You’re planning a black-tie dinner party and you’ve got everything prepared—well, almost everything. You still haven’t decided what appetizers to serve to your guests. Since you want to save some money, you decided to make the appetizers yourself. The only problem is, you don’t know what easy appetizers to whip up.

Worry no more. Here are a couple of easy but yummy appetizer ideas that’ll spice up your black-tie party.

Bacon-Wrapped Mushroom Appetizer

You’ll need:

• 10 slices of thick smoked-bacon
• cracked black pepper
• 20 medium-sized button mushrooms.

1. Cut the bacon slices half-crosswise, and then cut the stems off the mushrooms. Sprinkle pepper on the bacon slices, then wrap the slices around the mushrooms. You don’t need to use toothpicks.
2. Put the bacon-wrapped mushrooms on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake them for 15 at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, then transfer the baking sheet under the broiler for three minutes, to make the bacon crispy. Serve.

Mini Breadsticks With Olive Tapenade Appetizer Dip

You’ll need:

• 1 jar Olive tapenade
• 11 ounce tube breadsticks
• Fresh parsley

1. Separate the breadstick’s perforated dough, then cut each strip into three pieces. Cut the again vertically in half, to make 72 pieces.
2. Stretch each breadstick strip to 2 inches, then twist and press the ends onto the baking sheet.
3. Bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 7 minutes, then turn them over and bake for 2 to 5 minutes again or until they become golden-brown.
4. Serve with the olive tapenade.

Delight your black-tie party guests with these yummy easy-to-make appetizer ideas. They’ll be impress, while you won’t need to slave away at the kitchen!

All those Kung Fu movies seem to be getting to you! For your next dinner party, you want to have a Chinese theme to surprise your guests. It’s a great and unique party idea everyone will enjoy.

There are many ways to make your Chinese theme party enjoyable. Here are a few ideas to help you out.

• Use invitations with Chinese-themed yin and yang prints.
• Red and gold decorations, such as streamers and confetti are great choices. You can also get Chinese paper lanterns.
• A Chinese party isn’t complete without delicious Chinese food. Serve food like won tons, dumplings, Peking duck, mapo tofu, egg rolls and yang chow rice. Don’t forget to provide chopsticks!
• Serve tea after the party. It’s a famous tradition among Chinese people.
• If you want to have fun party games, you can use the chopsticks too. Have relays that carrying or picking objects up using these items.
• Pack your party favors in Chinese food take-out boxes. Giveaways you can include are fortune cookies, paper fans and pocket-size Chinese checkers.

Impress your guests with a fun Chinese party! They’ll feel the fun Kung Fu spirit all around the event!

When you were a child you obsessed and watched cartoons like Popeye the Sailor Man, Mickey Mouse and Friends and Bugs Bunny. Today, your kids look up to different cartoon heroes, like Gokou, Naruto, and Kenshin. If you don’t know these guys, they’re Japanese—anime characters. With their fun stories and wonderful personalities, they have captivated children all over the world.

If your child loves anime, chances are he’ll ask for an anime theme party for his next birthday. Don’t worry, because it’s not difficult to plan this event. Here are some suggestions you can use:

• Instead of having the usual boring invitations, get anime-themed invites. You can buy them at party supplies stores. If you want to be creative, you can also use anime trading cards. Just tape the details on the back, and you’re all set. Once the guests see these, they’ll become excited!
• Ask the guests to come in their favorite anime costume. You can have a cosplay and give an award to the best-dressed guest.
• Decorations shouldn’t be very difficult. You can simply hang a large anime poster on the wall. If your kid has anime action figures, put them around the place. For a more Japanese look, hang paper lanterns and get low tables for everyone. They’ll feel like the characters they watch in the show.
• Yummy Japanese food like onigiri (rice balls), chicken teriyaki, tempura and yakisoba, are appropriate. Sushi is also a popular choice, but because kids don’t like raw fish, you can simply make sushi-like treats. For example, use tortilla wraps and cold cuts and make sushi sandwiches.
• Let the children use chopsticks. This can be a bit messy, but they’ll have tons of fun!
• Fun games can include Beyblade competitions, Anime fan-art drawing contests, and trading Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards. When everyone becomes tired, let them watch an anime movie or have an anime series marathon.
• Aside from the usual candies, put anime keychains, trading cards, and action figures in the goodie bags. Kids will love these useful and memorable take-home presents.

