Planning and Hosting a Successful Holiday Potluck

A little imagination can make it a truly memorable event. One interesting idea is to make it a hobo potluck, where the dishes are brought in beautiful serving pieces or casserole dishes, but served up into foil tins. 

There are many wonderful and exciting ideas which could be used, by simply being a little creative. Here are a few ideas for you to explore...

• Charitable Event...guests bring a warm blanket, canned food, or new toy that will be given to a local charity
• 19??'s...you fill in the year
• Ethnic traditional foods...Italian, Chinese, Mexican
• Luau or from the beach
• Comfort foods
• Picnic or finger foods
• The Seasons (i.e. Winter Wonderland with red and green foods)
• Salads (you supply the butter and homemade rolls :)
• Casseroles...this one is great for a breakfast potluck

The easiest way to invite the guests is by sending creative emails or if there is no other option, pop your invitations into the snail mail (see my idea above about planning your potluck online). It is just a nice personal touch to send some sort of a formal invitation. This can be done even if you have spoken to your guests on the phone.

Center the invitations around the theme, if you have one. This can be a really cool task as well, by using a little imagination and, getting the kids involved in helping out. People are more likely to remember if they have a note from the host which states the date, time, and theme.

It also may be helpful to send out a reminder if the holiday potluck is to be held more than 10 days from the time the invitations are given. People tend to get busy around the holidays, so send out a quick email reminder a couple of days before the event.

The night before your potluck event set the scene for the delicious dishes that will be arriving with your guests by setting your table. Decorations can be as simple or as elaborate as you like...afterall it's your party.

Ponder these varied ideas for arranging your potluck table...

• Make one end of your table the start-to-eat-point by placing all the things your guests will need for their food (i.e. plates, cups, silverware, napkins, etc.).
• Have blank place cards available so guests can write down the name of their dish.
• Designate a spot on your table for hot foods. Have cords available for plugging in crockpots and buffet servers.
• If you use candles for your table make 'em unscented (soy or beeswax) candles so you can enjoy the scents of the food.
• If you have room and a spare table use it for all the desserts. Don't forget the smaller plates and forks.

Just before guests arrive set your oven to 350° just in case someone needs to finish cooking or warm up a dish.

For a fun twist have someone serving beverages for the first half hour or so.

• Assorted bottles of wine and beer
• Holiday punch - spiked or not, hot or cold
• Cans or bottles of fruit juices, soda, or flavored water
• Pitchers of ice water with lemon and/or oranges slices
• BYOB and mixers - alcohol or not

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