Party Food 101

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 wanting to have a formal supper or finger food? This can change the amount of food you need. For a large meal, the general consensus is to plan for a pound and a half of edibles per person. If you want finger food, you can reduce that to around a pound per person. You may need to adjust this if your friends are big eaters or small eaters. You know them best!

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, this is a great party appetizer. You should plan on a single guest eating about 20 bread cubes that are 1 inch each in size. This is about half of a French bread loaf. If you are serving other foods for fondue, consider that one person can eat 6 ounces of seafood, 4 to 6 ounces of cheese, 4 cookies, or 6 to 8 ounces of meat, fruit, or veggies. Be sure to prepare generously… it is better to have leftovers than not enough.

You can figure that one gallon of punch will give ten people three 4-ounce servings. If you know your guests will drink more than this, prepare more. If you are planning on serving alcoholic beverages, consider that most guests will drink two per hour for the first couple of hours and then one per hour after that. Stock up accordingly, including mixers, wine, or beer, depending on what you plan to serve.

You will want to stock about 1 pound of ice per person if the drinks will be served “on the rocks.” If you are having a party in the heat of the summer, you will need much more than that per person. Do not forget to have enough napkins to allow for snacking or small plates if you prefer.

So plan on at least a few quick easy appetizers to start things off. Your guests will love having a little nibble when they first get there. Most appetizers can be made a day or two ahead of time. Planning and preparation should begin early for your party to run as smoothly as possible.

If your party is more spur of the moment, you can always keep a few easy appetizer recipes on hand with some basic ingredients. You will be able to whip some up quickly as everyone arrives.

Making effortless Superbowl party recipes means that you can prepare all your munchies well in advance and relax with your guests when the game starts. There are lots of Superbowl recipes to choose from and meat munchies, like chicken wings, ribs and hot dogs, are always incredibly popular. You will find hundreds of quick effortless appetizers at our website to give you some more ideas.