Title: “Neighborhood Party with Pizazz”
Exhibitor: Carol Orme
Description: Joining together for dinner is a great way to enlarge your
circle of friends. A “Party with Pizazz,” good food, and fun can be enjoyed by all with little effort. Ideas on organization, food, get acquainted games, and an invitation will be shared.
“Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism,” Joseph Smith.
How To’s:
Planning and Organizing
- The Chairman (a self-appointed enthusiast) calls 7-8 “Captains of Five” to invite five neighbors to the dinner. The Captains call, deliver 5 invitations, give out planned food assignments, offer to pick up and friendship those Five throughout the evening. The Captains report back to the Chairman as to who is coming and what food has been assigned.
- Select a TIME and DATE with the Captains. A “neutral” PLACE is selected (a neighbor’s backyard, a park, a blocked off cul-de-sac, with permission of neighbors. (Notify your City’s Public Service Department, and they may provide barricades.) A “back-up” place is always scheduled in case of inclement weather. This is usually the Church cultural hall.
- INVITATIONS are printed by the Chairman and delivered to the Captains (see sample). A deadline needs to be set as to when the invitations should be delivered. One to two weeks in advance is enough notification.
- FOOD assignments need to be monitored when RSVPs are complete. (See FUN FOOD IDEAS.) DINNER is planned pot luck served buffet style.
- TABLES and CHAIRS are scheduled for outside use through the Stake Building Coordinator.
- GREETERS are assigned to welcome everyone. NAME TAGS are worn by all.
- A simple GET ACQUAINTED ACTIVITY is planned for after dinner. (See GET ACQUAINTED GAMES.) A “Master of Ceremonies” should be selected to carry out the game.
[Diagram and sample invitation from the file.]
FOOD ASSIGNMENTS are divided into:
Appetizers (See VEGETABLE BOUQUET idea)
Salads (See FRUIT BASKET idea)
Desserts
Potatoes
Drinks
Homemade rolls or bread
Paper products, utensils, tablecloths, salts & peppers
Meat: Chairman and Captains donate a package of boneless, skinless chicken to the dinner. That is their food assignment, OR you could ask everyone to donate money towards the meat. We have one family in our neighborhood who loves to Dutch Oven cook. They always provide the homemade barbeque sauce and the labor in preparing the meat. (See BARBECUE CHICKEN RECIPE)
Use an assortment of vegetables to make your bouquet: radishes, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, olives, asparagus spears (blanched), cherry tomatoes cucumbers (sliced into rounds), cauliflower florets, broccoli florets, carrots, green onions, celery stalks with tops, etc. Use a piece of Styrofoam or a large head of cabbage (cut in ˝) for the base. Bamboo skewers (cut into various lengths) and a basket 2-3 inches deep are used in assembling the bouquet.
Carve and chop vegetables in advance. They store well in a bowl of ice water in the refrigerator.
Radish flowers: Cut off end of each radish. Slice halfway down on four sides to form petals. Place in bowl of water.
Core bell peppers, cut into vertical leaf-shaped slices.
Carrot tulips: Slice toward pointed end of carrot to form petals (similar to radish flowers). Do not cut through. Angle paring knife tip to separate flower from rest of carrot. Continue cutting out more tulips from carrot.
Insert various sizes of bamboo skewers into all vegetable pieces. To form a pleasing rounded bouquet, insert ends of skewers into cabbage or Styrofoam base, balancing shapes and colors of vegetables. Place vegetables on shorter skewers along outer rim of basket. Serve with your favorite dip.
[Photo from the file.]
Use an assortment of fruit fro the salad: large watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, strawberries, kiwi (peeled and cut into quarters), etc.
Carving the watermelon: With a water-soluble marker, draw outline of basket onto melon, making sure the handle is at least 1 ˝ inches wide. Using a large sharp knife, carefully cut melon along marker line. Remove excess rind and set aside. With a melon baller, scoop out all the watermelon flesh. Carve edge of your basket with decorative pattern of your choice.
Prepare fruit by balling cantaloupes and honeydews. Combine melon balls, strawberries, grapes, and kiwi. Refrigerate. Just before serving, put fruit salad into watermelon basket.
[Photo from the file.]
Barbecue
Chicken:
(From the kitchen of Rick and Cathy Loghry)
Ingredients:
4 cups cut up, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 onions, diced
2 ˝ cups brown sugar
8 ˝ cups catsup
1 tsp. Tobasco sauce
In 14 or 16 inch dutch oven, sautee onions until clear. Add all ingredients except chicken. Mix well. Add chicken. Bring to simmer – cooking 1-1 ˝ hours or until chicken is tender. Leave lid ajar to let steam out. The sauce will cook down and become thicker.
*Beef roast, pork or beef ribs, or smoked sausage can be substituted for the chicken. You can cook a variety of meats together by starting with pork ribs. Let them cook 1 hour, then add beef ribs and cook ˝ hour, then add chicken, cook all 1 hour longer.
- Neighborhood Bingo: As neighbors are gathering for dinner, have them write their names on small slips of paper and put in a jar. Hand out “NEIGHBORHOOD BINGO” sheets (see sample) and a pencil to everyone. Neighbors mingle with one another and get people to sign their bingo card. Each person can sign their neighbor’s card only once. After dinner, hand out dry beans for markers and play bingo by drawing out the names written on small slips of papers. Use the autographed bingo sheets. A person wins bingo by having 5 names in a row or in a diagonal and by pointing out the individuals whose names are on the winning row.
- Who’s Who?: While neighbors are waiting for dinner, have them write on a piece of paper a SHORT fact or incident in their life that nobody knows. It can be humorous or just interesting. They should sign their name on the bottom of the paper and put it in a jar. After dinner, the Master of Ceremonies pulls out a sheet of paper, reads the incident (except for the name). The group vocally guesses who the individual is. The real “Who’s Who” must stand up or identify himself after the guesses are submitted.
- Find Someone Who _________ (see sample): As neighbors are gathering, hand them a paper and pencil and have them find “someone who” fills the criteria on their paper. The neighbors must sign each other’s papers. Every line must have a different signature on it. In other words, you can only sign your neighbor’s paper once. The person with the most lines filled in wins the game.
- Know Thy Neighbor: In this game, neighbors find out how well they know the neighborhood. Hand out copies of a map of all the houses in the surrounding area and challenge players to fill in the names of who lives at each. At the end of the game, answers should be read aloud or put on an overhead projector, so people can fill in any blanks. Have neighbors raise their hands when their home is identified. Add phone numbers, and the completed map now serves as an impromptu neighborhood directory.
Bingo:
[Form from the file.]
1. __________________________ owns a Chevrolet.
2. __________________________ is your own height.
3. __________________________ has been sky diving.
4. __________________________ has broken the same bone as you.
5. __________________________ has a gold-capped tooth.
6. __________________________ has the same number of brothers and sisters
as you have.
7. __________________________ has the same length of hair as you have.
8. __________________________ has a silver wedding band.
9. __________________________ has the same pet as you have.
10. __________________________ has the same birth month as yours.
11. __________________________ supplements his income with a second job.
12. __________________________ Wears a class ring from a high school or
university.
13. __________________________ is interested in the same sport as you are.
14. __________________________ has a Master’s Degree.
15. __________________________ is teaching or has taught school.
16. __________________________ is your own age.
17. __________________________ was born outside of Utah
18. __________________________ lives near you.
19. __________________________ has been to Europe.
20. __________________________ speaks a foreign language.