http://articles.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/rss.xml A blog about gourmetpartyappetizers.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/?a=36195 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>All weddings are special occasions. A bridal shower is meant to pamper your little girl or your best friend before they begin a whole new life. But in this day and age people have very little time for too complicated affairs to be arranged. To avoid too elaborate planning and arrangements simply plan a bridal shower tea party, which can be a lot of fun with little confusion or headache. In case you want an elaborate party, it is best to outsource the entire preparation to the wedding planner who you have chosen for the wedding. <br /><br />The history of Tea Parties<br /><br />The British working class, who loved to relish their tea in leisure during breaks, originally established tea parties. It soon spread to all classes and all countries around the world as an immensely popular and extravagant affair. Most people enjoy snacks being served with tea. The other is the &quot;high&quot; tea party where the tea is served with heavy snacks or a meal later in the evening. <br /><br />Most of the time the best of linen, teapot warmers, silver ware and china are used to add grace to the party. If the bridal shower is over high tea, use fine silver, scented candles and small dim lights along with mellow music. This lends an air of refined and elegant ambience. But if you like a lot of jazz and dance then you should definitely arrange for a groovy DJ who will rock your party with the latest music and shaking bodies. <br /><br />For an afternoon tea party, serve in a buffet style with appropriate decorations for the various dishes on offer. Snacks for the afternoon tea party should be fluffy and tasty biscuits, sandwiches, sweets, teacakes, salads and cookies with very light desserts. Add the personal touch with the bride's name on the special cake and decor. <br /><br />Create fantastic favors for the bridal shower with innovative flower and gift arrangement. You can also make it memorable with jazzy songs and performances for entertainment. One other thing that most people like to do at bridal showers is to play games. Bridal shower games are meant to be entertaining and fun. Guests can also narrate various stories and anecdotes on love to celebrate the eternal joy of wedding. <br /><br />There are numerous different styles of bridal showers you can throw. You do not have to stick with the usual bridal shower. You can pick from any colors and play any type of games that you think would be something the bride would enjoy. The sky is the limit!</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as gourmet party appetizers at <a href="http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/">http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com</a></p> 2006-10-28T23:23-04:00 http://articles.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/?a=36194 <p>by Gregg Hall </p><p>We all love throwing parties on special occasions and want it to be a great success. Planning a party is the most difficult part. You can get ideas from other parties that you have attended, but always make sure that you never emulate the ideas or themes. The best part about your party should be the originality and the uniqueness, making people remember it for a long time. However, big successful parties demand a lot of money and heavy expenditure, which is not possible for most of us. Thus it is important to plan the budget before organizing the party. <br /><br />To begin with, you should always lay down a practical budget and stick to it. You can ask your friends to help you organize and plan the party. Your friends who are creative can give you unique ideas, which can be used for the party. If they are good artists, ask them to design or create reasonable invitation cards. If you are having a theme party, your artistic friends can make a huge backdrop for the party making it look very different. <br /><br />Friends who are disc jockeys or have an incredible music collection or a karaoke machine can help you with setting up the music for the party. If you are falling short of lights to decorate your venue, request your friends to lend you their Christmas lights, instead of buying more lights. The best way to cut down the expenses is to borrow from friends and family.<br /><br />Usually during parties, we spend an enormous amount of money on food. Thus another way to cut down the expenses of your party is to limit the amount to be spent on food. You should throw your party at a time of the day when people have already eaten. For instance a party after lunch will be very reasonable, as you can offer only snacks, which will help reduce the cost of the party. Or a late night party, when people have already finished their diner is also a good choice. If you are serving only snacks, they can be made at home, to cut the costs further. The key is to serve simple and easy snacks. <br /><br />Decorating the venue also demands a lot of money. Thus you should keep the theme simple and innovative, to avoid heavy expenditure. You could decorate your party with streamers, balloons, ribbons and so on, which are very cost effective. If you have Christmas lights at home, they can be used in making the place look very bright. Always use your imagination and creativity to cut down on the expenditure and use as many substitutions as you can. <br /><br />An expensive party doesn't always have to be successful. The important factor of a party is to have fun, which is possible even in low budget parties. You just have to be creative, original and well organized to have a successful party.