Different Ways To Serve Food at a Dinner Party in Your Home Gazebo

Ever needed to host a small intimate gathering? Nothing fancy, just a tiny party with around 30-50 guests. Whether it’s celebrating a birthday, an anniversary someone’s graduation, a new job, etc, an intimate party hits the spot. There’s no need for big ceremonial occasions where you have out big venues and expensive caterers. Leave that to weddings, anniversaries, and funerals. But when you simply want to have a good time with a few friends and family, a small party in your home gazebo will do. But what about the food? Will you go for a caterer? No need for that!

Here are different ways, some standard while others out-of-the-box, on how you can properly serve food in your intimate gathering in your home gazebo. These will guarantee a successful event no matter what food you serve!  

Buffet

You can never go wrong with a buffet. Here, you give your guests a variety of choices with what they want to eat, making every single guest happy and full. Have a meat-loving family but your friends are mostly vegetarian? Not to worry, separate parts of a buffet can cater to both. Have a cousin or two that are lactose intolerant? You can just keep them away from the dessert section of the buffet. Give your guests the freedom to choose and eat what they want. The more they gobble up their own preferred foods, the happier your party will surely be. 

Fondue

What if your party is incredibly intimate? Say, only ten or less invited guests? For such occasions, try serving up a fondue instead. Now if you’re really close with your guests, a big fondue in the middle would do. But if a number of them are not too keen on sharing one, you can get a multiple of smaller ones with different flavours. Think lava of cheese dip with chunks of ham or beef on a stick. And for dessert:  marshmallows and fruits to drown in hot chocolate sauce. It’s also perfect for your hot tub gazebo cause it won’t take up too much space. 

Campfire

Eating around a campfire isn’t entirely new, especially if you’re a frequent camper. But if you’re hosting a small gathering in your home gazebo, especially in the dead of winter, it will do. And the best part is you don’t have to spend as much nor cook as much neither. All you have to do is get some pieces of meat, a few veggies for your vegetarian/vegan guests, and marshmallows for dessert and you’re good to go. You can even put out some sauces and seasoning to make their culinary experiences much more savoury and delectable. 

Boodle Fight

No, this isn’t a food fight if that’s what you’re thinking. A “boodle fight” is a unique way of serving food in the Philippines wherein they cover the table with banana leaves and put all the food in the center. And when dinner begins, it’s every man for himself. Normally, seafood is mostly served with this kind of service. Imagine all the fish, shrimp, squid, and more all delectably placed in the center of the table just waiting to be grabbed. A few portions of meat here and there will do too, especially if they’re grilled and barbecued to perfection. Just add a mountain of rice as the side dish and let the boodle fight begin! 

Tea Party Style

Now if you and your crowd are the sophisticated types, a tea-party style of serving food is right up your alley. Think sliver trays carrying finger sandwiches, fine china holding sweet cakes and pastries, and of course, a hot pot of tea. You can beautify it as much as you can too. Add a candle here, a bouquet of flowers there, and you’re ready for a royalty-calibre culinary experience. And since most of this style only have small foods to serve, you’ll have more than enough space to host as many people s you want inside your home gazebo. 

Cocktails

This might be the most popular on this list. Everyone loves a cocktail, even more so when it has food on them. If your little get-together is scheduled on a weekday, this is the perfect way to serve your food. After a long day at work, some people just want to hang out and maybe drink little to perk themselves up before the day if through. A cocktail party gives them that sort of relief. Even better is that a cocktail party is usually the most suitable type of gathering for your home gazebo. and if you serve your drinks with some shrimp, olives, or even slices of fruit, your guests will love you even more! 

Table Games

Why not have fun with your food too? Though your parents probably told you to never play with your food, when you’re having a small party in your home gazebo, who cares? It even makes dinner more exciting. Think ham and cheese tic-tac-toe, some beef air hockey, and oreo checkers for dessert. This also allows you to get creative with your food, bringing more life to your party than your standard get-together. And if you don’t want to play with your food, you can just make the party into game night, and whoever wins on each table gets to be served dinner first! 

DIY 

Ever been to a Korean BBQ restaurant where you have to cook the food yourself? Or in a Japanese place where the chef cuts and makes the sushi in front of you? Why not do it in your own home gazebo? It’ll be fun, you get to be creative, and it’ll teach you how to cook food properly. Best of all, you and your guests get to control how your food will turn out. Think of it as a backyard barbeque where everyone gets to grill their own meat or vegetables. Fortunately, you can buy mini grills and the like in numerous appliances stores, so such a party can still fit inside your home gazebo! 

Brian Horn

Best selling author, Brian Horn is long time entrepreneur and business writer for The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur Magazine. He is also an in demand speaker that has traveled the world entertaining and educating audiences.