Party Time

I realize that it takes the motivation of someone coming to my house to get things cleaned and in order.  So it was a really good idea to have a housewarming/Christmas party a month after moving in because up until two nights ago there were still lots of boxes and junk laying about.

[there were going to be photos here, but the ogre overlords of Comcast strike again.]

Our very first house party!  It was fantastic!  I hope to do a lot more entertaining here now that we have the space.  At one point we had thirteen kids running around and it wasn't a problem at all.  The older ones strapped on coats and played outside, riding the bike and scooter on the cement pads and the others played in the toy room of happiness upstairs.  I was told by a few short guests that it "was the best room ever." The room was such a great place for the kids that we're rethinking our room designs and perhaps combining the office and guest room to have a play room until we'll need it for a bedroom. (How many times can I use 'room' in one sentence.  Shesh.)

I just totally realized what it says about me as an entertainer when the very first thing I talk about is the kids.  But really, if the kids have a place to play, run around and be crazy (while safely contained) then the adults can relax and have a good time too.

And now, may I present the FOOD.  Most ideas courtesy of Pinterest.  By golly I love that website.

We had Charleston Cheese Dip (doubled, served over Italian bread), caramel apple cheesecake dessert dip, mini sausage wreath with a cranberry bbq sauce dip, a Christmas tree spread (doubled by slicing the block of cream cheese into two thin bricks first), the remaining package of little sausages slow cooked in the remaining cranberry bbq sauce, a box of walmart Christmas cookies (I was thinking of the kids, but those cookies got scarfed down fast!) peanut butter bark (of my own creation) and my mom brought brownies and Carina brought some ever so delicious fudge.  For drinks we had spiced apple cider and pink lemonade.

Because this is kind of my journal, the next time I have a party I'll want to go back here and see what to do the same and differently.  First off, I bought way too many napkins and just barely enough plates.  I got four packages of each.  So next time only two packs of napkins (if I run out I can always bust out our plain every day ones) and five packs of plates.  The 50 count stack of red plastic cups were just fine, though I need to have a sharpie next to them so people can keep track of who's cups belong to who.  Never serve a drink that will dye the carpet.  A few cups got spilled, but it wasn't a big deal.  (Ah, a nice use for our tan carpet.)

The salsa cream cheese spread wasn't a big hit.  It tasted great, but people went for the savory and sweet, versus spicy.  I'll leave that out next time.  The cider was SUPER easy.  All I did was dump a big jug of apple cider into the pot (only needed one) and then put in six bags of the celestial seasonings spiced apple herbal tea bags.  Tasted delicious!  All the dips were really easy to make and were made up earlier in the day for our evening party.  The Charleston cheese dip could have been made up (but not baked) the day before very easily.  We had to slice more apples mid party, but it wasn't a big deal and it kept them from getting brown.  Only half the apple dip was eaten, but we don't mind the leftovers.

Next time I need to cut the bread into half slices (meant to do it, but ran out of time) and maybe buy two loafs.  This would have been extra good with toasted bread, but it was simpler to use plain.  I also need to make sure my ritz crackers haven't been broken.  About half of the box was useless because the crackers were all busted up, but I didn't realize it until party time.

Dumping a can of cranberry sauce (or cranberry gelatin, as it appears) into a crock pot with some bbq sauce makes a fantastically festive meat dip.  The peanut butter bark was made by melting a bag of semisweet chocolate chips, pouring it onto a parchment paper lined 9x13, popping in the freezer for about 10 minutes, melting a bag of the peanut butter chips and spreading over, letting harden and then melting about 1 cup of milk chocolate chips for a swirled light layer on top.

I'm thinking that this needs to become a tradition, perhaps earlier in the season as a holiday kick off party.  By then we'll hopefully have a spare bed and a hideaway couch so you long distance friends can come stay with us!