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. .