Planning the crawl Crawl checklist Sample itinerary

This year, why not celebrate summer with your neighbors? It's a great opportunity to get to know each other better, something we rarely make time for anymore. One of the best ways to involve everyone -- and share the work -- is by holding a "house crawl."

A condo crawl, also known as a progressive dinner party, involves everyone going from home to home and enjoying a different course of the meal at each residence. This kind of party works especially well for friends who live close to one another in a neighborhood, apartment building or condo complex. Then everyone can walk from home to home without worrying about organizing cars and designated drivers. It also facilitates digesting between courses!

	TIP In lieu of hostess gifts, consider a "plant exchange." Each person or couple can bring a perennial they've just thinned out in their garden, or seeds saved from last year's plants. It's a great way to grow for yourself those flowers you've been admiring over the fence!

Planning A Condo Crawl

The great thing about condo crawls is that the responsibility for the meal is shared. This moving feast progresses from home to home with each course, spending about an hour at each stop. It's also an opportunity to welcome a new neighbor to your floor or block, to get to know neighbors better, or to match up singles (each person brings a person of the opposite sex that he or she isn't dating).

As a general guideline, six to eight people serving a four-course meal (appetizers and cocktails, soup or salad, main course, dessert and coffee) works well for this kind of dinner. Consider home size when matching up hosts and courses: A smaller home might be better suited for appetizers and cocktails, for example.

Invitations aren't required for this sort of event, but itineraries stating the timetable and menu for the evening are.

Remember not to overdo any courses, and to consider any dietary restrictions of your participants. You might decide to give the evening a theme (Mexican, Italian, Greek). That theme could extend to drinks, decorations and music. Who knows? Your crawl might be such a hit that you'll decide to make it a monthly event!

	TIP Try to have as much done ahead of time as possible so that on the day of your party you only have to prepare the food and get yourself ready. This means having the house cleaned and any dishes that can be prepared ahead of time completed. Then relax and enjoy!

House Crawl Checklist

As with all entertaining, planning pays off when organizing a progressive dinner. Timing is key; latecomers might miss a course or arrive at the wrong home!
The steps:

1. Decide how many households you will include. Six to eight people is a good number, but you may include many more people, and not all need to act as hosts.
2. Set the number of dinner courses. Four (appetizers, soup/salad, main course and dessert) are manageable in terms of logistics and travel time between homes. More than that might result in a very long evening or rushed courses.
3. Schedule the time to be spent at each home and the travel time in between. About an hour per course is a good allowance.
4. Tell each participant which course they will be serving. Each course should be prepared ahead of time, and left to chill in the refrigerator or warm in the oven. This allows each couple to present their part of the dinner without undue stress. The menu should also be discussed in advance to avoid an overload of a certain food. When the details are set, send out the confirming itineraries.

SAMPLE ITINERARY

The moveable feast: