Planning a Party

Summary

All components of planning for parties, including emphasis on principles of menu planning, resource management, table setting, food preparation and etiquette.

Materials

Any good food and nutrition textbook.

Background for Teachers

Basic management principles must be integrated with a knowledge of meal preparation and social etiquette in order to engineer a successful party.

If menus, preparation time, and sequence are correctly planned, meals are more appetizing. Successful parties must also be correctly planned. All elements of resource management, including management of people, are integrated to allow success in entertaining.

Review the four principles for appetizing meals:

1. color
2. texture
3. shape
4. taste

Remind students that menus planned and presented, keeping the above principles in mind, will be appetizing.

GOOD AND BAD EXAMPLES OF MENU PLANNING
Correctly mixing and matching color, shape, texture and taste result in appetizing menus. Restaurants often hire people whose job is to check their plates to see if the four basic principles are correctly utilized.

Using actual foods (if possible) discuss good and bad examples of menu planning. Brainstorm examples. Following are a few examples.

COLOR
Bad - eggs, orange slice and toast w/butter
Bad - spaghetti, beets and red punch, raspberry jello
Good - potato, green beans or peas and carrots, chicken

TEXTURE
Bad___scalloped potatoes, chicken a-la-king, creamed peas
Good___potatoes and gravy, steak, green salad

SHAPE
Bad___hamburger patty, potatoes and gravy, sliced round carrots
Good___fish sticks, scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables

TASTE
Bad___orange juice, lasagna, sherbet for dessert
Good___grape juice, lasagna, vanilla ice cream

There are also BASIC RULES TO PRESENT A MENU IN WRITING for a formal occasion.

1. MENU:
   1. salad and/or soup
   2. bread
   3. main dish
   4. vegetables
   5. dessert
   6. beverage
2. Center each line.
3. Center the entire menu.
4. Capitalize all words except prepositions (and, on, etc.)
5. Be descriptive and concise.
6. The beverage is always last.
7. Bread and toppings are next to last.
8. The rest of the food is listed in the order that it is eaten.

NOTE: Beverage is always listed last. Others, except bread, appear in the order consumed.

INVITATIONS are the first impression of a party. Some guidelines can help in making inviting invitations.

Guidelines in planning an invitation are:

1. State the type of party
2. Follow a theme
3. Give the date
4. Give the time
5. Give the place or address
6. Additional information as needed: (e.g. Swim party___bring swimming suit)

Instructional Procedures

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TEACHING STRATEGIES

OPTION #1
Review the resource example of a luncheon menu and allow the students to use the rules to formulate their own menus.

OPTION #2
Students will practice making party invitations and in correctly writing a menu for a formal occasion.

OPTION #3
Students will complete a work plan for a party using the following worksheets:

PARTY PLANNING
SAMPLE PARTY WORK SCHEDULE
PARTY PLANNING PROJECT SCORECARD