Progressive Dinner Ideas??

[Colleen]

Andi,
I am not sure if this is what you are thinking, but when I have done a progressive dinner different courses have been at different houses. The soups/appetizers were at one house, the main course at another and the dessert at yet another. Usually we carpool so that not everyone has to drive. We sent out invitations stating where the appetizers were to be held and had maps for anyone who didn't know how to get to the next place (however, we've never had problems with this).

It is usually quite fun and different. It allows you to really slow down and enjoy the food.

[kwormann]

My parent's church group used to do them all of the time...as the above mentioned, they woudl start at one house for apps and the move on the each house!! I used to love to go to them when I was little!

Kim

[lorilei]

Why not try "progressing" according to the traditional courses of an ethnic meal?

This would be a unique experience for all of you -- and it might be fun to research! You could start out with something fairly familiar (such as Italian)...

(taken from oz.plymouth.edu)

ITALIAN COURSES:

• It starts with the antipasto. This can be as simple as a few olives, bread and olive oil. In Tuscany it is likely to be slices of salami or prosciutto, or crostini, toasted bread with a liver spread or tomatoes. This course is actually designed to give you something to do while the chef prepares your pasta.

• The second course is usually pasta or soup (not both). In northern Italy it is also likely to be risotto. Pasta and risotto are cooked to order, and risotto especially will take time to prepare. Most restaurants will very graciously split one serving with two people. "Uno per due, per favore."

• Meat or fish is usually next. This is not typically served with vegetable side dishes. They and salads are ordered separately.

• A dolce, or sweet, follows; Italians typically eat fruit, either fresh or marinated as in a macedonia, or pears in red wine. Panna cotta, a cream custard thickened with gelatin instead of egg, is another typical choice. Tiramisu has become popular with tourists. In Tuscany hard cookies called biscotti are served with a small glass of regional sweet wine, Vin Santo.

• Finally, the meal concludes with a digestif and espresso. In northern Italy, the beverage is likely to be Grappa. In Naples it is Limoncello. Italians typically do not add milk to coffee after dinner. They reserve cappucino for breakfast. However, most restuarants serve it at any time without comment.


[This message has been edited by lorilei (edited 11-06-2000).]

[SHERRY]

This is soooo much fun. Our entire neighborhood does this, 20-30 couples. A couple of people organize it so it is a suprise for everyone else. Meaning, Everyone is delivered a letter stating what house to go to for appitizers. After an hour or so there, the host tells each couple where to go for soup and salad. Each couple goes somewhere different each time, so you end up visiting with 6-8 people at 3 diff. houses. After the dinner, the entire neighborhood goes to one house for a night of desserts and drinks 9pm-"?
Everyone initially signs up for what course they would like to prepare. The committee then makes the schedules. The people who get assigned dessert, take their treats to the one host house that we gather at in the end. Whatever course you are preparing, you also provide drinks for. If you want more info on how to divide up couples and shift people from one course to the next, so they are always with new couples at each house, let me know. it is a great time. good luck!

[mightyh]

Sherry - your neighborhood progressive sounds like an awesome time!! Please give even more details so I could start something like that here. What a wonderful idea http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[kwormann]

Sherry, where do you live where you know your neighbors that well? I guess another question to ask is your age (sorry). When I was young, my parents were friends with neighbors, but it seems everyone is so busy these days...... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

Kim

[andi]

Thanks soooo much for all your great ideas! Sherry, please do give the details! We probably have at least 13 couples and could probably round up 20 (a great way to get to know those neighbors we haven't had a chance to meet). You've really gotten me motivated here! We're looking at January after the holiday season slows down.

Kim, not sure if this is a midwest thing or a small town thing but I feel very fortunate to know most of our neighbors. Everyone looks out for each other even though we've only been here two years. Maybe you could start something like this in your neighborhood? I agree, it is sad when you don't know the people living a mere few feet away...

[kwormann]

Andi, where in the midwest are you from? I grew up in a small town in IN, which might explain why to happened then. Now I live in downtown Houston in a townhouse. None of our neighbors are ever home. I have been thinking recently about wanting to move to the burbs (I guess to try to capture that "small town" feeling) but hubby is freaking out...... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

kim

[andi]

As the weather turns to cold and dreary (that getting dark at 5:00 pm just does me in), some of my neighbors have been brainstorming about doing something to take our minds off the weather. We came up with the idea of a progressive dinner. None of us have ever participated in one so I'm calling on the vast expertise and creative juices of the board in suggesting ideas!!!

Has anyone out there done one before? How did you decide what things to make and how did you actually organize it?
Thanks!!!

[Sarah]

My mother does a "progressive" dinner each Valentine's Day for 7 other couples. She sets up 4 tables of 4 in different parts of the house. Then, there are 4 courses: soup, salad, main course and dessert. You pick up your food in a buffet in the kitchen before going to the spot. I think she uses dinig room, spare bedroom, living room, and den. You eat with 4 different people each time. She's found that so long as one person stays the whole time in each room, everyone else can move around, and meet each other. They start with punch and hors d'oevres, and finish with coffee together. If you're looking for something smaller, that might work.

[Melman]

My family has done a progressive dinner about a week before Christmas for the past 4 or 5 years. It started almost by accident. We always made a practice to go to each of our houses during the holiday season to see everything decorated and looking so festive. When the grandkids started arriving, it got tougher to "just drop by".

My brother, sister, and I each prepare a portion of a meal. We've experimented with what we've served at each house. Usually, it's a salad at the first house, the entree at the second house, and then dessert and coffee at the third house. Last year, instead of an entree, the family at the second house served heavy hors d'oerves. I think they finally figured out that the dessert house (HA!...that's ALWAYS my house!) puts on a spread of desserts and they wanted to save room to graze!!

