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While New Year’s Eve parties are popular, a New Year’s Day brunch is gaining in popularity with many. You can easily hold a New Year’s Day brunch as an Open House style of event where people can drop by within a certain time range. This is a fun way to gather with your friends and family and often costs a lot less than holding a New Year’s Eve party, as less alcohol will be consumed.

There are so many fun “brunch-y” types of foods you can make. Many people love frittatas or even to have a make-your-own omlette station. Muffins and croissants are also ideal classics to be found at any brunch. The best brunch has a variety of foods for guests to choose from. You often don’t need to serve large quantities of food. If your brunch has delicious foods with variety — you’ll please many people.

Another excellent option is to look towards some fusion cuisines. Try making mini egg rolls or sushi to add an Asian element to your brunch. Or create mini burritos for a Mexican flavor. Guests will welcome these fusions of cuisine and this is a great way to try out some of your favorite dishes as brunch foods.

Brunch is a great time to serve coffee, espresso, mimosas and herbal teas. You’ll want to have some variety when it comes to beverages. Some guests will be eager to reach for a mimosa and others will be just as happy to see an espresso on New Year’s Day. Espresso machines today have gotten so inexpensive and easy to use that just about everyone can serve espresso with their meals simply.

Wishing you a Happy 2009!

New Year’s Eve is an ideal time to entertain your family and friends. But for many cooks and hosts, this evening feels very intimidating as they feel their guests are expecting the “ultimate” experience.

This isn’t completely true. Guests don’t expect you to entertain them the way Siegfried and Roy can fly tigers through the air in their act. But they do expect to be welcomed into your home and hope that you will serve food and drinks that are appetizing.

For some parties this will mean having a full bar. But other parties you can simply serve a champagne toast at midnight. You’ll know your guests and what they enjoy the most. Another option is to make a champagne punch using fruit juice, gingerale and champagne. This is a very sweet way to enjoy your Happy New Year toast!

The best New Year’s Eve cocktail parties have lots of little yummy snacks that people can enjoy — with plenty of variety. don’t just serve “chips and dip.” Try serving nachos with cheese and guacamole. Or crispy wontons with a sweet duck sauce. Look for appetizers that will be popular favorites. Try to find appetizers that will compliment the style of your party — if you are doing a 1950’s retro party, then serve classic h’ors deourvres. Or if you are doing a black tie style cocktail party, you’ll want only the crème de la crème appetizers like crab cakes and shrimp puffs.

Fondue is also a fun option for your New Year’s Eve party. Guests can enjoy dipping pretzels, fruit and pieces of bread into chocolate or cheese and enjoying the different tastes. Having several types of fondue can be lots of fun.

Remember that appetizers are an important part of any New Year’s Eve party to make sure that guests don’t overindulge in alcoholic drinks.

Easy Appetizers Everyone Loves for the Holidays with Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day right around the corner, many cooks are discovering that they need to serve appetizers to their guests.

Having a short cocktail and appetizer hour is a great way for your guests to socialize in a relaxed way while you put the finishing touches on the meal. Many cooks appreciate having this extra time in the kitchen to prepare the meal. Here are some easy appetizers that everyone loves.

Spinach dip in bread. This is an easy appetizer that has been around for years. Make from frozen spinach and sour cream, you simply cut the center out of a round loaf of bread. Cut that round center into small square chunks for everyone to dip into the spinach dip. Add the spinach dip into the center. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Cheese and crackers is a classic appetizer that can be quite simple but still very delicious. The key is finding the right cheese and the right crackers. Try a cracker with sesame seeds or peppercorns on it. This is also the ideal time to try a different type of cheese. Get a fresh goat cheese or gouda cheese, something you don’t normally have.

Pigs in blanket. Some cooks might shudder at the sight of these little appetizers, but these are one of the most popular appetizers you can choose — and they are literally one of the easiest things you can make. You’ll need mini franks, croissant roll dough and mustard. Simply heat them in your oven and they’ll be ready to serve in minutes. They’ll also disappear in minutes!

Some cooks have heard of Christmas Cookie Parties. These parties are fun and easy to hold with fellow cooks and bakers who love to make holiday treats. You can easily hold this type of party with just about any type of holiday baked good.

