HF Entertains

Cocktail Party 101

By Sebastien and Sheila Centner

@sebcentner @sheilacentner
@sebandsheila @eatertainment

Most people think entertaining requires lots of work, time, and effort, but it doesn’t have to be
complicated. The trick is to start small, get comfortable and then slowly add elements as you become more at ease with hosting. For the beginner host, we always recommend starting with a Cocktail Party!

A cocktail party is a fun and simple way of entertaining without the pressure of preparing a full dinner, which makes it especially well-suited to those who may be new to entertaining or aren’t yet ready to pull out all the stops. For us, cocktail parties are some of the most memorable evenings, always filled with lots of laughter and great conversation.

A simple cocktail party is flexible with its menu based on the guest count, no formal seating required, and party crashing encouraged; a few extra guests won’t be a hassle. Our door only opens inwards!

Go Bite-Sized

In this chapter, we offer a variety of canapés recipes that are easy for guests to grab and enjoy when they have a drink in hand!

Bacon Wrapped Pretzels

Instead of laying your bacon-wrapped sticks on a plate, we like to serve them in silver cups with a stem of fresh rosemary as garnish.

The Chambord Spritz

All you need for this simple cocktail is Chambord liqueur, white wine, soda and some blackberries. These can be prepared as batch drinks as well!

DIY Bruschetta

We took the idea of classic bruschetta, which everyone loves, and turned it into a self-serve DIY canapé. Allowing guests to choose their preferred topping.

Find these recipes and more in Eatertainment – a guide to effortless entertaining by Seb & Sheila Centner! www.sebandsheila.com/eatertainment-book

Photos: Bruce Gibson
Food styling by
@eatertainmentwww.eatertainment.com

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