At my house I tend to throw smaller parties. More than 15 people and I have a nightmare brewing. There will be a chair / seating issue. The floor space will be crowded, and someone will always be waiting to use my one bathroom. So when I do throw a party I invite about 15 people, hoping for 10. I am selective in my guest list, which is always a muck anyways. I have some general theme. The days of an all purpose "house party" went out when my neighbor asked me to stop the guest from leaving beer cans on his porch. That's a shame really, since in those days 4 12-packs and 2 party packs from Taco Bell made it an awesome shin-dig.

So my next fete is a birthday party with nearly no mention of birthday. I read somewhere that after age 12 you can't expect anyone to care that it is your birthday. Since this will be the birthday for someone turning 28, it means that I have to entertain the guest and provide them with goodies, a flip of a kiddie party.

Cocktails and Follies anyone?
That's my theme for this upcoming. The b-day guy likes to play games, and there are never enough people to play all the games he can play, so a crowd playing games is a great present. The other "game" is trying new cocktails. Each guest is bringing a recipe to make an often untasted concoction.

Of course I need some more party planning ideas, like food. Do I serve a birthday cake? Interestingly enough, I was just thinking about heading to Costco when I read this article on Chow. So then I found loads of other resources as well.

I was really fond of this "Because of the fluid nature of this party (no pun intended!) you can mix guests who might not feel comfortable sitting across from one another at a three-hour dinner party." since I didn't think about it like that at all.

A possible menu

• Wild Mushroom Toasts
• Maple-Pepper Salmon bites
• Spiced nuts or Honeyed Cashews
• Lamb meatballs
• Pizza bites
• Beef Satay
• Muhammara Dip
  
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