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A Well Crafted Party

Holiday Party Appetizers

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The holidays are certainly here and though I’ve been celebrating nearly two weeks straight… the parties aren’t over yet! We still have New Year’s Eve around the corner. The great thing about New Years is that anything goes when it comes to entertaining. Whether you are hosting a laid-back NYE get-together with pizza or a fancy cocktail party with all the trimmings… it is just about the CELEBRATING!

I recently got to share a few holiday appetizer tips on KGW and thought I’d share them here today. See my spot here, and scroll down for more tips.

 

Holiday Party Appetizers

Your holiday party doesn’t have to be extra stressful, use some of the below tips to make whatever you are celebrating a fun time for everyone involved, including YOU the host. Affiliate links are included below and are marked as such. Affiliate links are one way that this blog is able to maintain content. Purchases made from affiliate links may result in small amount of income for this blog at no cost to the purchaser.

Mini Fruitcakes - A Well Crafted Party

Make miniature versions of your favorite holiday foods. 

Do you have a favorite holiday meal that you enjoy each year? Make it mini! Meatballs on toothpicks have never really gone out of style for good reason. Mini foods are fun to serve and easy to eat. This year I did a miniature version of fruit cake to serve at my holiday shindigs. I nixed the dried fruit in favor of a fresh fruit combination of cranberry and orange. The fresh cranberries made the cake much more tart than a traditional fruit cake. In order to balance that pop of tart flavor I glazed the mini fruit cakes with an orange glaze and white chocolate drizzle. You could certainly create little cupcakes to make this recipe, but I favored my mini loaf pan (affiliate link) to mimic the traditional loaf.

Some favorite Cranberry Orange Cake Recipes:

caprese skewers - a well crafted party

Get festive with favorites!

Caprese salad or caprese skewers are always a fan favorite at any of my parties and they are SO easy to make. Make it slightly more festive by putting the skewers in a ring around a dipping sauce to mimic the shape of a wreath or clock.

Caprese Wreath Appetizer

This recipe makes 24 skewers. You can easily increase this recipe to feed a crowd however.

Ingredients:

  • mozzarella balls – marinated in Italian seasonings, garlic, and olive oil. Approximately 24 mozzarella balls.
  • cherry tomatoes – halved – you need 24 halves
  • 24 basil leaves (fresh, not dried)
  • 24 tooth picks
  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions:

  1. You can buy pre-marinated mozzarella balls and just move on to the next step. However, if you can’t find the mozzarella balls pre-marinated then simply create a marinade of olive oil, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Cover the mozzarella balls in the mixture and let sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. If you can’t find mozzarella balls then you can cut up a larger portion of fresh mozzarella into 24 pieces and then marinate.
  2. Skewer 1 half cherry tomato, 1 basil leaf, and one mozzarella ball with a toothpick. I think that it looks more festive to go with red, green and then white, but you can really do it in whichever combination looks right to you. To create the wreath like look it just needs to be uniform with the other skewers. Circle completed skewers around a bowl on a platter.
  3. In the center bowl mix your seasonings and balsamic vinegar. This makes a delicious dipping sauce for your caprese skewers.

caviar chips and dip - A Well Crafted Party

Enjoy an unexpected decadent treat!

If there is any time in the year to splurge a bit and treat your guests it would be the holidays. New Years Eve screams oysters and champagne to me. Bring out the good chocolate or treat your guests to some caviar to really make the evening special. I shared one of my favorite dips that I learned from a team member at Whole Foods a few years ago. I call it my $50 dip. It is quite extravagant, but it can easily feed a crowd and is an extra special treat!

Caviar Dip & Chips

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup fresh chopped chives
  • 16 oz of creme fraiche
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • fresh squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 to 1 oz of caviar – I used Paddlefish Roe (affiliate link). Sturgeon Caviar (affiliate link) would also be a great addition. You could even substitute Salmon Roe for a different flavor profile.
  • Kettle Chips

Directions:

  • Mix chopped chives, garlic powder, and lemon juice with creme fraiche. Chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.
  • Top the dip with caviar – spread out with a spoon so that guests get a little caviar with each chip.
  • Serve with kettle chips.

