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Hi I am going to hold a piano party in my house at the beginning of February. I have so far arranged for house cleaning on the day (to be finished a couple of hours before the party) to get rid of doggie hair, special dog training to prevent my 90 + lb puppy to jump at people and lots of Sushi from the best Sushi restaurant in Phoenux. But I'm at a loss what kind of meat dish I should provide. Do you have any suggestions? I appreciate any other advice on just giving parties as well. I allot about 15 min avg for each performer. We will have 7 or 9 pianists. Thanks in advance.

At my local Songmakers meeting, the host serves lasagna for 20 people. They get the big size from the local warehouse store, and a smaller veggie one too. It is easy and not that much money per serving. The host has a donation basket where most people put in $2 to help defray the costs.

I'm sure it will be a good time for all. I wish there were more of these kind of events.

.Bottled water. .Eleven cents

.Fresh cut broccoli florets .99 cents a bunch
(Ranch dressing)

.Smoked salmon instead of meat. Maybe some crackers and spread.

.Room temp...72-74*

.humidity...10-30%

.Mostly sunny, 10-15% cloud mix.

.Light traffic, good hair day.

I'm wondering if the Sushi will include piano tuna

(Sorry, I just couldn't resist that!)

Wish I was anywhere close to AZ ....

KISS (keep it simple, sweetie and yes, I substituted a word, ha)

I try HARD to serve food that can be prepared ahead of time, so I am NOT in the kitchen during the party and/or running around like a maniac. That's no fun.

So, for example...meatballs (easy, can be in a sauce of some type in a huge slow cooker) for a meat dish OR ham (best served at room temp and is generally already pre-sliced).
If I'm really being lazy, I'll just order a chicken tender tray from a local supermarket (served 30 minutes out of the fridge).

For other occasions, if I'm serving lots of food, I definitely throw in a few "cold" veggie dishes (various bean salads, raw veggie plate, etc) so I can prepare ahead of time and merely pull out of the fridge at party time! I may have a hot casserole that needs to come out of the oven at party time, but ONLY one, for simplicity's sake.

For dessert, I like an assortment, but will pre-slice and have everything ready so guests can just grab what they like without my having to slice and serve, etc.
ie. pound cake, brownies or chocolate cake, etc.

Now, these are my suggestions for larger parties, if it's a small sit-down dinner party, then I approach it differently.

good luck & have fun! Remember- it's supposed to be FUN!

Mr. SH - bottled water, what a good advice. I will have broccoli, carrot and celery and ranch dressing. Smoked salmon / crackers is easy to do. I will try my best to pray for the weather and temp. Not known for spiritual power though.

Piano joy / Andy - I think I will provide one hot food.
SandTiger - Will do Some kind of Italian. I think Italian food is better than Mexican food for the occasion. I may recruit my Italian friend for this. Thanks for all the good advice.

I will have plenty of wine. My husband is into beer and scotch. So we have no problem in the liquor department:). I may need good non alcoholic drink too in case some people won't drink. Do you have recommendation?

Andy - I thought what the heck is piano tuna? I had to look it up. You are so funny. Yeah you are missing a good party:). But you get to play at recitals very frequently. That's even better!

For non-alcoholic beverages I usually go with iced tea, or fruit juice, v-8 or tomatoe juice, sparkling water, and depending on the group, perhaps some coca-cola. I don't know if it is our age or living in Europe, but I find not too many of our friends drink soft-drinks.

I also like to have lemon slices for the drinks

I wish I could join you!!!!!!

Sushi? Do a lot of people really eat sushi? Really?

Fresh, homemade meatballs in marinara sauce are great! So is sausage wrapped in cabbage ("pigs in the blanket"), although I'm not sure what wine goes with that - a good, hearty lager would be better

For desert nothing still beats straight, premium ice cream, especially black raspberry and the currently in-season pumpkin! (although a chocolate cream pie or "shoe-fly pie" are close seconds).

Maybe a variety of flavored wine coolers too...they're so easy...

Remember: the greater the consumption of adult beverages the higher the quality of piano performance (or so it seems...).

