Lily Girls Magazine

By Miranda Canady

Looking for ideas for the ultimate Valentine’s Day Party? This month get your friends involved by hosting a Progressive Dinner! If you aren’t familiar with progressive dinners, they typically proceed in this fashion: each part of the meal (usually appetizers, salads, main entrée, & dessert) are each served at a different “host” home so that party guests literally move from house to house in between courses. This works best if you have a group of friends that live in the same neighborhood, but can also be fun if you have to travel a little ways in between!

Before the Party

-       Find 3 other friends that would be willing to “host” a course and then split up who will be hosting what – it is usually best to even go as far as to assign certain dishes so that you can include the menu on the invitations!

-       Establish transportation – whether that means walking next door or getting a parent or older sibling to pack you and your friends in a mini van!

-       Keep the guest list on the smaller side to make for easy travel between houses and so that there is enough room for everyone to eat together.

Invitations

Design your invitations to look like a restaurant menu – include menu items and their coordinating hosts. Use the back of the invitations to create a map with directions to and from each house!

Be sure to include:

• Date
• Time: start dinner a little earlier than normal since it will take a lot longer to finish your meal when you include travel time.
• Location: be sure to include all the host home locations AND directions!
• RSVP
• Attire: dressy casual
• Things to bring: their handy dandy invitations that double as a map!

Décor

Since guests will be traveling from house to house, a lot of décor is not necessary. Stick with classic table settings, red tablecloths (for Valentine’s day), and maybe some heart balloons or toile seating cards. It could take some convincing, but maybe if you sweet talk your parents into letting you use their fine China!

Attire

Have guests arrive in dressy casual attire – it will help set the mood and give you a reason to buy a new dress!

Recipes

Try to harmonize your menu somewhat by sticking with a theme or particular cuisine. Here are a few favorite recipes to help get you started…

Appetizer – Baked Brie

Soup – Rich and Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

Entrée – Spaghetti Cabonara

Dessert – Chocolate Hazelnut Lava Cakes

Fun Spin

For a fun spin, serve your dinner backwards with a “REGRESSIVE” dinner – eat dessert first!

Hosting your own V-Day party? We want to see it! Send in pictures to p3@lilygirlsmag.com. You could be featured on the website!