For three years, I've intentionally volunteered to do a lot of Bryn Athyn Community Theater's cast parties. I thought it was to get enough experience to write a report that would include how-to suggestions & recipes & tips on when to do what.
Turns out that I was right, the three years' experience will enable me to write a Cast Party 1.0 report. Just not the report I ever expected.
Getting ready for the current cast party - for The Secret Garden - has been my best experience EVER putting on any party. And it completely changed how i view cast parties.
For the first half of our marriage, throwing a couple big parties a year was our norm, a build on the events I regularly held in my single days. But we haven't entertained since getting cats in the mid-2000s ~ too many friends are allergic. So putting on cast parties - and doing food for the after-church gathering on Sundays - became my entertaining outlet.
Take tomorrow night - cooked up a homemade tomato sauce for the pasta bake, threw together my 2nd ever chili, hard boiled & shelled eggs for deviling, made a classic potato salad, as well as a sesame noodle & pasta salad with peppers.
Wait, not done - made a buffalo'd cream cheese with blue cheese to pipe on cucumber slices then sprinkling with diced celery, jazzed up a Dean's French Onion dip with caramelized onions, making a 7-layer dip. And a loaf of Jennifer's "Grandma Davis" whole wheat bread!
A lot of work, on a hot day & with another hot one on its way tomorrow. How many people would be so lunatic?
Starting on Sunday, I'll join the ranks of those who'd never tackle such a mega cooking task. Because all through this experience, which I've loved every moment of, I've been asking myself, "How could this make the same impact, get the same rave reviews, without ALL THE WORK?" And I've come up with some pretty darn good ideas, if I say so myself.
First off, we should go back to each of the board members contributing something to the party. Not only will this make like a lot saner for the person organizing the party, it will give him or her the sense of being part of a team rather than out there alone. If one of them wants to bring the wine or other beverages instead of a nibbling, fine. Jennifer offering to contribute a loaf of homemade bread meant the world to me on several levels.
Some people have a strong network of friends ready willing & able to help out. I am not so blessed & have a hard time successfully delegating. What I will do if I head up a future cast party is to wrangle someone on the board or the crew who's good at wrangling help & let them round up help. Having extra hands to help with all aspects of the party would be wonderful & helps the organizer have a good time. too.
If people want to go wild & invest a lot of time organizing a party that features homemade goodies, let 'em go, baby, go! But it can be super easy putting together a great repast without spending a lot of time -and- without breaking the bank.
Pasta dishes are super easy to make. A large pan of mac & cheese and one of tomato & pasta should be plenty.
Purchased chili simmering in a crock pot, with bowls of crushed Fritos - onions - shredded cheese - chopped onions for topping, is a sure fire winner.
The hoagie dip at a local deli is a huge winner & tastes just like a full-size Italian hoagie!
Trader Joe's in Jenkintown is a godsend, with their own version of 7-layer dip, great guacamole, cheeses, crackers & other delicious nibbles all pre-made.
For some reason, people seem to get a kick out of bringing a salad. Encourage them to do just that! Or check out the large vats of pasta & potato salads at Costco.
Costco is a treasure house of nibblings & noshes. Their frozen pinwheels are always among the first things to vanish. Although I steer clear of ordering cold cuts - never know how much to get & their are $$ - Costco is a good place to pick some up. Along with HUGE bags of chips.
Giant regularly offers excellent deals on hummus & crackers, so the cast party organizer should be on the lookout starting about a month before the party date. Ditto mini cream puffs & eclairs.
Buffalo'd cream cheese is easy to make, but nothing is simpler than spreading pepper jelly over a brick of cream cheese & serving with plain crackers.
Cut up veggies & purchased dips - what could be easier? I love the carrot chips that Giant carries.
The biggest expense - well, other than good cold cuts (never bother with mediocre cold cuts - you get what you don't pay for) - is fruit. I cut up a watermelon into small triangles. Classic summer dessert! Pairing with cupcakes (what else did you expect from The Cupcake Lady) & mini eclairs.
I've found that one case of beer seems to be plenty for cast parties, with a wide variety of large bottled soda & juices, as well as a pitcher of good ol' h2o. People often don't drink an entire can, so I just don't bother with them.
Cheese & crackers, grapes - oh, almost forgot! Friends might say they cheat when they buy pre-cooked eggs for deviling, but I consider that brilliant use of time & resources. (Yes, I've done it!)
A final detail - pick up a nice little thank you for whoever offered their house for the party.
The past weeks have been a wild, unexpected ride. What an interesting shift of paradigm, from seeing what's the most interesting dish I can make to figuring out what's the simplest, most easy to duplicate way to throw a large scale party. That's the cornerstone of successful marketing - find something that works, find the easiest way to do it, find a way to make it easy to duplicate. Took me this long to put the two together!
It's been great fun putting together tomorrow night's party. Am looking forward to seeing the musical in the afternoon, then entertaining an exhausted, hungry crew & cast. Looking forward to writing my full report for the board. It won't be what I expected, but then none of this current experience has been. Who knew I could have FUN - or that it would be the grand finale of a great run of parties?
One last thing - any suggestions on ways to increase the fun while decreasing expended time & energy are joyfully welcome?
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