Another idea presented by Melissa Evans at Entertaining At Home’s 2009 National Conference to save money on entertaining was all of the various ways to divide the cost of the party among more than one family. Variations include (1) potlucks; (2) block parties; and (3) progressive dinners.
Potlucks are so old school and still so enjoyable, especially it you have some friends from different ethnic heritages. Ask them to bring some food from their backgrounds.
Block parties take more planning, including making sure you don’t run into conflicts with city ordinances or laws or community restrictions.
A progressive dinner is where each course of the dinner is held at a different person’s home: appetizers at one, soup and salad at another; main course at still another; and dessert and coffee or drinks at the last. You can expand the number of hosts to 5 by making the very last home be for entertainment, such as a movie or card or board games. Another variation (which increases the costs) is to go to a different restaurant for each course.
A progressive dinner is most suited to an assortment of friends who live in the same or close-by neighborhoods. It can also work for an extended family whose members live within reasonable driving distance of each other.
The progressive dinner can be organized around a theme, such as an Hawaiaan Luau, a location, such as Dinner on the Deck, or an ethnic choice, such as Italian food.
My son Nathan gave me an idea for a twist on the progressive dinner that most likely would increase the men’s enjoyment of the event: Make it a Poker Progressive Dinner. The inspiration for this idea was the Poker Bike Ride Nathan told me about. In this event, the participants ride their bicycles from one restaurant to another, enjoying part of a dinner at each restaurant and retrieving a playing card at each restaurant. At the last restaurant, the person with the best poker hand wins a prize. There was also a prize for the first person to arrive, but that would not be a feature of the Poker Progressive Dinner.
So why not try the same thing with the progressive dinner: at each home, each guest gets another playing card and at the last home, a prize will be awarded to the best poker hand. Since a poker hand needs at least 5 cards, you’ll need 5 homes with different courses for the meal so either add a beverages course to the start of the progressive dinner or plan to go to the last home for continuing entertainment.
I’m curious as to whether anyone has ever experienced a poker progressive dinner? If so, any special tips to make it successful that you can share?
Easy Entertaining At Home 