I recently helped put together my husband’s grandmother’s 90^th birthday celebration. The party was themed around “Grandma’s Favorite Things”. We made sure to include lots of yellow (her favorite color), fabric for quilting, chocolate for snacking, and a little Scrabble for fun. The party was held at lunch time so we had to figure out a meal to feed 80+ people. My husband’s family often resorts to potluck meals because they are a large family and that seems to be the easiest way to feed everyone. For this particular potluck, we decided to do a soup and salad potluck. We asked everyone to bring a soup or salad and then assigned a few people to bring rolls. It turned out great!

But haven’t we all been to one of those awkward potluck meals where only a few people bring something great and everyone else brings veggie trays and bags of chips? There isn’t enough of the good food to go around! Or maybe you’ve been to a potluck where everyone was more enthusiastic about bringing dessert than the main dish so you leave with a sugar high and a stomach ache. Although throwing together a potluck meal can be easy, there are still some important things to consider…

1. Consider having a theme for your potluck. Our grandma’s birthday potluck was soup and salad. You could have a Mexican potluck, a Hawaiian haystacks potluck, a pasta potluck, a casserole potluck, etc. A theme helps people know what to bring and they usually bring nicer things.

2. Consider providing the main dish and having everyone else brings the sides. Having the main dish planned eliminates a lot of the stress. You know there will be enough of the “good stuff” to go around and then people can pick and choose what they want to go with it.

3. Don’t be afraid to make assignments. It wouldn’t be much of a potluck if you told everyone exactly what to bring, but you can make assignments for the types of food they bring. For example, you can assign some of your guests to bring appetizers, others to bring salads, and others to bring desserts. This will ensure variety at your dinner table. If you know of someone that doesn’t like to cook, have he or she bring the drinks!

4. Be considerate of those with food allergies or other dietary restrictions. If you are having a pasta potluck, you may need to include gluten-free noodles. If someone has a severe nut allergy, tell your guests ahead of time so no one includes nuts in their dish. A little bit of thoughtfulness can mean a lot to someone with dietary limitations.

5. Provide labels for the food. This may not be necessary for every potluck, but for some potlucks it is a great idea! It was very helpful for our soup and salad potluck. We provided little cards where everyone could write the name of the soup they brought. The cards were then placed in front of the different crockpots of soup. Everyone knew what they were getting and it made the serving table look nice.

6. Buy the nice paper plates, plastic cups, and utensils. Have you ever been to a potluck where they only provided the flimsy, too-small, cheap paper plates? It makes it hard to fill up your plate, and it gets kind of awkward when your jello salads starts to leak onto the table. Splurge a little and buy the sturdy, large plates. And the same goes for the cups and utensils. Everyone will be happier if their dinnerware is functional.

7. Make sure there are enough serving utensils. You don’t want to cross-contaminate the food by using the same serving utensil in multiple dishes. Make sure there are plenty of extra serving spoons, spatulas, tongs, etc. in case any of your guests forget to bring them.

Are any of you experts at hosting potluck dinners? What other suggestions do you have? My final thought to leave you with is that not all potluck gatherings have to be dinner. Have you ever thought of having a breakfast potluck? Or what about a dessert potluck? There are so many fun ideas out there… Happy hosting!