Why We Do It

Guests said their good-byes and expressed their thanks for a wonderful party. I thanked them for coming and secretly thought, “It was a great party. I’m sorry that I missed it.”

Don’t get me wrong - I love entertaining! But days of preparation had left me feeling tired even before the first guest arrived. Making the party memorable meant many trips to specialty food shops in addition to the regular grocers. Decorating for the occasion meant more time shopping. Last minute food preparation erased any thought of relaxing the day of the party. That evening was no better. I spent most of the time shuffling hors d’oeuvres in and out of the oven and refreshing drinks. There was little time to enjoy the company of our guests.

In venting my frustration to others, I found that I was not alone. They shared the same experience.

There Must Be a Better Way

The assignment became obvious - What would it take to ensure that you enjoy your party as much as your guests? In other words, what would make a Simply Perfect Party?

 

The Big Picture

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We identified these elements as the "must haves" -

• From invitations through decorations and menu to recipes it must be perfectly coordinated. You won’t find chili dogs on the menu for Grandma’s birthday party or watercress finger sandwiches for the Super Bowl Bash here!
• Decorations must be simple to set up. Find your inspiration on the images on the Party Page of this site or copy our ideas directly. What could be easier?
• Food must be spectacular yet simple to prepare with lots of make-ahead recipes. Okay, we don’t usually share trade secrets, but for you we’ll make an exception.
• You must be able to make it your own with many ways to personalize and customize. Lesley Gore sang, “It’s My Party,” but we know better. It’s YOUR party and we want it to be exactly what you want.
  
• It will all be delivered to your doorstep. What could be more convenient?
  

Getting Off to a Good Start

You've decided to throw a party, and you want the guests to come, right? An invitation does so much more than give the basic place/date/time information. It sets the tone of the party, piques the guests' interest, defines the occasion, and provides a tangible reminder of the event. After all, it's easier to remember the party with the invitation stuck on your refrigerator door.

That's why each Simply Perfect Party comes with personalized invitations for you to mail to your guests. Most parties have several styles from which to choose depending on the tone of your party. We offer not only the traditional card style but also clever and fun invitations that are sure to catch the attention of the recipient and mark it as a "can't miss it" occasion. Check out the boxes stuffed with teddy bear graham crackers at It's All About Baby, the fortune cookie with Asian Influence, and the paper airplane for the kids party, Up, Up, and Away. There are lots more, so have fun browsing the site.

We also understand that you may not have the luxury of the time needed to send out invitations several weeks in advance of the event. That's why every party also has an email invitation option you can choose.

It's a Set-Up

A Simply Perfect Party is ideal whether you have an expansive entertaining space, a cocktail table, or a kitchen counter from which to serve food and beverages. Most Simply Perfect Parties are shown as buffet service because it's easy to do from almost any size flat surface. It's also a great way to get your guests moving and mingling. But if your occasion calls for a sit-down dinner, it's a simple conversion. In fact, many of the parties show both buffet and sit-down table set-ups. Copy the set-ups shown on the Party Page, or have fun with your own display to make it your own.

What's a Great Party Without Great Food?


Make it Memorable -

Did you know that the more senses are engaged in any experience, the more likely it is to be remembered? It's true.

Did you know that eating is one of the few experiences that engages all five senses? It's true.

And did you know that you "eat" with your eyes before you taste a bite of food? Also true.

What's our point? If you want an occasion to be memorable, serve fabulous food that appeals to all of your senses - it is colorful and attractively presented (sight), there is a wonderful aroma (smell), offer a variety of food textures that feel great on your palette (touch), enjoy that delightful snap when you bite into a crisp vegetable or fruit (sound), and finally, the flavors are fantastic (taste).

Spectacular Menus -

Every Party includes a menu (many have more than one) designed to coordinate with the Party design or theme. There are Parties for very special occasions and backyard barbecues, for holidays and movie nights, for family reunions and Friday evening cocktails, for children's parties and retirement dinners. And each menu reflects the flavor of the event.

For many Parties, there is a full dinner menu and one for a lighter offering of hors d'oeuvres or munchies.

And because we have often experienced the frustration of ordering a vegetarian meal in a restaurant, most menus also have meatless options.

The KISS Approach to Food Preparation -

All of the recipes to prepare a Party menu are included.

You've probably heard the KISS acronym (Keep It Simple, Stupid) used in many situations. Well, it applies in the kitchen, as well. And keeping it simple is a requirement for a Simply Perfect Party.

Our menus feature foods that are simple to prepare. Most have only a few ingredients and do not require a French to English dictionary to understand. Many can be made well in advance of Party day.

With over 40 combined years of entertaining and cooking, we have discovered (and continue to discover) wonderful products that make food preparation quick and easy. Not all of these products are available nationwide, so we include the ones that we feel you really should have with your Party. It might be a sauce that's even better than the one you slave over, some uncommon but marvelous flavors to slather on gourmet sandwiches and wraps, a dessert mix that's absolutely no-fail, the list goes on. Each menu item that uses one of these products has a notation indicating its inclusion.

