I decided a couple of months ago to have a gurls night at my house ..I cooked lasagna ,curry chicken and made a salad ...Asked one of the gurls to bring in what ever she wanted to drink as far as alcohol ..It was really nice but think I went to extreme with the food and had no ideas on the alcohol drinks because i dont drink ..Thinking about having another one ,,Any ideas on appetizers and drinks ?
Omg! Thanks Everyone for all the Great Ideas ! It's going to be a blast ! :)
Mushroom caps stuffed with sausage and stuffing--YUM!
Have you ever bought the tubs of frozen margarita mix? Put in the freezer about 2 days before & just scoop out into glasses.
I second the margarita bucket! It makes the perfect margarita. To go along with that you could do a taco bar. Wine is always nice, too. A nice Chardonnay or Red.
Why don't each of the ladies bring something to pass. Perhaps you can create a theme night... Italian, Mexican, Asian etc...Or hot appetizer theme, Veggie etc..Provide the soft drinks, coffee, or water etc...If you need to provide the alcohol - wine coolers/mikes hard lemonade is great. A few bottles of white/red wine. Those are pretty generic and can satisfy most palettes. If someone doesn't like the selection of course than BYOB.
I think it would be fun to cook together - like everyone makes their own little pizza or quesodilla?
Ask the girls what they want to drink or have a bottle of white and red wine, and stuff for margaritas or something
Try Moscato wine. You can get a really inexpensive one from Berringer or Sutter Home. It's a delicious white. Goes really well fruit, cheese, savory dishes, and deserts. I like finger foods when I'm with the girls. No knives and forks. Just small plates and little bites of this and that. We usually do apps and deserts. Everybody brigs thier fave. It's a good conversation starter and less money and work for you.
Here's an app that went over well at Christmas. Take crescent dough out of the can and pinch the holes back together. Smear it with cream cheese. Top with green chillis and cheddar cheese. Roll it up and slice into rounds. Bake on a cookie sheet. It makes a buttery round swirled with cheese and green chillis. You can change out the green chilis for bacon or ham or anything that else that sounds good. You could even do this for the kids with spaghetti sauce, peperoni and mozz to make pizza rounds.
One elegant app starter is the little phyillo cups you can buy in the freezer section. Fill with savory or sweet or tiny chopt fruit. It makes a pretty and impressive app or desert My fave is putting premade spinach artichoke dip in them.
Appetizers & desserts are always fun! Ask each girl to bring either an appetizer or dessert and you provide the drinks and one of each...
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I was part of a girls group that did this. We would pick a theme and bring something to share. Our favorite night, hands down, was breakfast for dinner!
We have a group of women who do a "girls night" every few months... past themes:
1. Bring your favorite dish and drink to share: we ended up with a random hodge-podge of food and drinks, but it was great to see what we all thought was our "best dish".
2. Soup and salad night: the hostess made several soups and a large green salad. We were each asked to either bring a drink or an appetizer
3. Chinese New Year (February): ordered Chinese food and I made fortune cookies... they ended up bringing wine.
4. Pasta Night: one of the girls is from Italy and she made several types of homemade pasta and sauces. We got to "mix-and-match" and try several things. We brought green salad, bread, wine and dessert
If you are having ladies over that enjoy wine, a cheese/fruit tray is always nice. Cube some different kinds of cheese and slice apples (dip them in lemon juice to prevent browning). Have some crackers (not saltines, lol) to nibble with the cheese.
The cheeses I would choose: sharp cheddar, Pepper Jack, smoked Gouda, Havarti w/horseradish...
There is also an AMAZING appetizer that you can make by mixing cream cheese, horseradish sauce, chives and spreading it on slices of roast beef, then rolling and slicing into bite size roll/rings. Top each piece with a sliced green olive (pimento stuffed). Everyone always loves these.
Why don't you ask what they might like? If you're hosting AGAIN it seems someone should step up a little!
Practically, though, I have a book club of women (our own GNO), and everyone prefers white wine. It's a very safe choice.
WIth appetizers it's always nice to offer some choices that are low fat and healthy as a lot of folks are trying to stick to a diet: raw veggies and hummos, wasabi peas, and so on.
Have fun!
