By Margaret Malsam
It’s spring, and time for many kinds of celebrations. Memorial Day is this coming Monday. Students are graduating from high school and college. Brides are planning their weddings for June, which is one of the most popular months for couples to say “I do.” This means that in addition to bridal showers, there also will be many wedding anniversary celebrations. Plus there are always baby showers to celebrate upcoming births.
If you are hosting a party, you may be wondering just what kind of foods to prepare. Drawing from my large collection of cookbooks and past experiences, I am going to give you a few tips and recipes for throwing a party that’s fun for both you and your guests.
First of all, you need not prepare everything from scratch today. Breeze through your supermarket and check out the appetizers and individually frozen pastries and cakes n the frozen food cases. Visit the bakery department or a local bakery to see what you may want to special order or personalize for your party. Go to a store specializing in party supplies to find out what is available for accessorizing your party. Balloon decorations and crepe paper streamers add festivity to any party, and they can be purchased at dollar stores. You can place the balloons outside as well as inside.
Choosing a theme or color
Choosing a theme or a special color for your celebration is important. When I (a mother of three boys) was expecting my fourth child many years back, my friend Virginia threw a baby shower for me with a surprise “think pink” theme. This was before ultrasound had been invented so we could not know the sex of the unborn child.
After decorating her living room in pink, Virginia confidently prepared pink punch, pink frosted cakes and other pink goodies. She asked all the guests to wear pink and to bring a gift for a girl. When I walked into the room, I was both pleased and flabbergasted. I thought, “What if it’s another boy?” Laughing, she still takes credit for my bouncing baby girl who is now a wife and mother.
If you’re having a bridal shower, you can decorate with colors the couple have picked for the wedding and tell the guests where the couple have registered for gifts. Or you can have a theme, such as kitchen, bathroom or his/her shower.
For a 25th or 50th anniversary celebration, silver or gold gifts are not in style anymore, although you could decorate with either silver or gold. For an anniversary, decorate a little plastic tree from a craft store with corresponding number of coins for each year of marriage.
Fun foods
For a graduation party, think cupcakes instead of a big cake. You can make a homemade batter for cupcakes or use a cake mix. Decorate the cupcakes easily with the numerals 2010 or just a simple ‘10. To make a fancy filled cupcake, fill your muffin liner about one third full, add a tablespoon of jam and then remaining batter. To make a large cake using cupcakes, bake them in cupcake liners and push them closely together in a large oblong cake pan. Then generously frost all of them together and decorate as one cake. It’s easy to serve as guests can pull away a cupcake at a time.
For the beverage, you can make a fruit punch in the color of your theme and add melted vanilla ice cream or sherbet for different twist. Adding sparkling water, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda to a punch always makes a delightful drink. You can spike one punch with vodka or gin and leave the other one plain. Or you can make a mock champagne punch (see recipe).
Finger foods are appropriate for most any occasion. They may be as simple as individual tea-size sandwiches or fancy appetizers. An easy appetizer to make is filling small celery sticks with cream cheese and wrapping them with paper-thin deli meats secured with a colored toothpick.
You will want to serve heartier foods at a graduation party where your guests may be hungry young adults. A picnic theme with barbecued hamburgers or fried chicken served on red/white checkered tablecloths is an easy way to entertain. Watermelons cut in halve and filled with assorted fruit chunks can make an attractive centerpiece.
Dips can be purchased at the supermarket or you can easily make your own. My favorite never-fail dip is taking one envelope of onion soup mix and mixing it into one carton of sour cream or yogurt. You can make a hummus dip by blending garbanzo beans (chickpeas) in your blender with spices and roasted red peppers (see recipe). Place dips on large trays surrounded with different kinds of chips and crackers. Or purchase a round loaf of bread, hollow the bread to make a “bowl” for your dip and surround it with small pieces of bread.