Even though there are 12 people in the family, we always have several friends or additional in-laws included. It's a great way to entertain and to enjoy wonderful family, friends, and food!!

[SHERRY]

Maybe this is a midwest thing, but it is great. I live in a great neighborhood with a very active home assoc. There are also a good number of stay-at-home moms. We do all kinds of things. It is nice that neighbors meet and become friends, I guess it is a sense of security.
I will call the person who organized the dinner and find out how it was arranged. Then post as soon as I can.
As far as time, the dinner is on a Saturday, starting at 6:30pm, so it gives you all day to prepare whatever course you are hosting.

[andi]

Originally posted by kwormann:
Andi, where in the midwest are you from? I grew up in a small town in IN, which might explain why to happened then. Now I live in downtown Houston in a townhouse. None of our neighbors are ever home. I have been thinking recently about wanting to move to the burbs (I guess to try to capture that "small town" feeling) but hubby is freaking out...... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

kim

I live in Iowa currently but used to live in Indiana (Indy area). I think it all depends on your neighborhood and I suppose neighborhoods with homes/young families may be more open to relationships. Things have changed over the century!

Thanks Sherry for working on getting us the info! I'll be eagerly awaiting your help. Thanks too to everyone else for posting their experiences. I'm really looking forward to doing this!
Andi

[andi]

Sherry!

Thanks so much for all the info! It looks pretty straight forward but I may e-mail you as the dates get closer. This really sounds neat and looks like you can get lots of people involved easily. I can't wait to get started! I'll try the dinner first and I may ask you later about the games!

Andi

[BethR]

Thanks, Sherry, for taking the time to post all of this info! I started another thread asking for holiday party ideas for our neighborhood, and one of the posters referred me to this thread. It was the right place to go! I'm really hoping we can follow your "system" and have this type of party -- it really seems like it would be a lot of fun! How did your neighborhood handle babysitting? Arrange your own? Houses with babysitters for the evening? Or did neighborhood children attend the party itself? TIA!
Beth

[andi]

Beth,
Just a thought as we organize ours-One home will be volunteered as the "babysitting" home. We have two teens and four "almost teens" in the neighborhood that will probably help out with the sitting. We'll choose a home that is kid friendly with lots of toys and with babyproofing present. We plan to pay the girls as well. All the kids will go to this home (or maybe two homes depending on how many we get involved). Let me know if you come up with any other ideas (or yours too Sherry!)

[SHERRY]

Ok I hope I can explain the details clearly. Feel free to email me if you need further info. I actually have the printed handouts that everyone recieved (3 diff ones) explaining the occasion and instructions.

Here it goes:
first--send out a letter inviting couples to attend. The letter should be sent a good month ahead of time. It has a place for you to write your couse preference. Ex:
Do you want to host
__Appitizer
__Soup/Salad
__Main Course
__Bring dessert to dessert house
People put first and second choice so you can make sure there are enough people for each couse. People are encouraged to do something besides dessert, because that seems to be the easiest, and it is nice to be able to offer that to someone that isn't able to host at their home, ex: new baby, etc.

You send a letter back to each couple participating, letting them know which house to go to for their appitizer and give them a letter with the group numbers (see below) and the corresponding houses those numbers will go to after they come to your house.

Second--Once you get the letters back, you start dividing up the courses. Once you have an equal number of people for each course, dessert can have more, then you assign each couple a number based on what they are hosting.


Ex: 1 2 3 4 5 ---appitizer people
6 7 8 9 10 ---soup/salad people
11 12 13 14 15 ---main course ""
16 17 18 19 20 ---dessert people
Now, read down the columns and these are your groups for the first course, so 1,6,11,16 are at #1's house, etc
The appitizer course is from 6:30-7:30
When you get to the appitizer house you receive a name tag that has your name and a number on it. That number tells you where you go the rest of the evening.
The people hosting soup/salad leave at 7:10 to have time to go home and prepare if needed.
At 7:30, the host of the appitizer reads off the couple #'s and the corresponding house they are to go to for soup/salad. So you don't know where you go until the end of each couse.

Soup/Salad course 7:30-8:30
Now by moving the #'s around you can make new groups so that no two couples are ever together at more than one couse. This takes some playing around with depending on if your groups are even etc. Occasionally, a couple may end up at one course with someone they have seen before. Anyway,
1 2 3 4 5
7 8 9 10 6
13 14 15 11 12
19 20 16 17 18

At the end of soup/salad, the host reads the couples their number and corresponding house for main course.

Main course 8:30-9:30
Again, arrange the numbers to have a different group of people.

After the main course, everyone goes to one location for dessert. This if from 9:30-? The dessert people provide the drinks and dessert. The person hosting the dessert, just provides their home, plates, cups, etc.

Hope this is clear enough that you can get the idea anyway.
As I mentioned, I have a copy of the initial letter inviting everyone to participate, the letter sent to each host, and the letter sent to couples telling them where to go for the first course of the evening.
Feel free to email any questions to me! It sound like a lot of work, but it is really just harder to explain then to do. Hope you will try it, it is great fun. A chance to meet the people not necessarily on your street, that you might not otherwise run into. This was in our neighborhood, so no-one had to drive anywhere.
Best of luck.

We have also had a progressive game night that is a success. If you want info on that post a new note and I'll reply.

[SHERRY]

Kids weren't involved in the dinner. Many couples joined up and shared babysitters.I was fortunate to have my mom. If you plan to have babysitting all at a few houses, maybe you could arrange it at the houses of those bringing dessert. Then it wouldn't be so much to worry about for someone who was hosting a course. Good luck.