 

Other decadent appetizer ideas:

Holiday Garnish Ideas - A Well Crafted Party

Don’t forget a festive garnish!

Elevate your holiday appetizers by making sure your platters and plates are garnished. Use fresh fruits and herbs for a truly spectacular (and useable) garnish. I like taking pomegranates, oranges, grapefruit, cranberries, and rosemary for a beautifully festive garnish for holiday treats.

Have a happy holiday season and don’t forget to treat yourself in the midst of all of the holiday entertaining and giving.

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A Well Crafted Party

Throwing Affordable Holiday Parties – Podcast with Stacking Benjamins

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I’m excited to shared that I was featured on the awesome, and hilarious, podcast Stacking Benjamins today with my tips on “Holiday Parties That Won’t Break the Bank.” Head on over to hear the holiday party tips I share while  visiting Joe’s mom’s basement. Don’t forget to stay for Doug’s trivia!

If you have found my little blog via the podcast… welcome! I hope you stay for the party. 😉 Learn a little more about me and this corner of the internet on my ever growing “About Me” page. Learn more holiday tips below!

Holiday Party Tips | A Well Crafted Party
Photo by Macey Snelson | Festive Green and White Holiday Party

How to Throw an Affordable Holiday Party this Season:

Hosting a party needs to be fun for your guests, but it also needs to be fun for you as a host! When hosting a party becomes an obligation rather than a privilege, it sucks out the fun for everyone. When putting together a holiday soiree think about what is most important to you and ways you can decrease your stress.

Outsource what you hate!

My blog is all about finding affordable ways to celebrate life. However, there are times when where you need to save is less about saving money and more about saving sanity. This might have been something that has come with age, but I think it is really important to figure out what you need to outsource to make hosting an event enjoyable to you as well as your guests. When looking at a limited budget, think about outsourcing areas that really stress you out will go a long way to helping make for a successful event. For instance, if you hate cleaning, consider renting out a venue or hiring cleaners for your home. If cooking isn’t your jam, hire a catering company or order out. You can re-plate a lot of foods to make them look like a million bucks without all the stress of a day in the kitchen cooking. Order flowers from a florist rather than styling your own. A well placed gorgeous bouquet can do the job of decorating for a party without a lot of effort!

Limit options when it comes to beverages and food.

This will go a long way in cutting back stress, but also allow you to better stick to a budget.

Holiday Drinks | A Well Crafted Party

Beverages: Guests don’t often need a multitude of beverage choices to enjoy a party.

Instead of investing in several bottles of different choices of red and white wines, pick a house favorite single red and single white wine to serve. Same with beer. Pick one or two favorites. Don’t worry about stocking up a full bar, instead, create one to two signature cocktails— punch bowls and batch cocktails are awesome ways to limit your expenses and keep yourself from having to tend bar all night long. Always serve non-alcoholic options as well, but again, limit the options. I always love to have a carafe of water elevated with fruit, mint, or cucumber as an affordable and refreshing non-alcoholic option. I generally estimate 1.5 drinks per person per hour for a dinner party event and 2 drinks per person per hour for a cocktail party event. Day-time events generally go with an estimation of 1 drink per hour.

Holiday Appetizers | A Well Crafted Party Photo by Mary Boyden
Photo Mary Boyden – Oysters with Tabasco Shaved Ice

Food: A few well selected food items can go over better than a bevvy of choices that aren’t well-thought out.

Cocktail Party: For a cocktail party event pick three to five appetizers and make sure there are around three to four pieces/servings per appetizer per person. Have them strategically placed around the room or passed out on trays. As a host this is a perfect excuse to make it around the room to see how everyone is doing without being pulled to stay for a long conversation with one guest. Put a tray in your hand and deliver food to your guests! (Check out these awesome holiday appetizers from some of my favorite blogs!)

Dinner Party: I am a big fan of large dinner parties with several courses, but when sticking to a budget I generally stick to a menu of 3 to 4 courses at most. (How to throw a Multi-Course Dinner Party)

Potluck: Potlucks are incredibly popular during the holiday season and I’m a BIG fan. The way to make potlucks more guest-friendly? Make sure you are upfront in the invitation that it is a potluck and what type of item you are expecting guests to bring. When guests do bring items to a potluck, don’t forget to have ways for them to label their foods so that your guests with allergies or food aversions can pick out items that fit their needs and tastes. (Free holiday potluck printables.)

