I got an inspiring email from my friend, Faye, who has years of entertaining under her apron. I loved her idea and thought I’d share it with you!
Faye's simple idea was this:
We had an intergenerational ice cream party yesterday afternoon for special friends, their grown son, his wife, and two daughters (6 and 3.) It only lasted an hour, was outdoors on our lawn, and was fun!
Faye mentions this because of the TIME element. She feels TIME really prohibits people from having people over!
She went on to say:
My daughter-in-law has taught me the joy of having people over "spur of the moment" and ordering takeout. That way, the being together is paramount for adults and kids, and the food is not the focus.
That last line says it for me! Food is essential when entertaining, but it doesn't have to be the focus.
What are your spur-of-the-moment SUMMER entertaining ideas?
Or, does time prohibit you from having people over?
8 comments:
My last neighborhood was wonderful, with several young families on the street. During the summertime, the moms didn't always feel like cooking :) so we would do spur-of-the-moment lunches or dinners together. One family would grill hot dogs, another brought chips and drinks, and another may have planned a casserole or homemade mac&cheese already and brought that to share. We just threw meals together with what we had on hand, and everyone was happy! The moms had very little to do & could chat with each other, and the kids got full bellies and played with the other kids. Perfect!
Pizza is a good spur of the moment thing for us, and lately so is smores and dogs over the fire pit. It seems like the smell draws everyone in the neighborhood in-even if just for a little bit at the end of the day. We love it, and now keep a good supply of dogs, buns and smore's fixings.
Time does cause us not to have company. But, when it's the spur of the moment, we usually do hot dogs and hamburgers. Quick and easy!
We had a great spur-of-the-moment get-together with neighbors last week. Our kids were in bed, and they asked us over for wine on their patio. I brought a big bowl of fresh cherries, and we laughed and talked until midnight! I love that we have such dear friends as neighbors.
We recently had a family gathering where everyone brought their favorite Chinese take-out dish. It was really great and took the pressure off everyone to make something to bring. Our family in southern California is spread out and the central home gets the job of having all of us over most of the time. It's great to use this home without giving my sister the responsibility of coming up with a plan to feed the masses every time we get together. We also have done build your own burritos with everyone bringing ingredients...
Both of these would work for spur of the moment!
Burritos and Quesadillas are great spur of the moment meals...Tortillas, canned beans, shredded cheese, canned chilis! Good things to have on hand...
We often meet our neighbors outdoors and take bike rides with the kiddies...or play red light-green light (the children are all small) or just sit around a fire and talk. It's all VERY spur of the moment and whoever wants to join in does!! I love it because there is NO planning, but we all enjoy eachothers company!
Jamie
Throw a quilt on the ground and serve anything you want - an instant picnic is always loved by everyone. Everything tastes better when you're sitting cross-legged on a quilt balancing a paper plate on your lap. LOL
We had family over at the last minute tonight. My husband stopped by Sam's and picked up a pizza and had them cook it. I threw together a green salad and made some iced tea. It was perfect!
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