Author Topic: Housewarming party idea?  (Read 7861 times)

Rein1987

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Housewarming party idea?
« on: April 24, 2015, 03:54:25 PM »
My DH and I are planning to host a housewarming party next month. We did some search online, but we really do not get much good idea how to serve and entertain our guests. I'd love to get some mustachine ideas!

Here are our questions:
- Food, food, food! We went to several house warming party and they all serve BBQ. However, we do not have the grill and we do not have a huge backyard to do BBQ. I might be OK to cook for 10 people, but it's too challenging for me to cook for 20 or more  (And I do not want to split our friends into 10 people group to host a lot of parties....cleaning will become headache) Any idea how we can save money and make our guests happy?

- Entertainment: I'm thinking of hosting the party once for 50 people, or twice about 25 people each. How can we entertain this large group? I have some video gaming systems but I do not think it's enough. We have a great grand piano so how about a home recital? Is it weird to invite guests to play piano? How about those not interested in music? Any other good entertainment idea?

- Children? We do not have children so we do not have any experience dealing with children. However, quite a few guests we plan to invite have kids, from two to eight. Is there anything we should consider for these children?

Any other ideas about housewarming party is also welcome~~!!

MBot

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2015, 05:10:58 PM »
For a housewarming, do you need a full meal? We always have just done appetizers.

You can also BBQ hot dogs or other cheap and filling items (bbq-ing 100  hot dogs is easy). But make it fancier with cheap appetizers you can make ahead: hummus, veggies, deviled eggs, homemade bread, dips (baba ganoush, sour cream and dill), etc

MsPeacock

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2015, 06:12:16 PM »
Drinks and music are probably all you need in terms of entertainment if you have 50 guests. Trying to have a gaming system going or other stuff happening is likely just to complicate things w/ that many people at your house.

Can you do a potluck? That makes the whole cooking and preparing food thing a lot easier.

Otherwise I'd make full use of oven, crock pot, etc. and have a variety of things available - e.g. cheese dip in crockpot, samosas or mini-quiches or whatever in the oven, veggies and dip and crackers and cheese and nuts and such scattered around. deviled eggs. Or sandwich fixings.

For the kids - a good movie on a tv in a separate room and let them loose in the backyard. Get some packs of bubbles and kids should be fine.

Rein1987

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2015, 12:39:04 AM »
I was thinking of appetizers only, but my DH prefers offering full meal.

Potluck is a great idea! I really like this!
A separate room for kids to watch movie sounds fantastic! I'll do that too!

Thanks for the great suggestions!

lakemom

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2015, 06:52:24 AM »
So something in terms of "heavy" hors d'ovuers (sp?) Heavier meat/cheese based tidbits self-served from either a central location or various convenient spots throughout the house.  Oft times fundraisers do this because its often cheaper than a sit down AND you get people moving and looking at auction items making them bid more.  So, little things like mini beef wellingtons (ds had these at his wedding mmmmm good), stuffed mushrooms, smoked salmon/cream cheese, sausage stars, let your imagination run wild.  With this approach its nice to ask a couple of your closest friends to help you keep an eye on the platters to help you keep them full.  Remember, one of the keys to a good party is a relaxed host/hostess so remind your dh of that during the planning stage so he can see WHY you don't want to serve a complete meal.

Le Poisson

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2015, 06:56:16 AM »
We did a "stock-the-bar" housewarming, the served everyone from the bottles they brought. It was fun to see the drinks evolve as more liquor showed up. All we bought was munchies.

ltt

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2015, 08:49:00 AM »
Keep it simple, simple, simple.  Just foods to eat with the hands.

Sloppy joes/maid rites in a crockpot.  You can simmer hot dogs in another crockpot for kids.  Chips, dips, fresh veggies, brownies or cookies (or some type of bar that you can eat with your fingers).

I would not be asking other people to bring a dish to your housewarming party.

2ndTimer

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2015, 09:21:00 AM »
Big dishes of home made kettle corn.  Everybody loves it. 

zurich78

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2015, 09:25:24 AM »
Keep it simple, simple, simple.  Just foods to eat with the hands.

Sloppy joes/maid rites in a crockpot.  You can simmer hot dogs in another crockpot for kids.  Chips, dips, fresh veggies, brownies or cookies (or some type of bar that you can eat with your fingers).

I would not be asking other people to bring a dish to your housewarming party.

Yeah, I agree.  That's kind of tacky. 

Le Poisson

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2015, 09:27:29 AM »
WRT kids - just have stuff to do. We were surprised at our son's recent birthday (7 yrs old) that despite all they typical birthday games (ring toss, beanbag toss, pin the tail on the donkey, etc.) the events that broke out spontaneously and got the most attention were a checkers tournament and a dance-off. Just let it slide and play along.

Greg

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2015, 02:44:19 PM »
Where we live, or at least in our circles, potlucks are common and a great, welcome way to celebrate all manner of events.  We often say "fingerfood potluck" to deter soups and other P.I.T.A. foods.

Keep it simple, simple, simple.  Just foods to eat with the hands.

Sloppy joes/maid rites in a crockpot.  You can simmer hot dogs in another crockpot for kids.  Chips, dips, fresh veggies, brownies or cookies (or some type of bar that you can eat with your fingers).

I would not be asking other people to bring a dish to your housewarming party.

Yeah, I agree.  That's kind of tacky.

pbkmaine

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2015, 02:48:15 PM »
A huge pot of chili on the stove, plus all the toppings. A big green salad. A loaf or two of crusty bread. People will ask what they can bring, potluck or not. We tell them to bring appetizers, wine or beer, and desserts.

MsPeacock

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2015, 07:38:56 PM »
Potlucks are very standard around here - and they do make it a lot easier to jots a party. I wouldn't expect gifts on top of the food.  I can't recall a party I've been to in the pst 5 years or so that wasn't potluck.

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2015, 07:41:27 AM »
I actually think entertaining with appetizers is more difficult.  You end up having to do much more cooking and purchasing many different ingredients.  I would pick a food theme.  One idea could be Mexican.  You could do a pork roast (or two) in the crockpot and beans in another crockpot.  Buy some chips, tortillas, salsa and toppings and the guests can assemble themselves.  You could also make several pans of something like lasagna and a salad.  I wouldn't worry too much about entertaining or cooking anything special for the kids.  Kids are really good at entertaining themselves.  For the adults, you could do a card game or poker.

Rein1987

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Re: Housewarming party idea?
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2015, 02:07:20 PM »
Thanks for all the great advices.

Our house warming party happened last Sunday and everyone was very happy. Because our party started at 3pm, we finally gave up the potluck idea. It was also because too many people and relative small space to put their food if they bring large dishes. We had catering service from a local restaurant. Fortunately, most guests like their food and all food costs less than $300 for more than 30 people :)  We had a lot of left over, so some friends packed to-go boxes with them at the end of the party. We also had just enough food left for us for this week so no grocery store this week!

Our friends did bring snacks, fruits, dessert, beverage and alcohol, which is really very helpful.

Although we said no gift in our invitation, we did receive a few gift cards with total of a few hundred dollars, more than enough to cover our cost:) (And these gift cards are from local grocery stores or visa gift cards so definitely will be useful, unlike Macy's which I have no idea what I need to buy there....). I'm really very grateful.

Next time, if we are going to have smaller party (10 ppl), I'll definitely do potluck!