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David’s family traveled from Nebraska and North Dakota to join us for several days during the Thanksgiving holiday week. His sister, Laura, recently had a birthday, so we decided to add a birthday celebration to the festivities.
My Secrets For A Great Gathering
This past holiday season has been full of spectacular parties. We have enjoyed attending and hosting a number of memorable get-togethers. So much so that I find myself ruminating over the importance of gathering and what it means to me.
There are all sorts of reasons, (excuses), to gather; holidays, weddings, engagements, birthdays, babies, anniversaries, sporting events, seasons, reunions, special meals–just to name a few.
For me, entertaining is an honor and a privilege. It is an intimate way to build, develop and nurture relationships and to express myself in a creative way. It is a special opportunity to serve the people for whom I hold most dear.
If you have read many of my posts, you already know that I believe that the secret to every successful gathering is the guests. I can plan, design, decorate and cook in preparation for a party, but these efforts are meaningless without the energy and influence of my coconspirators, aka, the guests. They bring the magic!
A family portrait at the Thanksgiving table.
HINT:
Be sure to click
on the pink hyperlinks
I promise you will enjoy the side trips!!
Invite Excitement!
Don’t underestimate the importance of the invitations. This is your first opportunity to ‘set the stage’ and give your guests an idea of the ‘personality’ of your upcoming gathering. I remember when I was making a guest list for my Ya-Ya Babes party, there was a fun person who I had recently met at a monthly Bunco get-together. She was someone who I wanted to get to know, so I sent her an invitation to the party. After receiving my invitation in the mail, she stopped by my house to personally RSVP and tell me that with an invitation like that, this was definitely a party she didn’t want to miss! That was the beginning of one of my most cherished and dear friendships.
If you are doing a very casual get-together, or maybe you have been doing an annual gathering, as several of our friends do, emailing invitations are also an effective option.
Ladies Spring Retreat
Make A Plan
Food is always a key “ingredient” in every gathering, but don’t make this a sticking point. If you aren’t one who enjoys spending time toiling away in the kitchen, there are many other ways to regale your peeps in style.
Catering is an option and pot-lucks are always a welcome choice. The most important thing with a pot-luck is to decide right out of the gate whether it is important to you to have a certain number of mains, sides, desserts, etc. For me, I leave it wide open. If you do want to have control, then you will need to find a way that is easy for you and your guests to keep track.
Once I decide what the theme or occasion is, I decide the time of day, (which meal we are doing), menu, beverages and finally, what we will be doing for entertainment.
Sporting events are a slam dunk. You can always count on good conversation at dinner parties. Teas are delightful for the ladies and holidays provide an easy backdrop with both tradition and fare.
Lisa's Ya-Ya Babes Seafood Gumbo
This dish was the star of the party!
INGREDIENTS
- For Roux: 3/4 C vegetable oil and 1 C all-purpose flour
- 2 large onions and 4 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 (16 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 C fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp each: dried whole thyme, crushed red pepper, salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 7 1/4 C (58 oz) chicken stock
- 2 lbs. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 lb fresh crab meat
- 1 lb sea scallops, or 2-3 dozen bay scallops
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add flour and cook over medium heat 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until roux is the color of a copper penny.
- Stir in onions and celery. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add next 6 ingredients and cook 10 minutes.
- Stir in chicken stock and bring to a boil . Simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add shrimp and crab;; cover and simmer 5 minutes.
- Add scallops, salt, and freshly ground black pepper, remove bay leaf, stir.
- Remove from heat. Cover and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Serve over rice or in bread bowls. Garnish each serving with chopped parsley, green onions and 1/4 tsp gumbo file’.
Ladies Summer Retreat
Set The Stage
Whether you are planning a dinner party, theme party or a pot-luck get-together, setting the stage with decorations, table settings and props will pull everything together and create the backdrop for the festivities.
Whenever I am doing a ‘sit-down’ party, I like to let the party favor serve double duty as a ‘place card’. An especially nice example of this is the closing luncheon at the Ladies Retreat parties. I made cloth jewelry boxes, using different fabrics, and set them at each place setting with a card containing a special poem , “Life Is Like A Quilt”. In keeping with the theme, the card was made with scraps of the fabrics from all of the different boxes. For my Garden Tea, I painted chalkboard paint on the rim of terra cotta pots, planted an herb in the pot and wrote each guests name on the rim. When we host parties where Maddie, (our adorable little Shorkie), is the focus of the occasion, I make party boxes adorned with a bone with the guest’s name and filled with “Puppy Chow” –once again serving double duty as favor and place card.
Gifts For The Guests
As I stated at the beginning, no matter how much you plan, a party isn’t a party without the guests, so a proper thank you is in order. I think that it is important to send everyone home with a memento of the day. For the Birthday Tea, each guest brought a gift for a gift exchange and everyone was given a pretty pink box with a birthday cupcake in it to enjoy at the party or to take home to enjoy later.
When choosing a parting gift, select something that will remind guests of the occasion. A good example of this would be the great beer glasses we received at a recent Oktoberfest retirement party. Sometimes it might be an experiential party where guests can bring home the fruits of their labor, such as fresh pressed apple cider from Dave and Pam’s Apple Smash, or the Jack-O-Lanterns we made when we attended our friend’s Carving party, or the wreaths from a wreath making party,
For some of my gatherings, (Ladies Retreat Day, Eat, Pray, Love Progressive Dinner, and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood luncheon, I put together packages of ‘essentials’, things that my guests would use while at the party and theirs to take home at the end. For Tapas To Die For Murder Mystery Dinner Party, I gave each guest a lunchbox-size golden tool box which we called a “trousse d’outis, (pronounced ‘troos do tea’). These boxes held the name tags for their character, a tablet and pencil for taking notes, a wine glass charm that had something to do with their role, a large white cloth napkin and a couple clues to get things started.
Giving something that is either created at the gathering, or something to remind your guests of the fun that was had, is always a nice touch.
Other times, it works to offer a gift to your guests as they are leaving. (The difficult thing here is not to forget!) I made cookies for the TAPA THAT! party, (and forgot to give them to the guests), made magnets for the Derby party, and gave goody bags at the Sex And The City and EAI Anniversary parties.
If you aren’t particularly handy with baking or crafting, odds are that there is someone in your area that does a great job with such things. My husband and I were lucky guests at a fantastic New Years Day party. Peggy and Ron are amazing cooks so we were treated to a wonderful array of pork, artisan kraut and homemade pretzels at this festive affair. Additionally, it just so happens that they know amazing people, like their good friend, Eva, who owns JUST AMERICAN DESSERTS. She is a ROCKSTAR and our hosts sent us home with the most wonderful S’more style cookies made by her — these beautiful cookies were to die for!!!
Whatever you choose to do, the most important thing about entertaining or being entertained is the memories made and the relationships that have been honored in the process.
Until next time,
enjoy Entertaining An Idea
and be sure to subscribe to the
Entertaining An Idea Newsletter
Lisa, this was just a super great edition of AEI, SO FULL of ideas & great remembering the events that we were fortunate to a part of. There is no end to your talents little lady!!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Rae– And THANK YOU for posting a comment on the site!
This is a topic that’s near to my heart… Take care! Where are your contact details though?
Thank you, Tienda de campaña, and thank you for asking about contact info. I have added a button at the top. Have an awesome day!
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