. Get in the water, cool off and HAVE FUN

Recipe for Deli Roll Ups: (Makes 6 Rolled lavosh)

• Package of lavosh (12X18 rectangle) Found at Trader Joes, Wholesome Choice, Whole Foods and other markets
• Basil Herbed Cream Cheese (recipe below )
• 8oz package cream cheese, softened
• 6 T. mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1-2 T. finely chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• Mix above ingredients until smooth
• Turkey breast and ham, sliced (3 slices to cover each lavosh 2- ham 1 turkey or 2 turkey and 1 ham)
• Tomato, sliced- cover the lavosh (about ½- ¾ tomato per lavosh)
• Red onion, finely chopped
• Green leaf lettuce, washed and thoroughly dried
  

1. Lay Lavosh on plastic wrap
2. Divide basil cream cheese into 6 parts and spread on lavosh.
3. Add thin slices of turkey breast and ham 2 turkey, 1 ham or 1 turkey, 2 ham
4. Add tomato slices
5. Sprinkle with chopped onion
6. Add the lettuce on top ( tear leaf lettuce and put on top of all ingredients.
7. Roll up tightly and wrap in plastic wrap.
8. Chill until firm or overnight.
9. Slice at an angle (which makes them much prettier, approximately 12-slices per roll),
10. Arrange on a large paper plate and serve. Easy and yummy.

Let’s Begin at the Beginning of Party Planning

Let’s start at the beginning of planning your party, which although it seems a logical place to start, is not always where lessons actually begin. We’re going to propose a simple formula for party planning and we will try very hard to follow it each and every time.

By following this you will realize that throwing a party is really very simple. (Although we might start by wondering why the term “throwing “ a party is used. Is it like throwing a ball or a Frisbee? Or maybe it is closer to throwing a fit when things don’t go right.) At any rate, if you go down this list as you plan your party it will make things more manageable.

1. What kind of party do you want to have? Coffee? Sit down dinner? Pot luck?

2. Is there a theme for this party? How formal or casual is this party?

3. Who are you going to invite? Are your dates flexible in case people can’t make it on the date you have selected? How are you going to invite people?

4. Where are you going to have the party? Outside? Kitchen? Dining room?

5. What are you going to serve?

6. How are you going to decorate?

7. How are you going to serve the food for the party?

Every party, from the most elaborate sit down dinner to the most casual back yard barbecue, follows this format. It’s really just the basics of who, what, where, when and how.

When you read the list you might think, this looks so easy, why was I so nervous which is exactly what we are hoping. From this point on it’s just a matter of adding the details that will make each party unique and successful. In future we will pay attention to how each of these 7 steps will be carried out, and what we can do to make them easy, fun and memorable.

Coffee Klatch or An Excuse to Get Together with Friends for an Informal Coffee Party

Okay, we know you are just the teensiest bit nervous about having people over. Or said more honestly, its been 5 years since anyone has stepped over your threshold and just the thought of it makes you want to hide under your covers and hug your pillow.

Not to worry, we’re here to help. And just like lots of things, baby steps are usually better than taking a huge plunge. So, instead of telling you how to plan a sit down dinner party for 12 we are going to start with planning a party that is something simple and less threatening, coffee with friends. The operative word here is friends.

Remember, the people you invite over are people you like and who like you. They are just looking forward to an opportunity to get together, they’re not out to rate you on how well you stack up to the latest issue of Home and Garden.

So, with that in mind, let’s get started.
1. The first thing is the guest list. Think of a few people you like who you think would enjoy a little morning get together. You don’t need to send them an elaborate invitation, just pick up the phone and call them, or send them an e-mail. You can invite 2 or 3 people or 10, however many you are comfortable with.

2. Next we need to decide what to serve. Since we’re planning on a morning coffee let’s have coffee, and some kind of sweet roll, quick bread, donut or muffin. You can buy these treats at any grocery store, Sam’s Club, Costco or Trader Joe’s. Buy what you like and your guests will probably like it too.

3. You could stop here but let’s give your guests a healthy alternative and serve some fruit. You can serve a bunch of grapes or cut an orange into quarters. If you have a melon of some kind, cut that into cubes or balls.

4. Now for presentation. It is here where you can show that you really cared about this little party and went to some trouble to make it pretty. We’ll start with the coffee.

• Make a pot of coffee so you are ready (Or order it from Starbucks, Peets, or Gloria Jeans.)
• Get cups or mugs ready and put them on a tray or line them up on the counter.
• Put cream or milk or flavored creamer into a pitcher. NO SERVING THE STUFF RIGHT OUT OF THE CARTON.
• Put sugar into a sugar bowl and if you are offering packets of low cal sugar, put them into a small bowl.

If people are fixing the coffee on the spot be sure to give them stirrers (try putting them into a small vase) or spoons to stir their coffee.

5. Decide where you will be having your coffee. At the kitchen table? Outside in comfy chairs? In the living room? Where ever it is, make sure the room is picked up and looking its best. Put the plate or platter of your muffins or donuts out and arrange the food prettily on it. NO SERVING THE STUFF OUT OF THE PLASTIC CONTAINER THEY CAME IN FROM THE STORE. Try putting a fresh flower ( from your garden )on your plate, to make it look really special.

6. Don’t forget the fruit. A pretty bowl of grapes or a bowl of cut up fruit will be appreciated by everybody.

7. Serve plates and forks and pretty little napkins and you are set.

Now, hopefully that doesn’t sound hard. You know just what to do and everything can be purchased. You can even get the coffee from a place like Starbucks, Peets or Gloria Jeans if you don’t want to make your own.
You’ve invited your favorite people and you know how to set out your food and condiments. All that is left is for you to sit back and relax. Without ever realizing it you’ve just thrown a lovely little coffee party.

The Fear Factor in Party Planning

Ever wanted to throw a party but stopped before you ever got started? Not creative enough, you said to yourself. Don't know who to invite or how to begin? I would do it, you say, but it's ... too hard, too expensive, too overwhelming. Hmmm..... sound familiar?

Well, this time, instead of throwing your hands up in despair and the party out the window, read on. We're two ladies who have been there and done that ... thrown parties that were wonderful and thrown parties that makes the hair on the back of our necks stand up in fright at the thought of them, even after all these years.

We know what its like to get advice from your Martha Stewartesq friends, where you nod politely, all the while thinking to yourself, there's no way in Hell I could ever pull THAT off. Who is she trying to kid? And face it, the friends like you, the ones who are downright afraid to have people over, aren't the ones brimming with practical tips you could actually follow.

That's where we come in. We are regular folks. We're nice, we have families, we have people over and fret and worry about everything just like you. However, over the years, (lets just say that between us we have a LOT of years and leave it at that. This isn't true confession.) we've learned what works and what doesn't.

Through trial and error and sheer perseverance (not to mention situations that have downright forced us into things) we've learned to throw a darn good party without reserving a space in the padded room as a result.

So, read on without fear. We will take you from frightened to fabulous and you won't know what hit you 'till its over and you're raking in the complements on a job well done.

Let us know what you think.