Recipe Party

RECIPE PARTY:       I wanted to gather new recipe ideas for a "Menu Book" that a friend of mine had made.  This was a springboard for my "recipe party".  I sent out recipe cards as the invitations.  When it listed "Recipe For...", I wrote "Recipe Party".  I included the time and date under  "Cook Time", and under "Ingredients" I wrote the details of the party.  The details included:  Each guest was to bring two or three copies of her favorite family dinner recipe (we focused on dinner recipes since we are all moms, but you could really pick a recipe theme for any part of a meal, i.e., appetizers, salads, or desserts).  I also included that I would be calling each person to let them know how many copies of each recipe to bring (most people put all of the recipes on one sheet allowing for less wasted paper).  The last thing I mentioned was that we would be compiling our own "Menu Books".  Under "Directions" on the recipe I card I wrote directions to my home, and under "special note", I wrote that we would be having appetizers and desserts and to please RSVP.     Decorations for the party were simple.  I had some small floral arrangements that I had borrowed from a friend for the centerpieces on the tables.  Inside the arrangements I had wooden skewers with recipe cards hot-glued on the top.  Each recipe card had one of my favorite recipies on it (they were desserts, appet., side dishes, and salads).  I then had a recipe box with recipe cards for guests to copy down any recipes they were interested in.       When the girls came in, they each recieved a white binder with decorative paper in it for their dividers.  Inside the binder there was a nametag, an index card with each attendents' name on it, and a place for them to keep their individual recipes.  They used their index card to keep track of who they had swapped recipes with (there was a mixed crowd, so this really enabled everyone to mingle nicely).        Before we started the swapping, my friend that had made her "Menu Book" shared how she made her book (it is a weekly and monthly menu plan that included a shopping list for each week).  I then shared with everyone the two games that they could play at their leisure.  The first one was the "Spice Sense".  I covered up ten different spice bottles with black paper, and then had a corresponding sheet for them to guess (I included the choices).  The second game was "Cooking Questions".  I had ten questions about cooking, i.e. measurements, substitutions, and types of cheeses.  This was multiple choice.  After this, the girls were excited to exchange their recipes and play the games.       After everyone had exchanged their recipes, I shared the answers to the games, gave out small prizes to the winners, and then we took turns sharing our best "cooking horror stories".  It was a blast.  We are all excited about the next one.  We may do a dessert night!      I hope these ideas get you excited about cooking too!