I love an excuse to have friends over. If I could, I’d host dinner parties every week, but this economy really hampers my entertaining dreams. It’s alright though, creativity thrives under constraints, doesn’t it? So, this is not another pretentious guide to hosting; there are millions out there and I’m sure you don’t want to waste your time on another one. This is a rather a more frugal approach to hosting. Just a friend sharing a few tips. Just a handy guide to hosting your friends that does not involve coming up with menus or any cooking at all. And I know you see grapes on that board, and you’re probably thinking, that’s half my budget on grapes, but let’s quickly break the art of hosting friends down.
If you want to have friends over but are not looking to spend a lot of money or time cooking, my answer is always the same: make a snack board!
Making a snack board is your chance to make it as simple, complicated, cheap, expensive, healthy, or unhealthy as you’d like. Once, I made a gigantic snack board for about 20 friends who were mostly vegan. Everybody went nuts over it because there was enough fun options for everyone: gluten-free friends, meat-eaters, and all sorts of diets.
A snack board is a great way to please all your guests. You won’t be stressed over cooking a bunch of dishes, therefore you’ll be able to allocate time to more pressing things, like gossiping and talking about celebrity divorces.
What I like to do is get whatever fruit is on season, that’s usually cheaper and fresher. I like adding jams and dips, and if possible, a fun variety of cheese. I made an entire post on how to build a cheese board and you can find all the details here.
I’ve included a few different iterations of boards I’ve made in the past so you can see how even a small, simple board will look great. There’s nothing I enjoy more than sitting around great snacks and talk about silly things with my friends.
A table full of snacks is also a way to slow time down and enjoy good company. Unlike a dinner party, where there are so many parts involved, at a snack board party, everything happens all at once: one friend makes the cocktails while everyone talks over each other and munch on some nuts. This ensures that everyone will be relaxed and there’ll be no pressure to impress your guests. A win-win for everyone.
Movie Night
You also might want to take your little snack party and turn it into a movie night. I just thought I’d help you out with that, too, because in case you don’t know I’m very wise when it comes to movies and have great recommendations.
If you’re having a girls night, a good romance or comedy is a must, and you’ve probably watched The Notebook and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days way too many times by now. You need new movies! Here’s 3 vastly underrated, unfairly overlooked movies no one knows about. They’re each their own kind of sweet, weird, beautiful, bizarre, and hilarious. Watch the video below for more details.
If you’ve seen any of them, please let’s talk about it. Let me know in the comments!
@heythereannap Trust me. #comfortmovies #comfortmovie #forthegirrls
♬ Acoustic Folk Instrumental - Yunusta
