This weekend we had a party at our house for John's and Gary's birthdays (they are one day apart later this week.) It was a success. We had about 30 people show up, fewer than anticipatated, but still a very good crowd. It started around 7 and the last person left around 2.30. We had way too much food for the number of people who came, and way too much soda and beer, too. But considering John and Gary invited upwards of 80 people at the last minute, I think we were well prepared.
Eva (John's wife and our co-hostess) made stuffed mushroom appetizers, bacon-chicken bites, artichoke dip, and garlic-parmesan dip. Plus for dessert she made chocolate truffles (which were absolutely delicious!) I made devilled eggs, other dips, lots of cookies (which we forgot to serve!), and bought sushi and the cakes. Plus we had the usual assortment of crudites, chips, crackers, and cheese and sausage. I had bought several loaves of bread and ham and turkey and cheese to make sandwiches, just in case we ran out of food. Which we didn't. :)
We didn't have much in the way of entertainment, but what we had was popular. I bought several boxes of glowstick necklaces (they are plastic tubes that light up when you break the tube of chemical inside them.) Gary set out his laptop computer and speakers and had Rhapsody running all night. Rhapsody is a music-on-demand service; all you have to do is type in the artist, album, or song title you're interested in and if they have it in their system, you can play it. This allowed people to choose what kind of party music they wanted to hear, and since it was such a diverse group of people, we heard a lot of different kinds of music! Gary also entertained the one child who came, plus several adults, with his 'abracadabra' trick of turning on and off various lights in the house (I won't say how it's done, since it's his secret.)
Scotch usually falls under the drink category at parties, but in this case I'd call it entertainment. John is a connoisseur of single malt scotch, and he brought some of his collection over to share. He set up a little bar with all the scotches, and explained the difference between them and recommended which ones to try in which order (very important.) I'd say most people who came tried at least one scotch, and I'm sure quite a few tasted several! We'll have to position the scotch area to a larger space next time because it was so popular.
All in all, we had a fun crowd who seemed to have a great time.
Posted by Jen at September 8, 2003 07:45 AM