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 going to do a sit down dinner or just provide appetizers? This will make a difference in your calculations. If you are planning a full-blown meal, figure that you will need about a pound and a half of food per person. If you are doing appetizers, you will need about one pound per person. Of course, you may need to adjust this a bit, if you know your friends and family are big eaters.
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.
For beverages, you can figure that punch will serve about ten people per gallon. That lets each guest have three servings in a standard 4-ounce punch cup. If you think your guests will be extra thirsty, you may want to make a bit more. If you are planning on serving cocktails at your party, you will want to plan for around two drinks per guest per hour for the first two hours, and then one drink per guest per hour.
Do not forget the ice! Plan on 1 pound of ice per person if you are serving iced drinks. In the summer weather, you will need to increase your amount of ice per person to keep them cool and refreshed. Do not skimp on the napkins or small appetizer plates.
Keep some appetizer party recipes on hand to start your party off right. Everyone loves to nibble a little. It starts the party and gets people talking. You can make most of them a day or two earlier. Always plan your party well in advance to keep everything on course.
If you cannot plan ahead because your party was a last minute gathering, keep some easy recipes on hand along with the ingredients. That way you can quickly whip up a few treats as people arrive.
Making straightforward Superbowl party recipes means that you can prepare all your snacks well in advance and relax with your guests when the game starts. There are lots of Superbowl recipes to choose from and meat snacks, 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.
