If you're anything like me, the end of the holiday season can be a bit depressing, once all those pretty Christmas lights are taken down but the weather isn't any warmer (and in some cases, is even worse than it was in December). The next major excuse to hold a party isn't until Valentine's Day in February, but sometimes you just need a little event to help you make it through the cold winter until then...
Which is why a food party is such a great idea! Do you really need an official holiday to invite friends and family over for some warm food? One of my classmates in my art classes at Eastern Michigan University a few years ago was telling the class about how her boyfriend's family has a tradition every winter of hosting a soup party, and as a graphic design project, she created some invitations for that event. The way she described it sounded like a completely genius idea. The concept is simple - everyone who comes to the party has to bring a dish of soup to pass, just like a pot luck, and then everyone goes around and samples all of the different kinds of warm, delicious, winter-blues-healing soup. Once all of the guests have had their fill, they become judges and rate their favorite soups, and whoever cooked the soup with the most votes wins a prize.
You could also narrow the scope of the party to just a single kind of soup - like chili - and have an indoor chili cook-off. What better way to stay warm in the winter than feasting on hot, spicy chili?? :) For another twist, if you have a large enough kitchen and a small enough party, you could all cook your soup dishes on site, to ensure that they stay nice and warm. Or maybe you have access to your local high school's home ec classroom, so everyone can have their own little station for soup cooking. If you have the venue for it, you could even pretend you're all on a Food Network cooking competition, and supply everyone with the same ingredients, and see which teams can come up with the most delicious soups using only those ingredients.
It doesn't have to be soup to make a warm splash in your cold winter... any hot dish would do! The idea is just to have fun with family and friends and stay warm at the coldest time of the year - just like you did during the holiday season. :)
Which is why a food party is such a great idea! Do you really need an official holiday to invite friends and family over for some warm food? One of my classmates in my art classes at Eastern Michigan University a few years ago was telling the class about how her boyfriend's family has a tradition every winter of hosting a soup party, and as a graphic design project, she created some invitations for that event. The way she described it sounded like a completely genius idea. The concept is simple - everyone who comes to the party has to bring a dish of soup to pass, just like a pot luck, and then everyone goes around and samples all of the different kinds of warm, delicious, winter-blues-healing soup. Once all of the guests have had their fill, they become judges and rate their favorite soups, and whoever cooked the soup with the most votes wins a prize.
You could also narrow the scope of the party to just a single kind of soup - like chili - and have an indoor chili cook-off. What better way to stay warm in the winter than feasting on hot, spicy chili?? :) For another twist, if you have a large enough kitchen and a small enough party, you could all cook your soup dishes on site, to ensure that they stay nice and warm. Or maybe you have access to your local high school's home ec classroom, so everyone can have their own little station for soup cooking. If you have the venue for it, you could even pretend you're all on a Food Network cooking competition, and supply everyone with the same ingredients, and see which teams can come up with the most delicious soups using only those ingredients.
It doesn't have to be soup to make a warm splash in your cold winter... any hot dish would do! The idea is just to have fun with family and friends and stay warm at the coldest time of the year - just like you did during the holiday season. :)
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