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as party appetizers at <a href="http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/">http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com</a></p> 2006-10-28T23:18-04:00 http://articles.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/?a=35361 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>One of the first steps to choosing healthy snacks and appetizers is to make a list before you go to the grocery store and stick to it. You don't have to stop eating all of the foods that you've been eating but you do need to learn to make better choices and try to eat more raw and organic foods. Even if you are not overweight, a raw food oriented diet will be healthier for you over the long run, so make a list and stay off of the cookie aisle!<br /><br />First off, get out a garbage bag and clean out you kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator. Throw away all of those opened bags of fatty snack foods including the chips and microwavable food. You are going to change the way you look at appetizers and snacks and you have to get rid of the evidence of your old thinking.<br /><br />Now that you have ridded your self of all the garbage food and made room for the good stuff, go to the store and buy fruits, vegetables, and nuts that you will be able to use to make fresh raw food appetizers and snacks. You can also buy some dried fruits for snacking as well, just stay away from the ones that have all the added sugars. <br /><br />Invest in a good food processor and a juicer for making natural juices and chopping up fresh fruits and vegetables. Make sure you have made plenty of room in your fridge for all of the healthy raw vegetables you will be bringing home.<br /><br />You can make a delicious and healthy appetizer tray with carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, squash, and olives. Put a container of fat free or low fat ranch in the center for dipping and no one will be upset about that kind of appetizer platter.<br /><br />If you are the type of person that simply must have some kind of meat, try to stick with fish and choose sushi or fresh tuna that you can just sear real quick and dip in soy sauce. You want to stay as fat free as possible and stick with as many raw foods as you can.<br /><br />Look at this as a lifestyle change and make it fun, buy some of the big square dishes that are made for sushi and pick up some chopsticks to really get into it. Arranging several different types of food on these plates is easier as well. Go online and read all you can about raw food eating and making sushi so that you will be educated on how to choose the right foods.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about healthy cooking and party appetizers online at <a href="http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/">http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com</a></p> 2006-08-06T17:20-04:00 http://articles.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/?a=35360 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>I don't know about you but I am like most people and I find the weight I lost over the summer and fall during the holiday season from November through Christmas. It is difficult to stay on a half way decent healthy diet when all the sweet stuff is calling your name! Still, it is possible to enjoy the holidays and still taste some of the forbidden fruit while eating healthy and avoiding the holiday weight gain that most experience.<br /><br />Traditional holiday foods can be prepared to be low fat in most cases. For example, the turkey that just about everyone has for thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is extremely lean if you remove the skin and you can make a lean gravy to go over it as well. Potatoes are very good for you, until you load them up with butter and sour cream. Even pumpkin pie can be made to be healthy and nutritious if you forego the mound of whipped cream.<br /><br />One of the other reasons that people gain a lot of weight over the holidays is because they decide to skip out on exercise. Half the battle of keeping the pounds off during the holidays is regular exercise, and maybe even a little extra to get rid of those extra calories you are taking in. It is a good habit to get into taking a walk after every meal and do some extra walking when you go shopping, park way out instead of looking for the closest spot. Not only will this help you to reduce your weight but it will reduce stress as well.<br /><br />When it comes to the food itself, fill up on things like fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meat. That way you won't have the room to even feel like eating all the fattening desserts and you will choose a tiny sliver of pie instead of choosing a quarter of the whole pie.<br /><br />Alcohol is another big culprit for excess calories and in addition to the empty calories it takes away your will to diet and also will make you eat more. Make sure that you choose water instead which will keep you from adding all the extra calories as well as help you to feel more full. Try to totally avoid eggnog which is loaded with belly building calories and fat.<br /><br />You don't have to be super strict to the point of not enjoying the holidays, just remember to eat in moderation and limit the fatty foods to not much more than a taste, balancing that with some additional exercise and you will avoid the holiday bulge.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about holiday cooking and easy appetizers online at <a href="http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com/">http://www.gourmetpartyappetizers.com</a></p> 2006-08-06T15:38-04:00