Molly Mills - Potluck Recipes to Rock Your World: Meals You Could Bring to Gatherings for the Delight of Many

There has to be someone who oversees the party at every stage. If that someone needs to be you, then, so be it.

As a host, your role is mainly to supervise and coordinate with the other attendees. Here are your specific tasks:

• Plan the party with a particular theme. This is the smartest way to avoid nasty food mix-ups. Once you have a theme, you need to let the others know about it so they will be aware of the specifics about food, their supposed attire, and most especially, their assignments.
• The attendees of the potluck party must be kept informed of the theme and their specific assignments to put everything together. Not everyone must bring a dish, especially a good number of people is attending the party. Some of the guests may be assigned to dress up the venue, bring utensils, organize games, prepare game/raffle prizes as needed, and others.
• Divide the food assignments among the attendees. You may even overindulge listing down the menu and assigning them to each and everyone in the guest list. Just make sure that the food assignments are within their budgets and cooking abilities.
• Some hosts may also lend their place to serve as the party venue and may even welcome the guests to invade their kitchens and dining areas. Do so if only you can. Otherwise, especially if there are more attendees than your place can hold, you may politely decline and just set the party at the village clubhouse.

If in case the host assignment ends up with someone else, dont worry. The thing with potluck parties is that the host and the guests enjoy equal responsibilities. It may be the host distributing assignments for the different aspects of the parties but your contribution as a guest will be very valuable, too. The absence or failure of one to keep up with the task that was apportioned would hurt the entire affair.

So if you must, play your part as a guest the best way you can. Heres how:

• Be prepared with the dish that was assigned to you or perform the task you were supposed to.
• Lend an extra hand if you have to, especially to the host. Extend a hand and help out. That would be very useful for the success of the party.
• Avoid cooking dishes that have an overpowering taste. Remember that there will be a number of different dishes from different people. Yours must be as crowd-friendly as possible actually to get attention.
• If your dish needs to be heated, it is common courtesy that you ask the host if there is space in the kitchen for you to move around, understanding that others might also be like you. To be safe, settle for dishes that will serve well at room temp or do everything in your power to keep it warm on the ride to the party venue.
• If you are not very good around the kitchen, dont be afraid to tell your host about your predicament. After all, there are lots of other necessities that you can well take care of, like bringing plates, utensils, cups, and table napkins among others.

Potluck parties are great because no one has to do it all. The attendees could have their fair share of tasks to ensure that the party runs smoothly. But it could get pretty challenging. So do your part and keep the communication line open. Close coordination between the participants is critical.