I love parties and can pretty much use ANY excuse as a good reason to throw one. For this event I wanted to host a get-to-know-you style cookie exchange to meet more of the girls in my neighborhood. And because the whole neighborhood was invited, I wans’t sure how many would actually show. Hence the cookie exchange, this made it easier for me to have a few savory things to serve and not have to worry about having enough to feed everyone.
The other great news is I didn’t have to spend a fortune to make it nice. I used a lot of platters and things I had on hand, the only things I bought were 2 sets of canape plates and stemmed glasses to add to my collection. This may surprise you, but the plates were from Ross and were $8 for 12 plates!! And the stemware from IKEA was on sale black Friday, drumroll please….. $1.98 for 6 glasses!!! They are normally $3.98 which is still a killer deal!
I served a variety of cookies, mixed veggies with dip, crackers and cream cheese with salsa or jelly. The cream cheese dipy thingys were so so easy! And everyone LOVED them! They were totally easy to replenish, just put out a new block of cream cheese and top with the desired topping. I used salsa verde, black bean and corn salsa, boysenberry jam and orange marmalade.
I feel like the games are the best part of get-to-know-you parties, but again with the large crowd I had to be strategic. Throughout the night I’d tap a glass with a butter knife to capture everyones attention and ask a question. Some of them were: Who can tell the most embarrassing story, who can name the most people in this room or who had the largest dollar bill on hand. The first three people to jump in were then voted on by the rest of the group and won a small prize. I was fun to get to know people in a different way and have a good laugh.
Have you ever hosted a get to know you party? What has worked for you ?
Xo, Chelsey