Quick and Easy Tips for Your Casual Party

Planning a casual party but running out of ideas and time? Party planning doesn't have to be time-consuming or stressful. Here are some inexpensive, quick and easy tips for helping you plan your casual New Years Eve party, or any other party throughout the year.

Quick and easy party snacks (beyond potato chips and dip)

Snack Idea One-- Apricot hors d'oeuvres.

You will need:

Several bags of dried apricots (how many depends on how many people you expect)

Cream cheese ( Philadelphia brand or other)

Almonds. You will need one almond per apricot.

Separate the apricots and place them, concave side up, on a flat surface such as a cookie sheet. Place a small dollop of cream cheese on each one. Place one almond on each. The cream cheese keeps the almond in place.

That's it. That is all there is to that healthy (but tasty) snack. Just refrigerate them until your guests arrive and serve them on a nice platter.

Snack Idea two--Easy Cheese Ball

Easy Cheese Ball

This is something my sister has made for years. I learned it from her. Many of the ingredients can be substituted to suit your taste.

This is best made an hour or so before the party ( it can be made the night before) so that it has a chance to firm up.

You'll need a couple of packages of cream cheese ( or more if you are having a lot of people), green onions, a packet of onion soup mix or french onion dip mix (dry), or other dry dip mix, and wafer thin deli meat (this can be left out of the recipe if you have vegetarians coming over).

Chop the green onion, and the meat, into very small pieces. Wearing protective gloves (or, after scrubbing and sanitizing your hands), thoroughly mix the cream cheese with the other ingredients. Blend until the seasoning, the green onions, and anything else used is evenly mixed in with the cheese. Form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator until the guests arrive. Serve on a nice platter with good crackers.

Easy punch