Hostess With The Mostess

It's an interesting expression, don't you think? Does it refer to a hostess who has too much? In that case, I think it applies! Though perhaps not in the way the original meaning was intended.

I threw an open house today for my friends and family to check out my new digs, now that I have furniture for everyone to sit on! Throwing a party can be a remarkably stressful thing. Well, maybe not stressful like many of the other aspects of my life, but stressful in its own way. I wanted to be sure that I had enough of everything - food and drink. And good food and drink at that. Because it was an open house in the afternoon, I didn't want to have anything too heavy. But I didn't want to have too little to eat either. I didn't think people would plan to eat a meal per se, but you don't want to disappoint either. And it's hard - at least for me it's hard - to judge how much people are going to eat. Maybe if I were a caterer, I'd be better at this. As it is, I feel it's always better to have too much than too little.

So I had white and red wines - 5 bottles of white and 4 bottles of red. I had asked my brother and sister in law to bring 2 of the bottles of red, and they bought HUGE bottles. So we definitely had more than enough of that. I bought a bunch of beer too. It is after all football season, and there were several games on. I thought beer would be appropriate for that. I originally bought 3 six-packs, but this morning bought 2 more just in case. Then I had Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite for the teetotallers, plus water - especially for my pregnant niece who drinks a ton of water, but also for me and others who like to drink water with our wine so we don't drink so much wine. When I was walking through the produce section, I saw apple cider. Which just screams fall, so I had to get some of that. Okay, maybe that was a lot of options and a lot of ounces, but I wanted to have enough for everyone to have whatever they wanted.

As for food, I had wings for my one hot food. Cheese and crackers are a staple in my family, so I had some good cheeses and crackers to go with them. A couple of veggie platters - with dip - for those who wanted something healthy. Chips and salsa, too. Chocolate chip cookies for those with a sweet tooth. One of my good friends bought me cupcakes from Georgetown cupcakes, so we had really special cupcakes too. Then nuts and candy corn for picking up a handful of munchies here and there. I had bought some other party cheese dip, but when I took it out of the refrigerator today, it said it expired several days ago. I guess it only lasts a day or two. As I didn't want to poison my guests, I threw it out. I had more than enough food, as it turned out. My refrigerator can attest to that.

Now I have lots of food and drink left over. No worries; I'm sure it will get used eventually.

But really the food and drink were not the point of the party. The point of the party was to celebrate with my friends and family. They are what makes me the hostess with the mostess.