Beyond Parsley

Garnishes are the jewelry for food service. Hop over to our Perfect Party Pointers section for lots of ways to dress up the dowdy dish, perk up the purchased entrée, and dazzle with desserts.

Your Personal Stamp

Each Simply Perfect Party is a complete presentation when it arrives at your door. Feel free to open the boxes, explore the contents, and enjoy the ease of throwing a Simply Perfect Party.

Click on Personalize It for lots of ideas for ways to make your Party one of a kind.

 

Perfect Party Pointers

To Make Each Guest Feel Special, It’s the Little Things That Count -



• Water, water, everywhere No matter what other beverages you serve your guests, be sure there is a pitcher of cold water available. Use a glass pitcher and add a few slices of citrus – lemons, limes, or oranges – for a dash of color and a splash of flavor. If it is a sit-down occasion, have a glass of ice water at each place with a slice of citrus floating on top. Vary the fruit used in the glasses for the unexpected. Now wasn’t that easy?
  
  
• Avoid disposables – plates, glasses, napkins, serveware Make your guests feel that they are worth the finest. It will be our secret that if you entertain more than rarely, you may find it less expensive to purchase plain white or clear glass plates to use for parties than to repeatedly buy disposables. Shop sales and outlets for bargains. Determine the number of folks you expect to most often entertain and purchase that number of plain white dinner plates and the same number of glass dinner plates. Those two sets will carry you through any party whether it is fancy or casual. Mix and match the two sets, using one for dinner, the other for dessert. If you need to use both sets for dinner plates, alternate them in a stack at the front of the buffet line or alternately on the table place settings to make it look like a design element and not as though you ran out of plates and needed to supplement with another set.
  
  
• Avoid disposables except … There are exceptions to every rule, and here is one for the last tip. There are those times when not using disposables is just plain impractical. Big barbecues, block parties, and so forth demand a measure of sensibility. Another category of Parties where disposables are the rule is kids Parties. Our philosophy on kids Parties is that they must be safe, fun for the kids and the adults, and should qualify for garden hose cleanup. Disposables and unbreakables are the rule here. All of our kids Parties come with disposable plates, glasses, and napkins.
  
  
• Matchy matchy is “out” Variety is “in.” For glassware and flatware, use any combination of what you already have. With all the fun shapes, colors, and designs available, your guests will enjoy choosing their own glasses. A variety makes it easier to remember which glass is yours when you set it down at a party. If possible, use the same flatware pattern for one place/person, but don’t worry if you need to use several different patterns.
  
  
• Prepared foods are our friends Don’t ignore the wonderful appetizers, main dishes, and desserts offered by your local deli, grocer, caterer, and even in the discount club’s freezer case. There is no rule stating you must prepare every morsel of food yourself – possible exception is your gourmet cooking club. Choose the best of what is offered in today’s markets and spend your time on menu items that either you enjoy preparing most or something for which you are famous.
  
  
• Presenting prepared foods If you do purchase prepared foods for your party (see Pointer just above), always remove them from the containers in which they were purchased and transfer them to your own platter or dish. Nothing screams, “I was bought at the deli!” like a foil pan or a plastic platter. Many prepared foods can be made “your own” by adding more of the main ingredient. For a chicken and vegetable salad, add more chicken; purchase one of the great roasted chickens found in most grocery stores and arrange a row of slices of white meat down the center of the salad. For a seafood dish, add more of the dominant seafood – shrimp, crab, scallops, … . You get the idea.
  
  
• Garnish, garnish, garnish Garnishes are the jewelry for the food that you serve. Every dish deserves a little glitz, a dash of color. With a Simply Perfect Party you can use the time you saved on food preparation to do the fun things like garnishing. If you mother told you not to play with your food, here’s your opportunity.

  Red and green are vibrant colors that catch the eye. Fortunately, these colors abound in the produce aisle. We are all familiar with the profuse use of parsley. Parsley is great. Use it abundantly, but try different varieties or an assortment of colorful lettuces to rim a plate, run a row down the center of a dish, or as part of a larger garnish. Tomatoes are an obvious choice when looking for a red garnish. With the year round availability of cherry and grape tomatoes, feel free to use them whole, halved, sliced, or slivered. All colors of sweet peppers and fresh fruits are great choices. Browse the green grocery section and look for colors instead of foods.
  
  Because food flavors transfer to other foods that they touch, be careful to match your garnish’s flavor to the food it garnishes. A citrus salad will not benefit from rings of red onions clustered on top. Avoid fruits and vegetables that will turn brown if left exposed to the air. A pinwheel of pears or apples or dots of banana slices or carrots will not attract anyone if they have turned brown or mushy.
  
  Take your garnishing cue from the food you are garnishing. A chicken salad can be dressed up simply by adding a row of overlapping slices of chicken down the center. A broccoli salad looks even more appetizing with a nosegay cluster of broccoli tops in the center. Try using fruit slices for meat dishes. Oranges and lemons, kumquats and limes, pineapple half slices and peaches can all make a predominantly brown dish more attractive.