Fill your child’s special day with lots of excitement and anime fun! This party will surely be unforgettable for him.

Your friend has finally decided to retire, and is set to live a quiet and peaceful life without all the stress and workload he used to handle. For anyone who’s worked for over 40 years, it’s an unforgettable part of life. To celebrate this wonderful and memorable event, you, along with his family and colleagues, decided to throw a fun retirement party for him.

There are many ways on how you can make a retirement party very enjoyable, and the first step is by picking a theme. A popular and wonderful example you can use is the Vacation In Paradise theme. Here are several ideas you can use.

• Invitations – For the invitation design, draw a caricature of the individual while he’s relaxing in paradise, such as lying on a hammock while sipping from a coconut.
• Decorations – String party lights around the place, use colorful table cloths and hang leis and grass skirts around the walls. You can also put the drinks in coconut straw for a real tropical island feel. Don’t forget the “Happy Retirement” banner!
• Party Food And Drinks – Since there’s only good food in paradise, you should prepare lots of yummy eats. Fresh greens, Hawaiian chicken and sesame noodles are good choices. You can also serve fresh fruit as appetizers. Then, serve finger desserts. For drinks, serve yummy fruit shakes,fruit juices, pina colada and martinis. You can also ask someone to bring a bottle of champagne.
• Party Activities – Play games like “What Will He/She Do Now He/She’s Retired?”, where guests will write down fun and crazy ideas about what activities the retired person can do. Limbo rock is also a great game everyone will enjoy. Perhaps the retiree has a favorite sport—you can all play that. For a memorable ending, create a slide show presentation or video about the individual.

Let your friend experience how relaxing retired life is with a Vacation in Paradise theme. It’ll make him look forward to many peaceful, stress-free days ahead!

Anyone will agree that before a woman says “I do”, there’s one important event that she must experience: her own girls-only bridal shower! This is the last time that she gets to have fun as a single gal, and for any bride-to-be, celebrating it with her girl friends in a fun and exciting way is a must!

There are lots of ways and things you can do to make a bridal shower more enjoyable and more creative, but the best option you can turn to is get a particular party theme! By deciding on one, you won’t only get to savor the celebration better, but all the party aspects will be organized.

Here are a few suggestions to help you out.

Movie Bridal Shower – For a bride who’s a big fan of the movies, try this party idea. Tell the guests to come dressed as their favorite movie character. Then, use movie posters to decorate the whole venue. You can also play games like movie charades or guess the movie theme song.

Sexy Lingerie Bash – Women love to flaunt their figures and feel seductive and sexy—even if the men aren’t around! You can all don your sexiest underwear and decorate the room in deep colors. For bridal shower gifts, the guests can give sexy lingerie to the bride.

Kitchen Bridal Shower – Yes, housework can be exhausting, especially cooking, but of course, a soon-to-be-married woman must prepare herself for this! So why not celebrate her party with a kitchen theme? Everyone will be assigned to particular cuisines or dishes, and you can all have fun teaching the bride-to-be different cooking techniques. For gifts, you can all bring different kinds of kitchenware.

Let the bride-to-be have the time of her life during her own bridal shower! With a fun theme, you can certainly make her last single girl party more memorable!

You’ve done it—You’ve finally bought a new home. Of course, you’re excited! It’s a new community, new neighbors, and a far nicer kitchen than the one you had before. All you need to do now is to plan a fun housewarming party! This’ll let you showoff your new place to your friends, new neighbors and relatives.

You can throw the typical housewarming party, but won’t it be boring if you just settle on the usual celebration? If you want to spice up your party, you should prepare a fun housewarming party theme!

Here are some great housewarming party theme ideas. See which one will fit your celebration (and your new home) best!

• Open House Housewarming Party - From the name itself, an open house party will let you entertain guests all day long. There’s no set time, and they can come and go visit your celebration on the time most convenient for them. You of course, will be offering tours around the house for them.
• Block Party – Instead of just inviting your relatives and friends, you can extend the invites to all your new neighbors. This is a chance for you to meet and socialize with them so when you’re all settled, you’ll have new friends immediately.

