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How to Throw a Housewarming Party

You're finally done! After weeks of looking for your home, packing and unpacking, you're settled and ready to throw a housewarming party to show off your new place. Because your last few weeks have been hectic, you'll want to keep your party preparation simple and stress free. There are only 5 main steps to consider when planning your party:
  1. decide on a theme
  2. send out your invitations
  3. choose your menu and prepare your food
  4. get ready for your guests.
Theme
It's customary to bring a housewarming gift; however, deciding what to bring could provide a challenge for your guests. To make this easy and fun, give your party a theme. For example, why not have everyone bring a wineglass (to replace the ones that broke in the move!) and have a wine tasting party. Or, have everyone bring a place setting to add some diversity to your dinnerware. Another creative idea is to pick a color theme, for example, green - which may be an accent color for your décor (bringing plants, pillows, towels, etc.).

Invitations
Once you've picked your theme, customize your invitations. This can mean making your own from scratch or buying premade invitations at the store. Many people send invites via email because it's fast and you can direct your guests to online driving directions to your new home.

Menu and Party-prep
The next step is deciding on a versatile menu that is simple to prepare. Making hors d'oeuvres is probably your best way to go. You should plan on making at least 4-5 different types of hors d'oeuvres and estimate that each person will eat at least 2 hors d'oeuvres for each type you make. If you're someone that would rather make everything from "scratch" as opposed to buying a frozen assortment of tasteless puff pastry nibbles, you can do this very easily without a lot of prep work. Anything that needs to be chopped or blended in a food processor, such as olive tapenade, hummus (Middle Eastern chickpea, tahini and garlic dip), tzatziki (Greek yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip) or pâte doesn't require much more effort than throwing everything in the processor and serving it with bread, crackers or crudités. If you decide to offer crudités as an accompaniment, you can go to your local grocery story where you can buy an assortment of broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, etc. that are already chopped in bite size pieces. For hot hors d'oeuvres, you can slice a French baguette in about ½ inch slices, spread them out on a baking sheet and top with mango chutney and cheddar cheese. Put them under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Any of your hot hors d'oeuvres should be put in the oven when the first guest arrives.

Get Ready
Your food should be done or ready for the oven at least an hour before everyone comes leaving time for you to tidy up the kitchen, layout the hors d'oeuvres and dinnerware. Most importantly, give yourself a moment to relax before everyone arrives. Light some spice-scented candles to give your home a warm feeling, buy some flowers to add some color and you're ready to show off your new home!


Olive Tapenade*

2 Cans Pitted Black Olives
2 Garlic Cloves
¼ Pine Nuts (Pignoli)
½ Cup Trimmed Parsley
Toast Points (toasted, crustless, white bread cut into triangles, need about ½ loaf)

Place everything in the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Place in small oiled bowl and pack down tightly. When ready to serve, invert bowl in the middle of serving plate so that the tapenade comes out in a nicely formed round mold. Place toast points around the tapenade. Garnish with parsley.

*Source: Laura Tarris

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