DIY Holiday Decor | A Well Crafted Party photo by Macey Snelson
Photo by Macey Snelson | DIY Branch Holiday Card Holder

My thoughts on DIY

Obviously, my blog is all about ‘crafting’ a great experience. I’m a HUGE fan of DIY. A great way to decrease the expense of a party is to DIY!  But, when doing it yourself causes great stress, it is more important to allocate your funds in a way that will make the event enjoyable to your and your guests. Go ahead an purchase some pre-made appetizers or desserts. Put it on another plate and go! Limit the DIY projects to one or two even if you are a pro DIYer.  The great thing about holiday party decor is that it is sort of already built in with your general holiday decor. Get more easy DIY projects and free printables from my “Natural Green and White Holiday Party.”

More holiday party tips

 

 

 

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Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving | A Well Crafted Party
A Well Crafted Pantry

Three Cranberry Sauce Recipes

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I don’t host Thanksgiving. Instead, I’m very happy to be attending a Thanksgiving with friends and family where everyone brings a dish to share and everyone is an AMAZING cook. I tend to do a lot of parties around this time of year so I don’t have a ton of energy to put into making something super involved for the holiday. Which means, typically, every year I’m bringing the potatoes and cranberry sauce. If those are the only two things I’m responsible for then I’m going to make them DELISH.

Cranberry sauce is often an afterthought to the Thanksgiving meal. However, a great cranberry sauce can elevate a turkey quite well. I have three fall back cranberry sauces that I love to make. Some years, when feeling extra on top of it, I’ll bring all three so guests can have their choice.

Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving | A Well Crafted Party

 

Traditional Cranberry Sauce

A traditional cranberry sauce is SO easy to make. You need a sauce pan, cranberries, orange juice, and sugar to make this sauce. Occasionally I’ll add in something like a cherry or orange liquor to give it a bit of a kick.

Ingredients:

  • 1 12 oz bag of cranberries
  • freshly squeezed juice of one large orange
  • 1 cup sugar
  • (Optional) 1 Tablespoon orange or cherry liquor

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat stirring occasionally so the sugar doesn’t burn. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until your berries are bursting and the sauce has thickened a bit. The sauce will further thicken once cooled. Serve warm or chilled. It will be extremely hot once finished so wait until it has cooled before tasting. If you feel that your sauce is too thick you can thin a bit with water.

Apple and Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce

Sometimes I want a little more texture to my cranberry sauce. Sweet apples are a great contrast to the tartness of cranberries.

Ingredients:

  • 1 12 oz bag of cranberries
  • 2 fuji apples diced (or other favorite sweeter apple)
  • seeds of 1 pomegranate + any residual juices
  • 1 cup sugar
  • freshly squeezed juice of two Meyer lemons

Directions:

Put all ingredients except for you pomegranate seeds into a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally so the sugar doesn’t burn. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until you berries are bursting a bit and you can put a fork through your apple easily. Add in pomegranate seeds and juice and stir to incorporate. Chill. Serve Chilled.

Cranberry Salsa

This rendition of cranberry sauce is my favorite and is perfect on a leftover turkey sandwich. I tend to like the spicy things in life and will always opt for jalapeño when asked, so if you are similar in your flavor profile think about adding this to you Thanksgiving menu.

Ingredients:

  • 1 120z bag of cranberries
  • 1 to 2 jalapeños seeded (depending on how spicy you want your salsa)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • Juice of two large limes
  • 1/2 red onion diced
  • 1 small bunch of cilantro (this is according to taste. I think I had about 1 tablespoon in mine because I don’t tend to love a lot of cilantro.)

Directions:

  1. In a bowl mix your sugar and lime juice together until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Put the cranberries, jalapeños, red onion, and cilantro to a food processor and pulse until incorporated.
  3. Add the cranberry mixture to your lime and sugar mixture. Mix and let sit in fridge covered for 4 hours. The lime juice will soften the cranberries a bit.
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