You can also settle for “chore housewarming themes”. Your party will be focused on chores you need to do to as you move into the new home. Just make sure your guests are really close to you and they won’t mind helping you out. Examples of chore themes include:

• Moving Convoy Party – Instead of hiring large moving vans to carry all your furniture and stuff, ask your guests to bring their vehicles. You can load all your boxes and furniture on these cars, and have a convoy to your new home, where the party awaits!
• Unpacking Party – Have fun unpacking all your packed boxes along with your friends. Make sure the boxes are all labeled, including the room where they’ll be placed in.
• Redecorating Party – Let your friends and family have fun while helping you make your new home more beautiful. You can assign them to different chores, including painting, landscape pruning and lawn care.

Make your new home feel more special with a fun housewarming party! It’ll be an event you won’t forget!

It’s nice to be earth-friendly, especially with the issues of food crisis, water crisis and global warming today. It’s only natural for people like you to become concerned with the environment, which is why the next time you have a celebration, why not make it extra-special? Instead of having the usual party, make it an eco-friendly party!

There are lots of ways on how you can make a party very eco-friendly. Here are some useful suggestions.

• Recycling is very important for an earth-friendly lifestyle. Remember this as you prepare your party supplies. For example, instead of buying new tableware, just improvise. Use an old cutting board for a cheese tray, or an old trifle bowl for a punch bowl. Be creative.
• Styrofoam and plastic containers are a no-no at any eco-friendly party. If you have ample plates and glasses in your cupboard, use them instead. Or you can buy disposable ones, but go for bamboo or corn “plastic”. They’re biodegradable, but just as sturdy as paper and plastic.
• Do away with expensive party decors! Be greenery instead. Pots of fresh flowers or herbs will brighten up the place. Another idea is, if you have a garden, hold the party there instead. You’ll have a naturally lovely and fresh surrounding. You’ll also save money on decors.
• If the party’s outdoors, and held at evening, use candles instead of fluorescent lights. Not only will you conserve energy, but you’ll also give an alluring ambiance to the place.
• Party food and drinks can be the usual, but make sure you buy local ones. Finger foods, such as fruits and veggies, are great because they lessen the need for dishes and plates.

It’s nice to know that while you’re having fun, you’re also saving the earth in your own little way. Remember these tips when you hold your eco-friendly party. Mother nature and your guests will definitely admire and thank you!

Even if they often deny it, teenagers actually love to play party games. Not only does these games let them feel the celebration, but they also brings the teens closer to their peers. Well, if your the host, you should make sure that you have enjoyable party games that will keep everyone preoccupied throughout the celebration.

The best birthday party games for teens are those filled with lots of laughter and comedy, but aren’t very tiring. After all, teens don’t like looking all sweaty and messy in front of their friends. Here are some great and enjoyable ideas you can have during your party.

• Truth, Truth, Lie - This is a great icebreaker during a teen party, and you can have as much players as you want. First ask everyone to sit in a circle. Then, give them small pieces of paper, and some pencils. Tell them to write down three pieces of information about themselves. Two of them should be true, while one is a lie. Then, each player reads out his or her three information, and everyone guesses which one’s the lie. Those who guess correctly get a point. The winner is the person with the most number of point.

• Song Charades – If you love playing charades, then this game will suit you just fine! First, prepare scraps of paper with titles of popular songs written on them. Put these all in a hat. Then, form several groups with at least six members each. When a team takes a turn, one member would pick out a song from the hat, and he or she would act it out for the other teams. The team that first guesses the song correctly and the team who acted out the song both get points. Every team takes a turn, and at the end of the game, the team with the most points gets a prize.

• Greatest Story Ever Told - This is a quiet, but funny game you can play, even if everyone is just sitting down or resting (like if you all just ate). You need several pieces of lined paper, and a few pens. The game begins with the host writing down a sentence. Then, he or she passes it to the next person, who adds another sentence to the story. The game continues, until everyone has added something to the “story”. The host then reads the story out loud. It’ll surely be hilarious!

• The Soda Can Tower - Did you all drink up lots of sodas during the party? Well, here’s a game you can play that’ll let you make use of all those empty cans! First, ask everyone to pair off. When a pair’s turn comes, the two of them are given two minutes to work together to create a tower out of the empty soda cans. The pair that is able to create the tallest tower during the given two minutes for them wins the game.

With these fun, but simple game ideas, any teen party will be enjoyable. Try them out during your own celebration!