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Tapas are a great accessory to any party. These smaller plates of food offer hearty entertaining over delicious cocktails. Tapas are very popular at bars, as they offer an enjoyable dining experience without being tied down to a full-course meal.

You don’t have to frequent a bar in order to have tapas—you can also serve them at home. Tapas do not refer to a specific type of food or dish. Basically, anything that be served in smaller portions can work as tapas.

What qualifies as tapas?
Tapas come in many varieties. You can serve cold tapas or hot tapas, and you can keep them simple or get more complex. A plate of green and black olives is a great tapa. It may be simple, but it is something your guest will gobble up. You could also get fancy and serve seafood-stuffed mushrooms with a lemon glaze. As long as it is served in small portions, anything can be tapas.

If you plan on serving tapas at home, try to opt for those items that don’t take long to prepare. This way, you can get the tapas plated quickly, leaving you more time to converse and entertain your guests. If you want to serve something a little on the refined end, try to serve something that can be made in advance and simply heated during the party. This way, you won’t overwhelm your guests with a dirty kitchen or miss the party by spending all your time cooking. Don’t worry about keeping your tapas hot, either, as most tapas are usually served at room temperature.

Try a tapas-only party.
If you are having a small get together, ditch the everyday fallback of burgers, hotdogs and pizza and serve only tapas. People engage better when slightly munching on smaller foods than devouring full plates. Plus, as long as you serve enough of them, you won’t have to worry about your guests going hungry.

Tapas work well with parties that involve cocktails, especially wine. Sangria is a great complement to tapas, but beer and liquor can also be served. If you are going to have an array of beverages, make sure to include multiple tapas that complement each drink. For example, a deep-fried tapa will go great with beer while a sautéed and flavorful veggie will taste delicious with wine.

You don’t have to limit yourself to serving tapas at large parties. If you’re having a few friends over for the evening, tapas are a great alternative to the bowls of chips and pretzels or wondering what take-out place to order from.

No matter what type of party you’re having, tapas will impress your guests and allow them to eat at their own leisure rather than be forced to sit down and be proper.

Tapas will help the atmosphere of the party. They’re a step up from potato chips, but not quite a full-course meal. Your guests will be able to enjoy themselves and the conversation of others, and the best part is, so will you. And parties are always better when the host can participate too.

 

Alexandra Kelly is a school teacher and devoted mother with a knack for writing. She is also a grammar fanatic and always makes sure to proof her work with a grammar checker before letting anyone reading it. She is currently helping her son with an Animal Farm summary.

 

When planning a baby shower, determining what the guests will eat is one of the biggest decisions that a host will make.  Will you serve a meal or will there be finger foods? Many hosts are choosing to go with finger foods as it allows the guests the perfect opportunity to mingle and eat.  Small, handheld food that can be eaten on the go, will allow mommy-to-be to get to talk with all of her guests while still enjoying the delicacies the shower has to offer.  Will you be serving finger foods at the baby shower you will be hosting? (more…)

It is graduation party time and many grads and their parents are planning parties to celebrate. One of the biggest tasks is planning the graduation party menu.

A graduation party is often a mix of adults and young adults. You’ll want to please both palates. Food needs to be both sophisticated and also fun. Some graduation parties may choose to have a casual menu – like a barbecue. This is an ideal choice for summertime. Fun choices can be to add shiscabobs so guests have something they can carry around and eat. Finger style foods will also be popular.

Another popular choice for a casual party is a giant submarine sandwich. This is a great way to please a large crowd and feed many people. Add to the sandwich a variety of delicious “side” dishes that will appeal to people, things they can eat with a fork like potato salad or macaroni salad or even potato chips or tortilla chips.

For a more elegant party, consider the cocktail party style. hors d’oeuvres can be passed and guests can drink alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. This can be a very sophisticated party. Hors d’oeuvres can be fancy like stuffed mushrooms, shrimp wrapped in bacon, scallops and Thai chicken.

Let’s face it: creating an entire Thanksgiving Day feast is tough! Any smart cook will make the meal easier on themselves in any way that they possibly can. One area where you can often do some easy cooking is with your appetizers or h’ors deourvres. These little starter snacks are often little bites that people enjoy just before a meal as they visit with friends and family.

One of the most important things about serving successful appetizers is you want some variety. Try to have at least two or three appetizers available. An easy appetizer to serve that involves no cooking – but that people love – is cheese and crackers. A slab of good cheese and crackers will be very popular. Those that are health conscious will be thrilled to see veggies and/or fruit with some light dip.

There are many types of appetizers you can make. Some of the most popular are stuffed mushrooms and Swedish meatballs. These appetizers are very quick to make and cook quite fast. Your guests will love their spicy and unique taste too!

Check out these videos to learn more about making stuffed mushrooms:

Or Swedish meatballs: