Choosing Celebration Food Tips
Read these 38 Choosing Celebration Food Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Party tips and hundreds of other topics.
Dinner Party Celebrations: Tableware
Party planning involves a lot of dishes. Each guest will use three cups and three napkins for every two hours of your dinner party celebration.
Celebration Herbal Fires
Winter anniversary celebrations will be extra festive when you build a fragrant fire. Tie dried stalks of sage, rosemary or poppy to lengths of fatwood and use the bundle to start your fire.
Theme Party Decorations & Flatware
Theme party decorations can extend to flatware. Roll flatware in a colorful napkin tied with decorative ribbon. Place it in a basket at the end of the buffet table, so guests won't have to balance food and utensils while they serve themselves.
Celebration Champagne Punch
Make champagne punch for anniversary celebrations. In a large punch bowl combine 1 can each of frozen cranberry juice, pink lemonade and limeade with 1 bottle of Riesling, 2 bottles of champagne and 1 liter of club soda, all chilled. Add ice cubes and garnish with 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves and 1 cup fresh cranberries.
Dinner Party Celebrations: Wrinkled Tablecloth
Dinner party celebrations keep you busy for days ahead of time. So let gravity iron your tablecloth. Lay out the cloth a day before the celebration. Put a towel or pad underneath and spray the cloth lightly with water. Gravity will pull it down overnight and make it smooth.
Food Preparation
Menu planning for a party and food preparation can get complicated. Accept offers from family and friends to bring food dishes. You can then focus on the main dish and making other parts of your celebration wonderful, such as planning online memory books for your special guests.
Non-Alcoholic Party Drinks
When planning parties, have an assortment of non-alcoholic party drinks on hand, whether it's an adult holiday party or child's birthday party. Essential non-alcoholic beverages include bottled water, club soda, cola, fruit juices, ginger ale and tonic water. Apple cider and eggnog are popular holiday favorites.
Celebration Snacks
When choosing celebration food, don't forget to keep out little bowls of snacks throughout the party! Party drinks and recipes go well with salty, crunchy snacks. Fill small bowls with salted or spicy nuts, wasabi peas and an assortment of olives.
Favorite Party Drinks
When planning your favorite party drinks, including non-alcoholic party drinks, remember to add fresh fruit to your shopping list. Don't forget limes, lemons and oranges and have them sliced in advance.
Planning Your Celebration Menu
Menu planning for a party and food preparation can get complicated. Accept offers from family and friends to bring food dishes. A pot luck dinner makes everyone feel involved - and you can get some great recipes! You can then focus on the main dish and making other parts of your celebration wonderful, such as planning online memory books for your special guests.
Retirement Party Themes
Retirement party themes can follow a quiz show format. Ask questions like, "How many bosses has the retiree worked for in his/her years with the company?" Or "Name three positions the retiree has held with the company." Include questions about hobbies, sports or special collections. Guests will have fun learning more about the retiree.
Food Preparation: Servings
Before choosing celebration food, do some keen calculations on your dinner party menu. Plan to prepare 10% more than you need. Some basic guidelines for food preparation are: one cup each of coffee, vegetables, potatoes, fruit, rice, soup and pasta per person. Figure ½ lb per person for meat and chicken. Each person will eat 1/8 of a 9-inch pie or cake.
Favorite Party Drinks: Frozen
Favorite party drinks often come frozen. You can never have too much ice. If you are serving frozen drinks, figure 1 lb of ice and thee drinks per person.
Simple Food Recipes
In a hurry while choosing celebration food? Simple food recipes, like marinated vegetable salads or pasta dishes, can be made ahead-. If necessary, just pop them in the microwave or oven for fast easy preparation the day of your dinner party celebration.
Simple Food Recipes
Anniversary celebrations, birthday parties, graduation celebrations and retirement parties don't have to be complex, elaborate affairs to be enjoyable. Simple food recipes are often the tastiest and easiest to prepare. Put your energy into planning a personalized gift for the guest of honor, such as a birthday memory book. Menu planning for a party should stick to easy familiar foods. Save the fancy or expensive entrees for smaller groups. Fit the meal to the season and to your fridge and oven space.
Party Theme Foods with Cheese & Crackers
Looking for simple foods? Cheese and crackers are always a winner when choosing celebration food for your Graduation Celebration, Anniversary or Birthday Celebration! Have a separate knife or spreader for each type of cheese. Offer variety in texture and taste. Have a plate of three to four different cheeses, a minimum of two types of crackers, and at least one fruit (apple or pear works best).
Videotape Retirement Party
Videotape retirement party guests answering questions about the retiree. Ask questions such as "what was the most embarrassing moment...the funniest moment." Ask guest to describe the retiree in 25 words or less. Give retirees the videos after their parties, along with online memory books created exclusively for them by their families and friends.
Celebration Pomegranate Cocktail
Spice up anniversary celebrations with a pomegranate cocktail. Roll the edge of a wet martini glass in sugar. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 2 parts cranberry vodka and 1 part pomegranate juice. Shake and strain into the sugared glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Dinner Party Recipes: Prep Time
Think ahead when planning dinner party recipes. How long will it take to cook, cool and reheat each dish?. Dinner party celebrations require two schedules:the "day before" and the "day of".
Celebration Vodka No. 5
Orange vodka and Midori will get retirement parties rocking. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 2 parts orange vodka, 1 part Midori and 1 part fresh lime juice. Shake and strain into sugared martini glass.