The key to a successful party is organization. You want to be sure that every guest goes home with one dozen cookies or some baked goods from each guest. It makes the most sense to limit the number of participants to about ten people.

Explain to invitees that for a holiday baking party they need to bring along 10 servings of their favorite holiday baked good to give to guests to enjoy. So that would be one dozen Christmas cookies, a loaf of homemade bread or one dozen muffins for example. There are many other types of holiday treats cooks and bakers can make, simply make appropriate portions.

Arrange all of the holiday baked goods on one table. Have guests walk around the table and select one serving of each baked good to take home. So if you have ten guests each guest should have ten types of goodies to take home.

As host of the party you should offer some type of container to hold everything in. Send everyone home with a pretty basket or sealable plastic container to put holiday treats in.

It seems that more families are holding Halloween parties these days than are going out trick-or-treating on Halloween night. The Halloween party has gathered more and more popularity as it is safe and contained. Parents know exactly where their children are on Halloween night. Parents also can control what type of treats their children eat or do not eat as they will know the menu for the party. A Halloween party is a great way to spend the evening having fun with their friends. You can make your Halloween party even more fun with these tips for success.

Decorate for Halloween

This may sound very basic, but some that hold a Halloween party don’t decorate keeping the holiday in mind. You don’t have to decorate your house like a magazine shoot. Some jack-o-lanterns and some fake spiderwebs can truly add to the fun. Even some spooky Halloween themed music can be lots of fun for the kids. Little touches that remind people what day it is.

Make your party age appropriate

The party for fourteen year olds will be entirely different than a party for ten year olds or even for seven year olds. The ages are not so far apart, but there are maturity levels and preferences to keep in mind. Halloween needs to be toned down (or up) appropriately for the age level.

Focus on making your party fun, not scary

Halloween parties seem to get out of control when kids that are coming think they are going to be scary. There are tears and unwarranted fears that need to be comforted. Parents have to call parents and on it goes. Encourage your child to focus on planning a Halloween party that focuses on being fun, not scary or spooky. If the party does have scary or spooky elements, make them optional so kids can opt out of them without missing the party.

Plan activities for the party

Kids are different. So your crew may want to have pizza and a movie. Or they may want to do crafts and eat a submarine sandwich. Or they may want some snacks and to tell ghost stories. But plan some activities to keep them busy. Don’t just leave kids on their own to do “anything” as that’s when things can get out of control. Give kids their space, but let them also have some things planned to give the party focus.

Try a costume contest

Kids very often have fun with contests of all types. Including a costume contest in your Halloween party can be a great idea and it will encourage kids to come up with very creative (and wild!) costumes. Give prizes and lots of attention for everyone’s costumes. Take lots of pictures. Enjoy Halloween.

As many brides prepare to get married, their friends and family throw them a bridal shower. At this shower, they give them gifts to prepare for married life. One of the best showers to give a new bride is the kitchen-themed shower. A kitchen-themed shower is fun and will give them many fun hours cooking delicious food for their family. There are so many creative ideas you can come up with when it comes to a kitchen-themed shower.

Try a cookbook shower. Have every guest bring the new bride a cookbook. This is a very specific type of shower and it means that she will start married life with many cookbooks filled to the brim with delicious recipes. She’ll be ready to cook for her family with this shower!

Create a bridal shower cookbook. This is a fun project and very easy to do. Have every guest bring a recipe that they love to share with the new bride. Put these recipes on index cards or on paper to go in a plastic binder. Present this to the bride during the shower from everyone. She’ll be thrilled to have such a thoughtful gift from everyone. When cooking these dishes, she’ll think of each person that came to her bridal shower.

Invite a chef to teach cooking techniques. A fun idea for the bridal shower with a kitchen-theme can be to invite a local chef to teach cooking techniques. They can do a cooking demonstration and a tasting of the food. This is a great way to get everyone involved in the cooking theme, and have everyone learn something about cooking at the shower.

Give the bride the latest cooking gadgets. Some brides love the latest cooking gadgets. If this bride is all aglow about her stainless steel refrigerator in her new house, then she’d love a shower about kitchen gadgets for her kitchen. Have each guest bring her a fun cooking gadget that she can use in the kitchen.