Hi
It is that time of year again. I am going to host an open house for other families to come and visit and let the kids play. I am tight on space (an understatement) and budget, but would like to have some family friendly foods (not too messy, too! if that isn't too much to ask). The open house will be from around 4-7 to accommodate naps and so forth. I am a single mom and need it to be as easy and inexpensive -- yet fabulous!-- as possible. I was thinking lots of cheese cubes and bread, an easy five layer bean dip with tortilla chips, maybe some cut up fruit, but what else??? I used to make a crock pot full of soup, but thought this might be cumbersome without table space and so many little ones around.
Please send me some wonderful ideas. Thanks soooo much!
Sounds crazy but the Ikea meatballs and sauce are fantastic! I never would have tried them if a friend didn't have them at her party. Also, I love a good old fashioned veggie tray and spinach dip.
Have fun!!
Even other chips (like plain from the dollar store)and dip (lots of 99 cent sales on it right now), pretzels, cookies, trailmix, would be simple additions. It sounds like you already have some great ideas :) Happy holidays!
Stuffed Mushrooms - Amazing and EASY!!! (I didn't know I liked mushrooms before these)
Get the big mushrooms from Costco and stuff them with artichoke jalepeno dip (also Costco) and then sprinkled parmesan cheese on top. After stuffing, put them in the oven 350 degrees for around 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted on top....you could turn on broiler for a minute or two, just to brown them.
I can't remember the costs but I'd say it's around $10 and it will take you only minutes to prepare. Have fun entertaining!
I second the Trader Joe's appetizers. They have a great selection and they're pretty gourmet without being too spendy. Fred Meyer also has a large selection of frozen appetizers that look pretty delicous. What my sis-in-law does with her small space is to constantly have a small pan of one appetizer in the oven, and then rotates them through, while leaving out the standards like chips & salsa/bean dip, veggie tray, fruit tray, cheese plate, punch. That way there's always something fresh and interesting out, and you can mix it up throughout the open house.
Season's Greetings!
Pigs in a blanket would be cheap and easy to make and eat. Also, you might include some small sugar, gingerbread or orange ball cookies (recipe below). You might want to skip the nuts. My young ones love these and love to help make these as well.
Orange Balls
Ingredients:
1 box vanilla wafers crushed (I do this in my food processor or blender)
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
6 oz. orange juice concentrate thawed undiluted
1 stick margarine melted
Coconut (to roll the balls in)
Directions:
Combine the crushed wafers, powdered sugar, nuts, and orange juice. After these first ingredients are blended I add the melted margarine and blend again.
Shape about 1 Tablespoonful into a ball and roll in coconut. Place in a paper cup or on your tray.
These dry out quickly so you need to roll them in the coconut quickly or keep them covered. This makes about 6 or 7 dozen.
Instead of soup, make mulled apple cider in your crockpot. The smell is amazing, no caffeine, and everyone can enjoy it. Just add some cinnamon, cloves, slices of orange to bottled apple juice. (Or buy trader joe's premade spiced apple juice.) I always add the sliced oranges for looks and they add a gorgeous smell.
Finger sandwiches are always good. Either get a spread or ham and tukey lunch meat and throw some cheese on then cut them into little squares. Buffalo chicken dip is always very quick and inexpensive also.
Hi there - Another good and easy snack is microwave popcorn. Albeit it may not fall into your no mess, but it is easy to clean up. People can have as much or as little as they want. Also nuts are a good snack too and neither take up too much room. Hope that helps. Remember to have a good time too!
Doin' the same thing here (with the same TOTAL lack of space). We'll be pushing the dining table against one wall to make a buffet. What we've come up with so far:
- Giant pot (aka, my soup pot) of hot apple cider simmering on the stove...smells so so yummy (and ice cubes in the freezer). I also buy throw away straw cups whenever they go on sale... and the write each child's name on theirs with a sharpie.
- Egg nog (yuck) in the fridge
- Turkey (bought for $5 in my freezer will get cooked the day before and laid out cold & sliced day of)
- $25 of Trader Joe (frozen) Appetizers
- Popcorn (both for munching and making garlands...2 separate bowls)
<grinning> and SO co-opting Alana's stuffed mushrooms!
Buy crescent rolls and those little smoked sausages. Cut the rolls into thirds and roll up the sausages in the middle. If you want to add a little more flavor, spread dijon mustard on the rolls before you roll them. These are a big favorite at all of our family gathering, and they go fast!
Hi F.,
The two best things that ALWAYS get devoured at our parties are the hummus(all kinds of variations) and fancy chips(the kind you can find at TJoe's) or something like Kashi Crackers. The other thing that is always a hit is the little mushroom turnovers from TJoe's They come 12 in a pack for $2.99 and taste like they came from a caterer!
I think you are on the right track, you have already had healthy options in mind...good luck and have a blast!
How about little croissants with chicken salad (grapes and pecans in the chick salad - more elegant) and then cut them in halves with a leaf of curly leaf lettuce on each halve. Top with a slice of olive on a toothpick to hold the sandwiches together.