The food sounds great...it's good to keep it easy to carry around on small plates so attendees can hear the performers at different angles as they wish. At our first Denver party we had many many bottles of wine...no one drank. NOT because we don't drink but because our playing gets worse with consumption. Trapper John obviously gets better but some of us can't remember anything with a bit of wine. We had our 4th party early December and no one brought wine but we had delicious munchies of all kinds. We have one member who drives the 8 hours from Santa Fe to Denver to join us..that's dedication.

Lots and lots of people eat sushi TJ - in Italy, even in my tiny town there is a sushi restaurant! It is something that you either love or hate though - no middle ground!

I thought "pigs in a blanket" were saussages wrapped in pastry?

For our party Laurie went to Sam's Club and bought some party trays of crackers and veggies and dip and I made a big pot of Hobo Beans. Laurie also made a pound cake, served with strawberries.

Sam

They normally are - called "sausage rolls" in the UK. In cabbage seems positively gastronomic!

A lot of people do not eat meat...make sure that some of your guests are not meat-eaters.

I refer to ground sausage wrapped in cabbage - this is also known as "lumkies" (sp.?) in eastern Europe I believe, maybe Poland? The Croatians and Serbians who lived & worked in the steel-making town of Steelton, PA (near Harrisburg) where I grew up had another name for them (which I can't quite remember), but everyone there referred to them affectionately as "pigs in a blanket", although most of these ethnic groups used ground "hot" saussage specially made in their own local butcher shops (a variation used a ground "beef" mixture, with or without hot sausage cooked in the same kettle or crock pot as a side dish).

"...I will have plenty of wine. My husband is into beer and scotch. So we have no problem in the liquor department:). I may need good non alcoholic drink too in case some people won't drink. Do you have recommendation?..."

My one worry about my piano party of a few years back was, that I could tell that one or two people had a drop more than was good for them... and I knew they intended to drive home. They insisted, in fact. We had wine and non-alcoholic bevs such as Calistoga water (a carbonated mineral water from the Napa Valley, good served with a squeeze of lime or lemon), coffee, bottled water, tea, etc.

It was not such a drastic situation that I felt compelled to seize the car keys, but I was somewhat worried, though luckily they all made it home. It would have done no good not to serve, for many guests brought a bottle of one of our nice, California wines as a gift... and they are grown-up, adult people.

The party was fun. Easy food is by far the best--- and I think your idea of having the house professionally cleaned (by someone else) is a winner. Considering that people may have a glass or two, I think it is wise to serve food. Sushi is good inasmuch as it comes pre-portioned and is easy for the guests to manage. Also, it is kind to people who are watching their figure--- and who isn't, these days--- rather than having nothing but desserts and fattening snacks. I wouldn't touch sushi with a barge pole, myself, having been sickened green by a sushi dinner many years back. Maybe your location in Arizona might suggest regional foods which are suitable and easy for a party--- a variety, as no one food will appeal to everyone.

I was very impressed by the guests' talent, and they seemed to genuinely enjoy the party. Several said that they would like to host such an event... but, no one has. Your willingness to take it on is a special gift, and I wish you a very happy time of it.

Jeff, thank you for your advice. I will read through it again tonight. The reason why we can do it at my house is because we don't have kids or home business. It's just my husband and l, oh yes, a couple if doggies too. I would like have local "piano" friends since my hobby (playing the piano / listening to "hard core" classical music) seems to gain no friends at all. I don't even bother talking about it. It will be fun to play and listen to each other.

Do we have to take our shoes off? Nobody comes in my house with shoes on. Why?, because they may have stepped in doggie poops earlier and then track it on onto my carpet. I roll around on the carpet and don't want to snuggle up with any nonsense.

Maybe let people know up front if the shoes are coming off as this can also influence early morning sock selection.

You can keep your shoes on in my house. It will be hard to pedal without it. Also it's not so super clean to begin with (the dogs). Not very classical Asian household. I ordered Sushi because I cannot eat it so often. My husband is a Hungarian decent and prefers hamburgers & potatoes to Japanese food.
We also do not have a Japanese style wash-let. Do not expect a paper free toilet.