Sunday, September 9, 2012

Progressive Dinner - A Neighborhood Extravaganza!

My neighbors and I put together a Progressive Dinner.  What's a Progressive Dinner?  It's a "strolling" dinner, so to speak.  You start out at one person's house for Appetizers, move to the next person's house for salads, move to the next person's house for the main course, then finish at the final person's house for dessert!  Sound like fun?!  IT WAS!!!!!!

The fun all started at Tracy and Dan's for Appetizers!  They served
Tomato Basil Bruschetta...

Fruit Skewers...

and BBQ Meatballs - IN THE SLOW COOKER!!!  (Bonus points for Tracy!!!)

We ate, the kids played, the men talked and the women gossiped!  We had a blast!
This is our hostess Tracy!

Tracy adding the finishing touches on the Bruschetta

Me, taste-testing the Bruschetta!  I was first in line!  LOL

The kids enjoying the appetizers!
The men....
My husband and son <3 br="br">
After all the delicious Appetizers (and wine,) we headed next door to Leo and Jodi's for Salad!
It was a lot of fun because Jodi and Leo put together a salad bar where everyone could choose their own toppings and dressings!
The Awesome Salad Bar!

That's my husband stuffing his face! I'm sure he'll appreciate this picture!  LOL
The girls, minus me ;)
On to the main course.....MY HOUSE!!!!  YAY!!!!
The perks of neighborhood Progresive Dinners is the kids get to take their own choice of transportation!


Arriving at our house!
We served Walking Tacos at our house for the Main Course!  With the many kids and our fun-loving neighbors, it seemed like the perfect thing to serve!  Of course, I made the Beef Taco Meat in my slow cooker and also offered Salsa Ranch Chicken with Black Beans as a second choice (no vegetarians at this dinner gathering!)  
Walking Tacos!
The Set-Up
I served both Beef Taco Meat and Salsa Ranch Chicken with Black Beans

Lots of fun toppings!
Kept things mostly mild since we had so many kiddos! (Plus we're all getting old and can't do too spicy any more!)

Mini Bags of Doritos for each guest!



And the party begins!
Each guest takes a bag or doritos, opens it and crushes the chips up.
They then fill the bag with meat, and toppings of their choice.
Stir it up and eat it!


Tracy took over the camera for a few minutes so I could help attend to our guests! (Thanks Tracy!) 
 
My husband and Dan


I actually got to eat at my own "party!!!"



Hee hee!
Even my little Gavin enjoyed a "deconstructed" taco!

They are gonna kill me for this one!!!!  LOL!!!!  These are my neighbors, Helen and Jodi :)

To make Walking Tacos a success, it doesn't take much!  You can buy variety packs of Doritos so your guests have more "options" to choose from.  You can tailor your toppings to your guests. You can offer a vegetarian option, such as refried beans.  (These would do great in the crock as well!)  Have fun with it!

On to DESSERT!!!!  We went to Helen and Tim's house for this!  Poor Tim had to work (he's a police officer) so Helen entertained all of us on her own!  She has 3 awesome girls who helped though!  
Helen served us some delicious choices!!!!!  We had 

Peanut Butter No-Bake Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Strawberry Tartlets. They were all delicious, I promise you!


Brooke helping finish the tartlets!

Morgan, getting ready to officially "serve" the desserts!

I think Ella is sneaking her 4th or 5th helping here!  LOL
The kids had milk along with their desserts and the adults all enjoyed coffee with Bailey's!  YUM!!
Oops!  Forgot there was cheesecake too!!!!!  Here is Helen serving it as Ella looks on!

Everyone was so relaxed!


What's up boys?!

Overall, I HIGHLY suggest having a Progressive Dinner with your neighbors!  It was so nice spreading out all of the responsibilities.   Because we were all only responsible for one course, no one felt "under the gun."  We were all so relaxed.  Plus, it's a GREAT excuse to clean your house!  LOL!  Another perk, we all learned a lot about each other and ALL the kids got to play together for the first time!  We'll be doing this again very soon!!!!!

If you organize a Progressive Dinner, please let me know!  I'd love to hear about it!  Leave me a comment below!










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1 comment:

  1. Thanks for some great ideas! :-) Thinking about coordinating one for our cul-de-sac group.

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