Party planning madness! My mother's birthday is tomorrow and I'm just going to wrap up her gift today, which is very last minute for me. I have a small start on gifts for next Christmas, but for her birthday, as I am the only one that will be hosting, planning, etc. I really go out of my way to make sure it’s special.

This year, I’m trying to do it on a tighter budget than ever before. My plan is tomorrow is a girl’s day out. Lunch, shopping, maybe a movie – you know, all the things girls love to do. Saturday, we’ll follow that with pedicures. And Sunday’s the big party.

By big party, we’ve invited 25-30 guests, as they are all family, there is no idea how many may show up. The low numbers will bring us about 8-12, the high numbers – well, the largest get-together DH & I have ever hosted was around 20-25. Since 8 and 25 are quite a distance apart, I’m concerned about the menu. I want to offer a few choices, without getting stuck with more leftovers than my family of 3 can eat in a week! I try to keep the menu simple as it is served buffet-style, and I want to spend zero time in the kitchen cooking. I try to keep everything oven or crockpot prepared or I lean toward simple salads and party trays.

For a colder weather party, I usually have some nice bread, a pasta dish, salad, and a veggie platter set up, but I still want this to feel special, so I have 2 loaves of filone artisan bread with roasted tomato, my classic spinach salad, cheese cubes aplenty, baby carrots, but I’m trying to come up with a classy pasta dish that feeds a crowd and is pretty good leftover. If it can include beef, all the better, those deals at Target keep calling my name!

If I have the time (and the inclination), I may even throw in a potato dish, since the sales are too good not to use them! If only the weather would have been in the 60’s instead of the 40’s I could have done a BBQ with potato salad, burgers, brats, baked bean casserole, chips and dip, and salad/veggie tray.