“Holiday Parties with a Twist!”

by Jennifer McKinney-Seet, CSEP and Vince Early, CSEP

Add some spice to your holiday parties this season by making them more interactive. Hands-on activities, interactive food and progressive parties where the guests are moved from place to place are some effective techniques to liven up any event and make it a memorable one. Introducing the element of competition with games or contests is another wonderful way to get your guests to interact and will help break the ice and warm up the conversation. 

Progressive parties offering different meals in unique venues around town can also create a lasting memory.  A group of guests might start out with cocktails and hors d'oeuvre at an office or in the hosts' home and progress to a nearby restaurant or event venue for the main course and end up in a quaint bakery, hand-dipped ice cream shoppe or chocolate factory.

Cooking classes or iron chef contests give your guests a chance to be creative and the best part is that they help prepare the holiday meal, thus freeing up the host/hostess. You can even take it step further by encouraging those who may not want to cook to participate in a table decorating contest. Separate this group into teams and set out boxes containing a variety of decorations, china, flatware, glassware, linens, etc. Afterwards, you and your guests will enjoy talking about the inspiration behind each table design, or menu item, and the fun they had creating it. Putting a time limit on each competition adds to the excitement and also insures that you don't keep your guests waiting to long for dinner. 

If you love the idea of a cook-off but don't want the hassle (or the leftover mess), you can ask your favorite caterer to assist. TCOD recently did this type of event for Rolls Royce who brought in 30 guests to our offices to host their Iron Chef competition. Teams were asked to each prepare an hors d'ouevre using only the ingredients provided to them. They were judged on taste and presentation. When finished, a selected panel of judges decided the winner and then everyone enjoyed sampling the hors d'ouevres and having cocktails. Meanwhile, our chefs finished preparing the rest of the five-course gourmet meal and during dinner, conversation was lively with guests retelling stories about their cooking adventure.