Hosting A Simple Lunch with Friends

Have you wanted to make lunch plans with friends, but something is holding you back?

Maybe it's the expense of going out to eat?

Maybe it's the trouble of going to a restaurant with kids?

Maybe you don't have any great lunch spots near your house?

Take this as your sign to host your friends at your house!

Leo and I hosted our friends for lunch last week and it went so well!  I made the easiest menu - simple foods, my go to dessert of chocolate chips cookies and the kids played.  It wasn't expensive or a ton of work.  I tidied up the house just like I do for any company.  It was low key and easy.

I love these navy gingham melamine plates and have a stash of napkins that go perfectly with them.  I grab them anytime I see a pattern that would go with navy gingham at places like HomeGoods.  That way I'm ready to host down the road.  Cute plates and napkins instantly makes a meal feel pulled together.  I added a table runner to the table.

I wanted fresh flowers, but didn't want to run to the store to get them or spend the money on fresh flowers.  I opted to head outside to our yard and cut a bouquet of honey suckle.  It kind of feels like the perfect Midwest bouquet and it looked really pretty on my table.

There were just 4 of us so I made a tiny fruit salad, a veggie plate, chicken salad for the moms and PBJs for the kids with a side of salty crackers/chips.

The moms loved this chicken salad.  It's my go to recipe.

2 cans of shredded chicken drained and shredded

1 cup of grapes halved

1 apple diced up

1/2 cup of pecans

3 T Spicy brown mustard 

1/2 c Duke's Mayo

Mix until everything is well coated.  Refrigerate and serve with crackers, crusty bread or croissants.  

Easiest meal ever!  The whole meal probably cost me around $15.  That is way less than what it would have cost for us to go out to eat.

Cookies for dessert and I sent the extras home with our friends.

The moms chatted and the kids played.  We had a great time together!

Here's a nudge from me to you - invite your favorite friends over to your house!!  Breakfast or lunch guests feel like less pressure than dinner guests.

6 Ingredient Homemade Play-Doh

Have you ever made homemade play-doh?

I grew up with a mom who made homemade play-doh so I had to continue the tradition with my own kids.  This recipe is so easy and you can easily add the ingredients to your next grocery pick up order.  The recipe is fast to make and the play-doh lasts for 1-2 weeks if you keep it in a ziploc bag.  

I've made play-doh for my kids, when we had friends over to play and for a whole class.  It's a really inexpensive, fun activity to do with kids and they love when you let them pick their own color of play-doh.  When Olive was in Pre-K, I made a class set of play-doh for her Christmas party and Olive requested we make more this Fall.  

Homemade Play-Doh Recipe:

1 cup flour

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup salt

1 T lemon juice

1 t vegetable oil

liquid food coloring

Directions:

Add everything to a saucepan and stir until well combined.  Add food coloring, vegetable oil, lemon juice and water back to back to get the best colored play-doh.  If you wait until it's well combined to add the food coloring, the color won't mix in well.  Stir the mixture with a spatula as it thickens up. If you have older kids, you can ask them to help you stir.  Keep stirring until it gets to a good play-doh consistency.  Then put in on the counter or a plate and knead it.  It's warm so I usually knead it the first minute or two and then pass it on to the kids.

You'll be the favorite mom in the neighborhood when you set up a play-doh factory in your kitchen!  The kids loved using my utensils to chop and create.

Big kids will love it!

Toddlers will love it!

We experimented with mix ins.  Cinnamon was fun to sprinkle in but didn't add much of a smell.  These sprinkles were great to mix in once the play-doh cooled.

We learned about coloring mixing.

We made birthday cakes.

And Grimace shakes!

And the 5th graders really enjoyed shopping Olive's play-doh shop at school!  We made pumpkin play-doh. and put it in bags to sell at her class market.

We also made look alike Crumbl Cookie play-doh to sell.  This was a big hit!

I hope you have someone in your life to make play-doh for!  It's been so fun for us to make the past month or so.  I'm going to make sure that I always have these ingredients on hand now that the weather is turning color and we might have some snow days in our future.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Making Hosting Easy

The weather is warming up and it's the perfect time of year to host friends and family at your house.  We had some friends over for dinner on Friday so I pulled together a little Fri-Yay! themed meal.  

I try to be in charge of the things I enjoy and delegate the other tasks.  That's the benefit of hosting - you can do the things you enjoy :)

This time I was in charge of the fruit, veggies, grabbing some wine, drinks, dishes and prepping the house.  Kevin ordered pizza and bread sticks from Donatos for us and that always take a huge to do off my list when the main course is being delivered.  Our friends brought dessert and some drinks to share.  Sometimes we'll say that we will take care of everything, but if someone offers to help, I try to say yes.

I have a fun collection of melamine plates that are perfect for eating with kids or outdoors or anyone really.  They aren't fragile and they're fun!

Then I grab cute napkins from my party pantry and try to prep everything early in the day to prevent me from running around like crazy when guests arrive.

I love chopping veggies!  They're so pretty.  Make everything bite size and split the snap peas!  They will look so pretty and be easier to eat.  I add a dip or two to the plate, cover it in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge.  I did this during nap time.  Leo was sleeping and the big kids were at school.  It was really enjoyable for me.  And it was really nice to have it ready and waiting in the fridge when dinner rolled around.

Do you have a favorite Sauv Blanc??  I always pick out a wine based on the label which I realize isn't the most sophisticated way to select wines.  haha.  A friend told me to look for these wines from New Zealand because they're the best.  This one was solid, but I think I'll keep trying out options until I find one that is my favorite.

What are you favorite hosting tips?

I hope mine make your life a little easier the next time you host.

 

The parents visited.  The kids played.  And we had a great meal.  Yay!  Happy Hosting!