HOLIDAYS
HOLIDAYS
Just remember: a retirement party celebrates new beginnings. Their career is done and now the retiree can focus on doing all the things he or she loves most or pursue new activities they've never had the time to try before.
Feel free to make it fun by gearing the party around the type of travel or activities (art, gardening, sports like fishing or golf) that excites the guest of honor. Gather the retiree's nearest and dearest and send him or her off with this fabulous tour of the world's gastronomic delights.
Retirement is for experimenting and following your long-deferred dreams. So send that special retiree off in style with this global tour of some of the world's tastiest finger foods. Bon Voyage! And Happy Retirement! Just be sure to send me a postcard!
- These are easy to make from a color Xerox of an actual passport cover - add pages of paper stapled together to make a little book.
- You can include a passport photo of your guest as well as visa stamps of exotic locations.
- Take Polaroid or digital photos during the party and adhere them to the "passports" with double-sided stick tape.
- Present blank, stamped postcards to your guests, and ask them to write their well wishes to the retiree.
- Then after the party, mail them to the retiree to prolong the celebration. It's always fun to get "snail mail."
- You can provide crayons, stickers and colored pencils so that your guests can jazz up and personalize their note.
We suggest you make some delicious mojitos for the retirement party.
These refreshing island rum and fresh mint sippers make a welcome drink on any trip! Hemingway (Ernest that is!) loved these, and your guests will too.
You can pre-make the mojitos and serve them in a festive pitcher or glass vessel. Simply add the fizzy soda and ice close to serving time.
A good muddler to help muddle the fresh mint is a great investment for your bar. They are inexpensive and indispensable for any mixologist.
If your retiree prefers Paris or New Orleans over the tropical islands, feel free to adapt your cocktails (martinis or mint juleps) to suit your working hero's favored destination.
If it's Day Two, it Must Be Appetizers!
Serve easy and delicious Thai-inspired Beef and Chicken Satay with a myriad of dipping sauces to really get your party train rolling.
- Make sure to soak the bamboo skewers in water for a few hours prior to cooking so that they don't burn.
- Provide a sampling of different dipping sauces served in pretty bowls. Your taste buds will travel to different lands with this continental divide of condiments.
- Peanut Sauce is always delicious on satays! Make your own or Elki specialty foods out of Everett, Washington sells a delicious store-bought sauce.
- Sriracha : This is a wonderfully spicy red sauce (with a rooster on the label) can be sweetened with Agave or Honey for another world-beating dipping sauce. You can serve it right out of the squeeze bottle. Read more about my favorite hot sauce and condiment.
- For the allergy-conscious, Cashew Butter Sauce represents a good peanut-free option. This easy-to-prepare version from Alton Brown will pair well with your satays.
Play amateur foreign correspondent to check out this tasty Middle Eastern staple: garbanzo hummus and toasted pita triangles!
- Don't forget to play with the recipe by adjusting the amount of garlic (more or less) to you and your guests' tastes.
- FYI: To lower the calorie count, cut back on the olive oil by substituting more lemon juice and a few dollops of "Greek style yogurt" as a low-fat thickener.
Pita Chips
- To make homemade pita chips, cut store-bought pita bread into triangles and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees. For variety, toast both whole-wheat pita and white pita bread.
- Arrange the chips on a platter around a center bowl filled with hummus.
- To save time or simply for a diversity of crisp and flavor, you can mix in other packaged chips too. Try Stacy's Natural Pita Chips in addition to your home baked ones.
Take Off to Tacos!
For your primary destination, offer your guests a simply delicioso main course of a taco bar with a variety of fixings!
- For a unique spin, try grilled salmon as a tasty taco filling!
- These beef tacos will make for an unforgettable trip south of the border.
- Serve your tacos with warmed corn and flour tortillas and self serve bowls of diced ripe Haas avocado, shredded ice berg lettuce, romaine lettuce, shredded jack cheese, spicy or mild salsa and sour cream!
- Caterer's tip: Citrus is a great way to add bold flavors to sauces and dressings without adding more or extra oil.
- Also, when baking or reheating, always preheat your oven to the appropriate temperature and keep a thermometer in the oven. OXO makes a good one with an easy to read front face and a clip that attaches to any oven rack.
- Platters of homemade chocolate chip cookies and vanilla bean ice cream make a great finale to your passport to retirement party.
- Serve Chocolate chip cookies served warm from the oven with vanilla bean ice cream sandwiches.
- Your guests will have fun making their own ice cream sandwiches.
- Everyone can roll the edges of their ice cream cookie sandwiches into bowls of chopped walnuts, jimmies or chocolate sprinkles.
- Make sure you set out the ice cream right before you serve it, and lay out a couple of small ice cream scoops.
- For a double dose of chocolate dessert goodness, you also might want to serve up delicious Chocolate Martinis made with Godiva ® Chocolate Liquor.
Coffee Service
It's always a nice touch to offer hot coffee at the end of a party. A self-serve station is easy to set up and will keep you interacting with your guests rather than in the kitchen making coffee by yourself.
- Brew coffee (regular of decaf) just before the guests arrive and store in a coffee air pot.
- These nifty gadgets keep the coffee piping hot for up to 6 hours.
- You can set up a coffee station just about anywhere without the worrying about your guests tripping over plugs or cords.
- Arrange your coffee cups and saucers around the air pot, along with creamer and sweeteners of choice, and a few stirring spoons.
- Decorative small bowls can be used to arrange the packages of sweeteners.
- Supply a good assortment from Sugar in the Raw to Splenda and Sweet and Low.
Use color and black & white travel postcards (vintage ones are a fun touch!) to decorate the buffet and bar area.
Laminate old maps and city guides using clear contact paper. Pick up inexpensive frames at the 99 Cent store and fill them with pictures from old travel books and destination themed magazines.
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