james and i are all about socializing. we love to spend time with our friends. some nights that means i have a few girlfriends over once marcus is in bed for an evening session of ioffer and gossip. james has championship fifa nights where he and his guys duke it out on xbox and the winning team takes home a set of 80's style plastic WWF belts.
we lucked out bigtime and have a wicked group of friends who adore our son and don't huff and puff when we prefer to shape our social calendar around naptime, bedtime, tantrums ... you get me. we've tried it all - different days of the week, different time slots, different styles of entertaining ... and i think after the raging (& not modest obviously) success of our recent mexican fiesta night, we may have come up with a winning gameplan for entertaining with a toddler:
1. start early. not early bird style, but ask peeps to come over b/w 4-5 on a sunday so dinner is served by 6, dessert around 7, and the curtain falls around 8. everyone has to work on monday morning so this day/time was beyond perfect for our fiesta.
2. buy a set of those buffet style warming dishes. these were the key to keeping food in good form when your straggler guests show up an hour tardy to the party. no one wants to see the host popping ground beef in the microwave. not classy.
3. do easy apps - i made this homemade chunky guacamole [family members are currently either giggling or gasping in disbelief trying to imagine me cooking] and salsa with a few styles of tortillas. the guac plate was licked clean by taco-time. [pat on my sombraro wearing back]
4. keep it classy but casual. we did a buffet style taco dinner, but i used our [new!] fancy serving dishes and we still used nice china. seating was wide open - we had tacos on the couch, at the dining table [open concept house to give you a visual] - and conversations flowing in every direction.
5. don't be uptight. don't get stuck in host-mode - enjoy your company, but keep a watchful eye for near empty glasses of wine so you're still the doting host.
6. be smart. keep all glasses out of toddler reach. don't feel bad if you have to ask a friend to kindly keep their beer off the floor as you don't want a tipsy toddler.
7. involve your wee one. marcus loved 'helping' me stir the taco beef while we chatted with friends in the kitchen and wanted to help us clean up [yes you read that right]. avoid a tantrum for the sake for your fiesta friends. the more you make a toddler feel as though they are contributing, the more confident they feel. i always thank marcus for helping us - whether he takes a napkin to the garbage, brings me an empty glass to put away, or helps load the dishwasher. his little face lights up when we appreciate his manners and help. this will make the world of difference in how they socialize with your company too. 7. let your little one play host. marcus was the life of the fiesta; he spent time with all of our friends, reading with some, practising soccer with others, and capped off the evening with a 15 minute dance set while we all cheered his tiny fist-pumps on. james and i exchange the knowing 'god he is awesome right?' glances across the room.
being parents to a toddler doesn't mean your social cal has to be obselete. it just means you have one extra set of helping hands and some fabulous [free] entertainment ;)
-kare
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