Retirement Party Themes:Sports
Retirement party planning ideas should center on what the retiree enjoyed while working and what the person is getting ready to do. Build retirement themes around the honoree's favorite sport, hobby or special interest. Decorate with tennis balls and raquets, or travel posters and postcards. Great retirement gifts reflect the retiree's life accomplishments and retirement goals.
Party Planning with Punch
Party planning involves thinking about guests who prefer non-alcoholic party drinks. For example, 40th birthday party ideas could include plans for two punch bowls: one with liquor and one without. Or have one punch bowl, with a bottle of liquor on the side so guests can help themselves.
Creative Food Preparation
Need some ideas for choosing celebration food? Be creative when deciding what kinds of food to serve for party guests. Food preparation should be fun. Consider serving a potluck spaghetti bar by offering a variety of sauces. Try a simple soup dinner, make-your-own sandwiches, salad bar, taco bar, baked potato bar, ice cream bar (make your own sundaes). A BBQ could feature shish kabobs, salmon or fish steaks, ribs, or roast pig.
Celebration Pomegranate Punch
Retirement party planning ideas should include pomegranate punch. In a large punch bowl combine 3 cups of pomegranate juice, 4 1/2 cups orange juice and 7 1/2 cups cranberry juice. Chill several hours. Ladle into punch cups and add a splash of seltzer water. Garnish with skewered cranberries.
Birthday Celebration Cakes
Birthday celebration cakes are often carried in from another room with candles lit and presented to the guest of honor. An easier way is to simply leave the cake in view during preliminary festivities. Consider it part of the decorations.
Party Theme Foods for Children's Birthday Parties
Children's birthday party ideas stress simplicity. Cut down on dishes and cleanup. Serve party theme foods that can be eaten from a napkin, such as candy and decorated cookies and cupcakes.
Retirement Party Gifts: Charity
Sometimes great retirement gifts are no gifts at all--for the retiree. Instead, retirement party gifts take the shape of gifts to the retiree's favorite charity. Invitations can even list the charity's name, so guests can come with check in hand.
Party Planning with Coffee
You don't need to have a coffee bar at your holiday celebration. A simple coffee service will complement the rich desserts. Have your coffee maker ready to go and have cups and saucers organized on a tray ready to bring to the table.
Celebration Garland
Decorate for anniversary celebrations or retirement parties with rag garlands trimmed with fruits. Tie 1/4-inch x 5-inch strips of cotton, thin wool or felt onto a 3-foot length of twine or wire. Add a slice of dried orange every few inches. Leave enough string at each end to tie a loop for hanging.
Retirement Party Themes: Table Decorations
Retirement party themes are easy if you consider the retiree's hobbies and special interests. Ideas for retirement party table decorations could feature one table with golf tees scattered as table confetti. The next table could be scattered with multi-colored rice signifying the retiree's cooking interest. Another table could be decorated with tiny planes and trains signifying the retiree's love of travel. All these interests could be then memorialized in online memory books.
Party Planning a Buffet Dinner
Recipes for party foods should avoid foods that must be cut. For a buffet dinner, make individual party theme foods that can be lifted onto the plate easily. Having guests slice and/or cut can be difficult while trying to balance a plate and will also slow down the buffet line.
Celebration Goat Cheese
When wondering what kinds of food to serve for party, don't forget the goat cheese. Slice a baguette on the diagonal. Spread each slice with goat cheese and bake in 350-degree oven about 10 minute (until bread is golden at the edges). Top with thin slices of figs and drizzle on balsamic vinegar.
Have a Coffee Bar
Checking out party ideas? At your next celebration, you might have a coffee bar. Party planning will be easy. Put freshly brewed coffee on the table; add a bowl of whipped cream and an assortment of liquors (Kahlua, Amaretto, whiskey.). Planning parties couldn't be easier.
Celebration Cheese from Spain
Serving wine and cheese is popular at anniversary celebrations and retirement parties. When choosing celebration food, keep in mind Torta de Barros cheese, which is produced by a small Spanish cheese maker using raw sheep's milk. It's best served at room temperature. Cut the top off the round. Guests use a spoon to scoop out the center and spread the cheese on crackers and bread.
Serving Wine
Serving wine at celebrations is simple. Serve full-bodied red winds with meat dishes and lighter whites with fish and chicken. However, in today's world people often mix. Have both types of wine available.
Celebration Strawberry Punch
Guests attending graduation celebrations will enjoy this cooling red punch. Blend a 10-oz package of frozen strawberries with 1 can of jellied cranberry sauce. Stir puree into 6 cups of giner ale or club soda.
Favorite Party Drinks
When choosing celebration food, take time to think about the drinks as well. Dinner party celebrations need organization. Have separate food and drink stations. Set up the bar for both alcoholic party drinks and non-alcoholic party drinks away from the kitchen and buffet table. Keep the kitchen clear, so you can move in and out with ease. Keep guests mingling and circulating.
Party Planning with Appetizers
Choosing celebration food? Everyone loves appetizers! Recipes for party foods can be simple. Holiday party ideas usually involve appetizers, particularly finger foods that are easy to pick up. Provide at least two low-cal vegetarian offerings. Think protein and vegetables. Party theme foods can revolve around poultry, cheese, vegetables, fruit and starch.
