Party On

Looky who has christened our soaking tub!

Many people have come over and wanted to jump right in, but Lee actually did it! Last night our good friends, Lee and Dave came over for a little belated birthday celebration for Lee. The four of us are the same age and so we tend to celebrate our birthdays and chide the newest moldy oldie throughout the year. Dave is first in January, then me, then six weeks later Lee, and Jim brings up the rear (and don't think he doesn't relish in that!) I am always getting the business for being the older woman from July to November. Suddenly the topic wanes around the first part of November for some reason. It is a ritual and I am use to it!

A cozy dinner with friends,
one of our favorite activities.

I learned some things that has made having dinner parties a lot easier and even less expensive this week. It just happened that we had two dinners scheduled one day apart. This it turns out was a great way to do it because:

I shopped for both dinners at the same time.

I served some of the same things at
both dinners so prepped only once.

After the first dinner,
I washed my linens and set them aside
for Monday's dinner.

I did use different dishes but the
same glassware and napkins.
Just setting them aside again made the set up
and clean up 1/2 as bad as two parties a week apart.
Because I didn't have to put it all away and
drag it back out the next day.

I used our good silverware and then just kept
out what I needed for last night. Less hassle
dragging the box out, etc..

I used elements of the same centerpiece for both nights.
It was different but easy as all the stuff was handy.

I made a cracker spread for the appetizers
and put it in two bowls, one for each night.

I split the 2 boxes of crackers so didn't
have to buy extra for the second night.
This helps because then we don't have
them around the house
tempting us after the party.

There was virtually no house cleaning
or yard work to do.

We had kabobs both night they went great
with both the steak and the salmon and
it is a fun way to get in plenty of veggies
Last night I even put radishes on the skewers.
Have you ever tried grilled radishes? Yum.

Less food was wasted.

You know how that goes...who wants
extra dessert hanging around?
If we can't talk someone into taking it home...
We often pitch it to save on the carbs and calories.
The first night Shelba brought dessert
and she took home the leftovers.

Last night I did the dessert and then I
cut up the remaining pineapple upside down
cake and froze it for another time.

I think this little trick of doing dinners
close together will help us conserve $ and time and energy.
And who is not for that anyway?

I love it!
We hope you can all come over
for dinner one of these days!

Next time Lee says she is going to bring her
jammies and have a real bath with bubbles before dinner!
If it's her birthday she can do whatever she wants...
that's the rule.