Traditional Progressive Dinner
A progressive dinner is when several small groups go to different host families’ houses and eat one portion of a meal at each house. One group may start with dessert, another with appetizer, but by the end of the night all groups have had a four-course meal. It was always is successful because of outstanding food, great company and ever-changing scenery. It can, however, be difficult to pull one off.
In order for this to work you need to have:
(1) People willing to host a bunch of groups and not be a part of the traveling group.
(2) An equal amount of groups to host-house ratio.
(3) A place for groups to meet, load into cars and disperse.
Don’t get me wrong, if you can pull this off, it is worth it. Not only is it free if your host families are willing to foot the bill, but it’s tons of fun and great for relationship building. Here are some quick tips for setting up a progressive dinner:
- Get Hosts – 3 or 4 is usually enough.
- Guest list – keep in mind the size of everyone’s homes. Whether splitting into groups and rotating or traveling as one large group, every home needs to be able to fit your group size.
- Proximity – It’s great if all homes can be near each other – walking distance if possible. This is not necessary, but it’s sure nice!
- The Food – consider foods that can be prepared in advance so that the hosts can also relax and enjoy the party.
- Young Ones – You can include them in the dinner party if you want. Another (better!) idea is to have the kids at the last house with a babysitter or two; this only works if traveling as one group.
Fastfood Progressive Dinner
If you have young people in your group that you just can’t ever seem to feed enough to, this event “caters” to your needs.
This twist on the progressive dinner. Have 3-4 places to hit for snacks such as KFC for a drink, Subway for a main course, and McDonalds for an ice cream cone.
It creates buzz at the stores and students love it. Tell them they have a $5-7 limit for all stops and parents will love it too!
Take pictures to share on your facebook group.