What about something sweet? You can take oreo cooies and crumble them up in a bowl and add 8 oz of cream cheese, stir well then roll into a ball then put the balls on a wire rack with a cookie sheet under it. Pour white chocolate that you have melted over the stove over the ball and letting the cookie sheet catch the excess chocolate so you can reuse it. After drying, you can take the dark chocolate and make stripes on the white chocolate balls... it looks very elegant.
Also you can take strawberries and dip them in a milk chocolate that you melt over your stove then take the white chocolate and drizzle in a pattern over that. That looks very elegant and ritzie also.
A plate of California rolls (sushi rolls) look nice and is a nice touch to the h'orderve table also.
Stuffed mushrooms are nice.
Also, I went to a party one time for xmas and they had a xmas tree shaped foam (from Michaels about 1.5 foot high I am guessing) and they covered it with aluminum foil. They took the tooth picks that have the colored cellophane on the tips, and they put a small piece of cheese on it and pushed it up toward the cellophone then put a grape (different color grapes if you want - just make sure they are seedless) and then stuck it on the tree. The tree was full so then the guest just pulled it out and put it on their plates. Oh... and the star on top was a slice of star fruit with toothpicks in it so it would stand up on top. Stawberry and Blueberry Yogurt was sitting beside the tree in a bowl with a spoon so you could put yogurt in your plate to dip your grapes in if you wanted it.
Another option or idea, depending on how elegant and how detailed you wanted your party, is to get some chicken breast without bone and cut it into slices, take some scewers and thread the chicken on the screwers and put them in your oven to cook with some bottled ginger or/and terriaki sauce and lay them in a plate making it look round with the meat in the middle and the scewers hanging over the outside of the plate. It looks really nice, especially with the sushi next to it.
You could always go to the bakery too and get some of the little finger cakes covered in frosting that are decorated like little presents or you could try to cut the cake yourself and frost it and take a can of decorative icing and decorate them to look like little presents yourself. Actually that would be fun to make and your creativeness would get to shine because you could make them all look different.
You could always get cressant rolls in the grocery store and stuff them with just about anything and bake them and that would be a nice easy appetizer.
Also, get on the computer and google any and every word/words that you can think of and do some research. You will be able to find tons of finger foods and appetizers to fix.
Good luck. I hope it all goes well for you.
If you need anymore help, give me a shout. I love stuff like that.
costco meatballs put in crockpot with yoshida sauce, always a bit hit!
I have no idea where my sister got the recipe, but it's super easy and very tasty!
1 can black olives
1 jar green olives
1 can burgundy olives
1/3 small onion
1 can tomatos with green chili's (or 3 romas and a 4oz can of chilis)
3 tablespoons balsalmic
a little salt and pepper to taste
put it all in a blender/food processor and blend until it's finely chopped. Put it in a bowl and serve with crackers or those herbed sliced bread thingys.
It does tend to make quite a bit, so freeze some for another time (new years, Easter, etc)
A good idea, especially for kids is Pigs In A Blanket. Wrap croissant(Pillsbury) dough around li'l smokies with a side of ketchup and mustard.
I have a GREAT recipe for an Italian sandwich using cresent rolls cheese, lunch meat of choice and an egg mixture!! Very yummy!!
Costco sells a large box of Spanikopita (little frozen finger food - filo dough stuffed with spinach and feta cheese). All natural, few ingredients. The kids get good protein and spinach. Good stuff. It is always a big hit with kids and adults alike(at least that has been my experience). It's super simple - just throw in oven for 20-25 minutes and serve. They have a $2.50 OFF coupon going right now as well. We just stocked up.
You could serve soup or a chili or stew in mugs with handles. Coffee cups would work great and a table wouldn't be required, as you're not having large servings. A lentil chili with grated cheeses and fresh onions, a cornbread... great stuff, not expensive. If not a lentil chili, Cattlemen's Chili, canned at Costco.... again have grated cheese, fresh onions... for a big can that would serve about 12-15 people easily for the size of the servings for about $7....
I like to do a crockpot full of barbecued meatballs for this sort of event. Its the perfect compliment to the cheese and can fill up those that show up hungry before they start drinking! It also holds well for hours and hours and can easily be replenished.
You can make meatballs ahead of time but I like to just buy a couple of bags of the frozen ones from Trader Joe's or Costco. Prepare as directed (depending on your timeline, the pre-cooked will self warm in the crock if you have enough time) then dump the meatballs into the crockpot and choose your favorite barbecue sauce to dump over them. Put out a holder of toothpicks to self serve right from the crock.
Happy Holidays All!
K. Koitzsch
Owner and Chief Operating Officer
Just Between Friends of Seattle
JBF Consignment Sales, LLC
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Those are all lots of great ideas. I don't know if you want any sweets, but no-bake cookies are good, easy and cheap to make. It's just plain oatmeal, cocoa, sugar and peanut butter. I can look up and email you the recipe if you want. They can be made a day or two ahead of time. You just mix together and warm up the ingredients then drop spoonfuls on a sheet of wax paper.
