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 to 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 home. This kind of party works especially well for friends
who live close to one another in a neighborhood, an apartment building
or a condo complex. Then everyone can walk from home to home without worrying
about organizing cars and designated drivers. It also facilitates digesting
between courses!
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!
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:
- Decide how many households you will include. Six
to eight people is a good number, but you may include many people, and
not all need to act as hosts.
- 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.
- Schedule the time to be spent at each home and the
travel time in between. About an hour per course is a good allowance.
- 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 for 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.
| TIP The person or couple serving the
next course might want to head home a few minutes before the rest
of the guests to prepare the food. If you're serving something hot,
consider enlisting the help of a friend or family member to help with
the last-minute preparations so the course will be ready when you
arrive. |
SAMPLE ITINERARY
The moveable feast:
|
