Hey Party-Makers,
You know what I dream of sometimes? I dream of party budgets the size of Lauren Conrad’s casual afternoon lunches. I dream of flowers in every corner of my house. I dream of being a calligrapher/hiring a calligrapher for everything. I dream of beautifully lit, graceful pictures of my events. But you know what? Instead my party’s end up being all home-made, somedays a little crazy, and a lot less glamorous than that lunch above.
But you know what I’ve found about my unglamorous parties? That they are full of belly-laughs. That they create environments where people feel comfortable reaching in and out of my fridge, opening my cabinets in search of what they need, and generally don’t feel the need to ask me permission to be right at home. And that cozy atmosphere, I wouldn’t trade for ANYTHING. Not EVEN for my own private peony garden.
In our life in Portland, we generally try to host people over at least once a month. As our friend group has grown with our time here, we’ve had to learn to come up with more creative ways to host and stay within our budget. This is teaching me to restructure the way I view hosting: from a complete hosting view, where I’m in charge of everything—to a view of open-arm invitation, where I’m inviting people to all of my life, and that includes that part of my life that can’t do everything.
This party I say you’ve been missing, is one of my creative solutions to budget celebrations: A Marinade Party. We first started having Marinade parties this summer when we got our grill. After we had splurged and eaten grilled food by ourselves for a couple of weeks, we really wanted to share that with our friends. But here’s the thing, meat is expensive y’all. And if you’re planning on having at least 6 other people, it turns into a whole affair that quickly becomes too expensive to do often.
The main idea of Marinade Parties is to set up a bar with ziplock bags, sharpies, and bowls full of marinades for your guests to choose how to season their meat/protein. We talk and play games while the meat is taking on flavor, and then after about an hour, fire up the grill. Our Marinade Parties have been successful for a couple of reasons:
- They invite my guests to take a part in the party-planning. It also makes sure they get to decide what they want to eat—be that steak or tempeh.
- They do the job at keeping us on-budget! Because we are only in charge of making sides, and bringing our own meat, it keeps costs at a minimum.
- It creates a less extensive to-do list for you as a host, and tell me what host has ever complained about quick prep time???
If you’re at a loss for choosing marinades, we’ve made a graphic for you with our favorite go-to sauces to season our proteins. You can also get creative and make a theme for your sides. For our last party, we had a taco side bar, complete with a tortilla-making station. At another, we simply went with grilled veggies and potatoes. As an added plus, this gives you the opportunity to make allergy-friendly foods and allow the vegetarians in your life to bring their alternate proteins of choice.
And although you might think grilling season is over now that Fall has started, I would beg to differ. The last time we had a Marinade Party, it POURED all day long. Our dining room leads into the backyard, though, so we simply pulled the grill towards the sliding doors and grilled from the inside. Was it fabulous? Kind of. Did it do the job and get everyone fed/keep them dry? Absolutely. And if there is something I’ve learned about throwing parties, it’s that people are most happy when when they get to eat their hearts out. Fancy or not.
We’ll be pushing the boundaries of “weather-permitting” on this party for a while yet this year. Until it’s truly only acceptable to eat meals out of a crockpot, we recommend you do too. We’d love to hear how it goes, and what creative sauces, marinades, and side bars you decide to go with. So keep us posted on your Party Making!
Love, love, love,
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
