Parties are fun no matter what, but if you’ve thrown or attended a lot of them, you may be tired of purveying your friends with the same basic party snacks.
Meatballs on toothpicks and Jello shots have had enough time in the spotlight — read on for ideas about what to make to refresh your friends, and maybe score some new ones.
- Lemon Drop Shots
Whether you’ve planned everything in advance or are putting food and drink together an hour before the event, making a simple lemon drop recipe is a great offering. This sweet and tangy drink is served in a shot glass, so mixing one batch can yield a large number of servings.
- Honey-Roasted Nuts
When you coat nuts in honey and roast them in the oven, you have the option to use peanuts, cashews, or a mix of different types. If you want a kick to go with the sweetness of the honey, you can add warm spices like cinnamon or cayenne. It’s also good to sprinkle in some salt.
Even before you serve these, you and your guests may find the scent of roasting sugar and nuts to be almost as intoxicating as the drinks.
- Mini Avocado Toasts
Avocado toast isn’t only a trendy delicacy in cafes and restaurants; it’s also an incredibly easy and adaptable at-home snack that can be served in miniature sizes at parties.
For the toast portion of this treat, you could opt for something fancy, like lightly toasted slices of baguette, or something simple, like crackers. Either will provide a trustworthy vessel for mashed avocado, salt, red pepper flakes, and any other toppings you like.
- Strawberry Shortcake
A baking project involving sugar-drenched strawberries and oozing whipped cream may not sound like a practical move, but there’s a crowd-pleasing shortcut.
Buy vanilla cupcakes or bake them from a mix and set them out alongside a mountainous bowl of whipped cream, a dish of strawberries in sugar, and lots of plates, napkins, and utensils.
The individual cakes that your friends build won’t be traditional shortcake, but they will be effortlessly delicious.
- Watermelon Kebabs
Watermelon is a beautiful, flavorful fruit that almost everyone likes. Cut it into geometric shapes and skewer those pieces alongside a grape or two, and everyone will like watermelon even more.
You can build kebabs with a variety of fruit, or you can focus on watermelon by combining it with different flavors: pieces of cheese or even bacon give a burst of salt to contrast with the juicy sweetness of watermelon.
Watermelon consists of about 92% water, so eating it helps you stay hydrated — that can be a helpful bonus if you’re drinking.
- Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches
If you’re not serving tea with these, chances are everyone will be too busy snacking to notice.
There are many ways to go about building these flavorful finger sandwiches, like with cream cheese and dill or butter and lemon. The vivid color of the smoked salmon complements the creamy green of avocado on toast nicely.
Small helpings of smoked salmon also deliver valuable nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. How many party hosts can boast that they provide friends with excellent mixed drinks and help them meet their daily nutritional needs?
Appealing snacks like these should enable all your guests to enjoy lemon drop shots and other libations with full stomachs, a much better option than drinking before having anything to eat.
Once you’ve provided quick and delectable party treats to your friends in a safe, happy environment, you can move on to the most important part: enjoying yourself!
