Everyone knows that potluck parties are the best of both worlds. It’s a get-together and it doesn’t involve the solo hassle of preparing everything. You will need to look for a venue and tent rentals for the party. If you want to host a potluck party, then here are some tips that are going to be a lot of help.
Potluck Party Planning
The Potluck Team
They’re going to be part of your guest list, however, they are also the people who will be in charge of bringing individual dishes to the potluck party. So, when you’re planning your potluck party, it’s time to join heads with some of the greatest culinary individuals in your friend group or family and assign them tasks of bringing different foods.
Make A Guest List
The next order of importance is the guest list. When hosting a potluck and planning for it, you need to have a definite head count because the last thing you need is the food running out and having a lot of mouths to feed. So, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Making a guest list will ensure that you have a reference to base things on and you’ll have enough food for everyone. This guest list is also important for all of the other contributors to the potluck because they’ll need to prepare food according to the size of the party and the number of people invited.
How To Assign Potluck Dishes?
This is probably the most challenging thing about hosting a potluck. Who will bring what? Well, you’re in luck because here are a couple of ways by which the assignment can be made easy for everyone.
Do A Raffle
This is the easiest and a hassle-free option. When you’ve decided on the base menu of the potluck, aka appetizers, main course, salads, desserts, sides, and drinks, you can write a couple of crowd-pleasing dishes in each category on a piece of paper and shuffle them in a cup or a small raffle if you have it. Then, each of the contributors can select a chit from that category and get the specific dishes they have to make. Think of it as a fun game similar to truth or dare, but this is more like dare or dare.
Pick & Chooses
If you want to go down a different path and are excellent at delegating, then the potluck team can select a leader and they can decide who is going to make what. When being a potluck leader, you need to keep in mind the expertise of the contributors.
For instance, some people can make decadent desserts while others can make a mean roast, so you want to assign dishes to each individual according to their expertise.
Recommendations Of The Guests
If you want to simplify things, you can gather your guests around including the potluck team, and decide the main dishes together. This will give you a lot of ideas and the contributors and the guests, themselves, can suggest which dishes they would like to make and bring to the party.
This is a great idea that involves no bickering and everyone gets what they want to make. The best part is that the menu is catered to the guests who are coming to the potluck. So, it’s going to be even more delicious.
Dietary Restrictions
Since a potluck party is all about food, it’s only fair that the main focus is also the yummy and tantalizing cuisine. For the food and the party to be enjoyable, you need to keep dietary restrictions in mind.
There can be certain people who are allergic to dairy, gluten, wheat, and other things. So, if they’re invited to the party, you need to find some restriction-based food options for them. It’s not only a nice gesture from your side, but it’s also safer for anyone with hidden allergies or restrictions. The last thing you want during your potluck party is to visit the emergency room.
Theme Or No Theme?
Potluck parties can be based on themes like a southern party, favorites party, children’s potluck, housewarming party, etc., but that doesn’t mean that themes are necessary. You can plan a wonderful potluck party without a theme.
However, if you’re going for a theme, then you need to pick out appropriate foods as well. That’s something noteworthy to keep in mind. With a no-theme potluck, there is a lot of freedom and breathing room when deciding the menu, so a lot of the time, people don’t usually go for a theme.
Don’t Forget The Essentials
Now that the food is covered, let’s move on to the crucial non-food items. You also need to think about the utensils, napkins, and other things. If you have a lot of guests coming, then you can get in contact with party rentals and have them supply all the essentials for your party.
Also, you need to bring out or rent tables where the food setup will be. If it is a small potluck, then a single dining table is enough, but if you’re hosting a huge party, then you might need a couple of huge tables to prevent overcrowding of dishes.
Take It Outside
What could be better than a potluck party? An outdoor potluck party! Now that winter is almost over and spring is around the corner, it’s almost criminal to host a potluck party inside the house. If the weather is getting warmer where you live, then you can certainly take the party outside and have a grand time.
Outdoor parties certainly have their appeal and it’s the perfect time to take advantage of the nice weather, the equally amazing company, and oh-so-delicious food. Once you host an outdoor potluck party, you’ll want to do it again.
Decorate
Decoration is the most important aspect of any party and now is the time to get crazy with your inner creative junkie. You can find inspiration for potluck party décor on the internet and then you can custom-decorate your own home for the perfect potluck.
Lights, flower arrangements, and drapes are used abundantly to spruce up the house or the party venue. Gather around with a bunch of your friends on the day or a day before the party and go crazy. Decorating is always fun with friends, so you all will have a wonderful time.
Don’t Stress Out
Lastly, don’t stress too much. Parties are supposed to be fun and imperfect and there’s no need for you to aim for perfection. The thing that counts the most is that you’re spending an amazing evening with your loved ones with some delicious home-cooked food and that’s a lot.
People usually fret over the decorations, the potluck theme, and the overall menu, but you don’t need that burden. So, plan everything as best as you can, and after that, it’s time to let go of all the worries and enjoy the party to the fullest.
Conclusion
A potluck party is pretty versatile and you can plan it in more ways than one. These tips will certainly add that dash of creativity to your potluck and everyone will have a jolly good time. To make your potluck party stress-free, get in touch with party rentals Clarksburg for all the items you need for your party.