House/BBQ Party

Well we are being swarmed with questions of "when are you having a house warming party?" We feel after having a shower and then getting married ( shower 2.5yrs ago, wedding 2 yrs ago) to have another gift giving event is selfish especially in this economy. But we have been asked by several people to have something.

So we are planing on doing a bbq or themed party this late july, early august so we have time to budget for it and get ourselves more prepared.

Thinking of making grilled veggies, shishkaboobs, of var. meats grilled chicken and burgers, two different rices (Saffron and Balsamic Brown rice), salads (non mayo), a cheeseboard with fresh veggies that will be over a bed of ice, then i will make some parfaits, and tarts for dessert (along with ice cream) around 35-40 people. This sound reasonable for a summer menu?

What did you do for your new house?

(edit) also for those who keep asking to give gifts how to deal with this? I keep saying we are fine but we have some pushy family members and I don't need another soup bowl or hand vacuum.

Message edited 4/14/2010 2:44:17 PM.

Re: House/BBQ Party

Jenn I think that is a great menu list. I have never had that many people at one time, but if I did I would get it catered. But that is me. We have done BBQs with about 20 people and we never sat down. It was no fun. Again, just me. If you & DH are going to do this, I would start again of time with some of the dishes and keep them warm, maybe sterno's would work.

As for the gifts, tell everyone since you still have work to do around the house, that you would appreciate either a Lowe's or Home Depot gift card. This is what we always ask for for our birthdays & Christmas. It really helps out when you go to do that next project and you don't have to spend all of your own money. Then you can tell everyone "See here is your gift - aka: rug, paint, drywall, a light.

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I agree with the PP that it is a lot for you to do. How about you tell people to bring stuff. Make it a potluck BBQ or just ask a select few people (like parents, siblings, etc.) to make one simple item or bring chips & dip or fruit. Don't make it so hard on yourself.

If people want to give you a gift tell them to give you Lowes or HD giftcards because you're still working on renovations.

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According to this months real simple mag. you are only required to do apps and small food at this type of party. thats all it said though

when asked what to bring after you have said no gifts you can politely say, add to our collection of wine (if you drink it) its something you will more then likely use if not for you, for guests then

we are in the same exact boat. married 2.5 yrs ago and I just can't have a house warming party. It just feels like we are asking for gifts. But we want to have a party to celebrate because we waited so long to be homeowners!! I think we are just going to have a BBQ and not say anything about it being related to us buying the house, that way hopefully people will not bring gifts HTH and congrats on your new house!

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i think that is perfect for a housewarming and i'm planning on doing the same thing

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Thanks for the ideas! Gift certs and wine are cool and when i design the invites i will put Garden Party or Family BBQ - not housewarming.

We are used to entertaining about 10-15 people used to be every other week at our apartment and our families normally do a huge party of 100 at least yearly and they only hire a cook so we kinda all take turns helping out so i know we would be covered with dishes/etc. I will def. take the advice and look into at least someone to help out with the bbq'ing if Dh wants to be able to roam. I can prep the rest of the stuff a day or two in advance then reheat and put in dishes or unwrap and put on ice.

The desserts might be the challenging aspect to make a bunch of tiny tarts might switch to cheesecake (which i can handle making a few) and serving ice cream since it will be hot.

Luckily i have warming trays galore, just need to buy a fridge/freezer to store everything since our old side by side can barely have a turkey reside in it.

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Sounds great but it seems like you will be doing more work than partying.

I did some hot and cold appetizers and made sangria and had beers, soda, etc. Nice and simple and wasnt too overwhelmed.

Just remember everyone is going to ask you to show them around and give them the tour of your new place so you will be busy doing that as well.

Oh and for the gifts, I put right on the invite "no gifts" Most people listened, a few actually got some stuff off our registry or gave us gift cards. ETA they bought stuff off our wedding registry...we didnt register for the housewarming party

Message edited 4/14/2010 4:03:54 PM.

Re: House/BBQ Party

oh yea true DUH house tours totally forgot about that. I guess as much as I hate to cater or ask people to bring stuff I will have to reconsider. I think this is one party I will have to be a part of instead of running it LoL

Re: House/BBQ Party

Oh and a cute idea I wanted to do but never got around to doing was printing pics of the rooms we re did, putting them in frames, and leaving them in those rooms. That way guests could see how hideous the rooms were before we moved in.

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good idea especially with our house LoL

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We do a BBQ every year for family/friends. We usually invite around 100 and end up with about 60. We found out the hard way that it is MUCH easier to bring in the main food. We have used Zorn's in the past and it worked out very well. I want to say it was around $10 pp for bbq chicken, fried chicken, ribs, choice of sides, salad, bread with butter, condiments, utensils, soda (with cups and ice). We usually order for less people than we are expecting since people tend to come and go at different times. We do a bunch of apps and DH ususally does some kind of grillling too (kielbasa, london broils - stuff that is easy to cook and slice up). Also, don't know if you are planning to have it rain or shine, but the catering definitely takes care of that.

We have used servers in the past and even had one who would take over the grill for DH and then serve/clean when Dh was cooking (let me know if you need a recommendation for someone).

The pregnant cannoli and renting an ice cream cart make for exciting (and easy!) desserts.

Good luck - and have fun!!

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I think it's a GREAT idea......we did the same thing. We moved in Memorial Day weekend and then had a house-warming BBQ in mid July.
We had invitations made up real cheap on vistaprint.com and didn't actually say "house-warming party".....it said:

"_____ & _____ invite you to their new home!

Come join us for a BBQ celebration!"


As for the gifts....we really did not care to get any either, but some people gave a Lowes or HB gift card or a bottle of wine, or extra food.

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For our first party in our new house we felt the same way. We had just got everything for my shower/wedding. This is what we did:

E-vites--The 1st of Many Party

In the invite we included that if you would like to bring something, bring a specialty dish. EVERYONE brought food, we made hot dogs, hamburgers, and sausage and peppers. It was awesome! Oh, and we provided alcohol.

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thank you all for the advice. I am going to look into this great turkish restaurant near for catering this weekend so i know pricing.