How to Plan Your Party Food

You can have a party at any time of the year. To make your party memorable, you need good food. One of the biggest obstacles when party planning is knowing how much food is necessary. There are some rules of thumb to follow so you do not run out of food too early.

Are you planning a casual party with appetizers or a formal dinner? Your decision will affect the amount of food you need. For a full dinner, you should plan for at least a pound and a half of food per guest. If you are doing finger foods only, you should plan for about a pound of food per guest. Take into account that your final numbers will need to be adjusted if your friends have a big appetite or not.

When you serve appetizers, guests tend to eat about 5 pieces per hour for the first two hours they are at a party. They tend to consume a bit less, about three per hour for every hour after that. So, for a three-hour party for ten people, you should plan for around 130 individual appetizers. Of course, if you are planning on feeding them a meal, you do not need to provide so many snacks.

If you like fondue, you are in luck. Fondue pots are again becoming popular. Serving fondue at a party will require a minimum of approximately 20 cubes of bread per person. This is about half a loaf of French bread. Depending on what you are dipping, each person could eat 6 to 8 ounces of fruit, veggies, or meat, 4 to 6 ounces of cheese, 6 ounces of seafood, or four cookies. It is always better form to provide more than you need than not enough.

You can figure that one gallon of punch will give ten people three 4-ounce servings. If you know your guests will drink more than this, prepare more. If you are planning on serving alcoholic beverages, consider that most guests will drink two per hour for the first couple of hours and then one per hour after that. Stock up accordingly, including mixers, wine, or beer, depending on what you plan to serve.

You will want to stock about 1 pound of ice per person if the drinks will be served \”on the rocks.\” If you are having a party in the heat of the summer, you will need much more than that per person. Do not forget to have enough napkins to allow for snacking or small plates if you prefer.

So plan on at least a few quick easy appetizers to start things off. Your guests will love having a little nibble when they first get there. Most appetizers can be made a day or two ahead of time. Planning and preparation should begin early for your party to run as smoothly as possible.

If you are hosting an impromptu party, be sure to keep the ingredients for a few easy recipes on hand so you can quickly throw them together. This means that your guests will not arrive to an empty table.

Making straightforward Superbowl party recipes means that you can prepare all your munchies well in advance and relax with your guests when the game starts. There are lots of Superbowl recipes to choose from and meat munchies, like chicken wings, ribs and hot dogs, are always incredibly popular. You will find hundreds of quick straightforward appetizers at our site to give you some more ideas.

Tagged with: appetizer recipes • Appetizers • Cooking • Diet • Eating • family • food • food and drink • home • Home and Garden • lifestyles • Party

Filed under: Cooking

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