• Presenting a Perfect Cup of Coffee or Tea Want to add even more pizzazz to your party? You’ve prepared to-die-for desserts. Why serve them with that ho-hum cup of coffee or tea? Instead of preparing several of the popular flavored coffees, make one pot of quality coffee and serve it with an assortment of flavorings and add-ins - the sorts of things that you would never bother assembling for yourself at home but that make your Party special. Offer cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa, tiny chocolate chips, and whipped cream. For tea include several kinds of unflavored tea in bags plus honey, sweeteners, lemon, orange, lime slices, fresh fruits, and crushed peppermints. For a hot chocolate option include mint flavored chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, cinnamon sticks, vanilla creamer, and half and half. Problem: How do you corral of all of those small containers? Our Beverage Cache is the answer. We offer it in Uptown and Every Occasion styles, one of which we promise will look great with the Party you choose. The Beverage Cache contains a variety of pieces including a tray; containers and spoons for add-ins, honey pot and honey dipper, a pitcher, and two bottled flavorings (let us surprise you with the choices of flavors). Talk about an easy way to make a big impression!

 

What You Get

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Each Party is designed for eight people and includes personalized invitations, a tablescape, menu, recipes, and non-perishable food products. Not to worry, your Party can be expanded to include as many guests as you choose and incorporate that special dish for which you are famous.

Invitations -

For a Party whose invitations are the traditional card style, you will receive extra envelopes. After all, who hasn't made a mistake addressing an envelope?

Tablescapes -

Each tablescape has a base upon which to display the other elements. Some parties feature fresh flowers and others include very convincing faux look for some surprises here. Everything in the tablescape is yours to use again and again in many different ways. No returns to the rental company with this Party!

You will receive one or several focal elements. These may be anything from photos to blueprints to food, as with kids Parties where the birthday cake takes center stage.

Flowers -

This is probably a good place to tell you our philosophy about decorating with flowers. We love fresh flowers! Some Parties feature fresh flowers (not included with the Party) and others include very convincing faux flowers (and fruits and vegetables and even bread). Honestly, if you haven't browsed a quality faux flower store lately, you are in for a few surprises. Whether fresh or faux, you can be sure that your Party will be Simply Perfect.

Candles -

Nothing says "special occasion" like candlelight, so you'll find candles incorporated in lots of different ways. We don't want your tea lights burning out before your guests leave, so whenever possible we have substituted votive sized oil lamps that will burn two to three times longer than a standard tea light. That's long enough to use it for another Party. In many Parties LCD tea lights take the place of wax candle ones. They are worry free when children are around and allow you the option of using them in and around plates of food where a real candle could be the cause of Auntie's flowing sleeve going up in flames. And at 100 hours of burn time before replacing the battery, they are a bargain.

Napkins -

In our experience with low budget lunches for groups of volunteers, we have discovered that doing two simple things made the guests feel like they were treated royally - using cloth napkins and floating a lemon slice on each glass of ice water. We let the lemon slice up to you, but we are most adamant about the use of cloth napkins. Most Parties come with cloth napkins in a coordinating color. Some sport custom designed rings while others flaunt an appropriate fancy fold. No, you don't have to learn origami. Your napkins will arrive prefolded for you. (Feel free to impress your guests. It will be our secret.)

 

The Little Extras That Make it a Simply Perfect Party

There are lots of little things you can do to make a Party special without lots of extra work. Many Parties include ice cube molds that coordinate with the theme. No recipe needed for this one, and they can be made well in advance of Party day.

You're not a chocolatier? Think again. Making your own molded candies for the Party or to send home as gifts couldn't be easier. Molded candies that reflect the theme - pawprints for It’s a Jungle Out There, seashells for Nantucket Night, race cars for Race Cars Kids Party - are included along with our very favorite chocolate for melting. You simply melt, pour, cool, unmold, and serve.

Cookie cutters are not just for cutting cookies. You will be amazed at the variety of foods that can be cut into Party perfect shapes with a cookie cutter. Of course, we've included cutters with ideas for their use. This one has a big WOW factor!

Don't be surprised that serviceware comes with many Parties. Most of the time, the china, flatware, serving pieces that you already have will look great. But for some Parties, including a few select pieces that you may not already have will help to carry the theme. If your Party happens to be Nantucket Night, you will receive dishes with a seaside flair; Asian Influence comes with Chinese carry-out containers; and serve a sundae bar dessert in ice cream cone shaped dishes. Browse the Party pages for more.

Have you ever stood in a buffet line staring down into a dish and wondering, "What in the world is this?" Your guests won't need to guess what you are serving when you identify each dish with a food tag on which to write the name of the dish and a custom designed holder to anchor it. It's also a thoughtful way to identify ingredients to which guests may be allergic. Where do you find food tags? They are included with your Party, of course. Add more from Perfect Additions.

 

We've Thought of Everything So You Don't Have To

Making your Party convenient for you is a big part of making it Simply Perfect. You won't need to run to a store at the last minute for batteries. If they are required, we will include them.

 

What You Won't Get

You won't get melted candy or broken vases. Simply Perfect Parties include fragile, perishable, and melt-prone products. Special care is taken to ensure that each piece arrives to you quickly and in perfect condition. Some products will be drop shipped to you so that transport time is kept to a minimum. Next Day Delivery is standard for all else.