Party tips

There are many of you out there who, like us, love to entertain and throw a bit of a party. Although having all your friends round for a few drinks and a bite to eat is always great fun it would be an untruth to suggest that it is ever a stress-free pastime!

With this in mind, we here at Mackintosh’s thought we would try and help out a little by producing a list of ten top tips to make your life as a host that bit easier when you next invite a few people round: read tips…

1. Great parties start with careful preparation and it is important to ensure you have a balanced guest list. Don’t just invite round all those friends to whom you owe dinner! Try to make sure that one of the early arrivals is a good mixer and can introduce any isolated guests to those people who don’t know each other.
2. Plan a mix of meat, fish & vegetarian canapés and remember guests with allergies.  Once you have decided on a menu then plan to shop a day before the party.  Depending on your canapés some of the preparation can be done the day before.
3. As long as the canapés don’t have a bread base then they can be prepared in the morning leaving only a few to do a few hours before the party.  This way you can relax and have plenty of time to get dressed before your guests get ready. 
4. Bear in mind that we are coming into summer so don’t bring the canapés out of the fridge too early, especially if they are made with meat or fish, otherwise there maybe ambulances at midnight instead of carriages! 
5. If serving hot canapés remember this will take time away from your guests so either get someone to help you in the kitchen or only serve cold food.
6. Be creative with serving the canapés, use fun platters, skewers, shot glasses and Chinese spoons.
7. Guidelines for amounts of canapés to serve; for a 1-1½ hour cocktail party allow 6-8 canapes per person and for 2-2½ hour cocktail party allow 10-12 canapes per person.
8. Special snacks are always a great way of keeping your guests happy; bowls of mixed nuts, cheese straws in a glass vase, crudités (baby vegetables on a bed of fresh herbs) with a great dip.
9. Drinks are every bit as important as the food when throwing a party so here is a list of things to have handy at your drink serving area to cover all eventualities:Bottle opener
   Corkscrew (always worth having a good one as an investment)
   Ice
   Ice bucket/bowl – look around the house for something a fun & creative
   Cutting board and knife for sliced or twists of lemon, lime and orange
   Ice tongs/spoon
   Jugs (preferably glass)
   Stirrers
   Straws
   Napkins
10. Failing the above call Mackintosh’s and we will guarantee that the evening will be stress free!