apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a weekly dinner night, and the last one we had a lot of fun with was the Salad theme. There was no temperature requirement, and friends were encouraged to get creative. Clean up was a snap, since most of us just used bowls, and it was nice and light for a summer evening!

What about all foods you can eat with your hands? You could do gourmet sandwiches or chicken fingers.

Our "unsecret ingredient" potluck was a big hit, even with cheese in the spotlight during a hot summer evening.

Every summer I have a Sangria Sunday party. I make a HUGE jar of sangria and serve mini empanadas, chicken enchiladas, guacamole, chips, salsa, and black bean and corn salad.

You could do a dumpling party with different fillings.

I've done a "French Bistro" theme. Frisee salad, moules, frites, profiteroles, pate, baguette, belgium beers, and the list goes on and on...

We sometimes do holiday themed parties long before/after the holiday has come and gone. So recently we had a Thanksgiving in July dinner party. There was turkey and ham, potatoes were mashed, green beans were eaten, and so forth. Because it's just such a shame to enjoy those lovely holiday meals once a year. :)

My most elaborate theme dinner party was recreating the five-course dinner my French Cuisine class made for our final. It was so much fun for me, and a treat for my guests. My monthly Salads/Savories and Sweets party is a fun for us, too. I really love the annual festival my friend hosts every winter--The Winter Festival of Pie--where every dish is a pie, tart, or quiche. For her birthday in a few weeks, she's having a tiny foods potluck party because she loves to graze.

I belong to a great supper club and we have a different theme each month. Some are traditional, but others are really fun, like "Bring a dish your spouse hates but you love," "Green Foods" (to celebrate the beginning of spring), soups and salads, dishes using a specific ingredient, etc. Everyone in the group is an amazing cook, so it doesn't really matter what the theme is -- we always eat well!

I went to a potluck once where the theme was comfort food, and everybody brought a dish from their childhood. With lots of different ethnicities and backgrounds involved, we ended up with wildly different things to taste and experience. And, everyone had a story about their dish, so conversation was non-stop.

A friend and I have hosted countless themed parties, but most memorable were Christmas in July, Mini Dinner Party (all of the foods were tiny versions of the regular thing), and Bring a Girl (we had a shortage in our group).

My boyfriend and I love throwing crepe parties. We have an old crepe maker (a wedding gift to my parents in the 70's) that my mother gave me. He makes the crepes, and everyone who comes brings their own fillings - meats, cheeses, vegetables for dinner and fruits and nutella for breakfast. It's a big hit every time!

not breakfast...dessert! (sorry)

We used to have parties where we did all of the cooking, preparing multi-course meals for our guests. Inevitably, things would take longer than we expected, and we would end up eating at ten.

We've gotten around this problem two ways. The first way is to plan elaborate meals that take a ton of prep work, with added twist that all of guests have to pitch in. This turns out to be a lot of fun and serves as an automatic ice breaker for guests that don't know each other. Examples include pasta from scratch, sushi, and stir-fry. It's best to have meals with a lot of prep work and relatively short cook time. It also helps if the host does the shopping. This is a lot of work but nothing compared to doing everything yourself.

We've also started doing themed potluck. We try to challenge guests a little with themes that encourage creativity. Past themes: food-on-a-stick day, rooftapas (tapas on the roof of our apartment), and breakfast from the place you grew up.

Someone already mentioned the dumpling theme, which I enjoyed--interpreted widely with wontons, empanadas, puff pastry wrapped around anything, etc. You could also do all dipping. Dips for apps, fondue for dinner, chocolate-dipped strawberries and/or cheesecake "lollipops," etc., for dessert.