I recently read an article about Nora Ephron who died on June 26, 2012 from pneumonia, a complication resulting from acute myeloid leukemia (she wrote, among many screenplays, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia). A lot of the quotes I read from her friends talked about what a great hostess she was and the fun parties she threw. And one particular party was mentioned most…when she threw a cookout and served hot dogs with lots of different toppings. And I thought, “What a great idea”, and then had to throw my own hot dog party.
Now if you’re absolutely against eating hot dogs, because they aren’t the healthiest meat out there (but I figure an occasional dog isn’t going to kill us), there are lots of varieties out there. You can buy veggie dogs, chicken dogs, turkey dogs, and Kosher dogs. And there’s always some store that has them on sale. I used my Just 4 U (from Safeway) downloadable coupons and got our Oscar Mayer hot dogs for $2.50, for a package of 10. And we buy the store brand hot dog buns that typically cost 99 cents, for a package of 8.
Our group of family and friends are always more than happy to bring a dish to share so that helps keep the cost of hosting a cookout/barbecue/party down. I have found that most people are more than willing to bring food, especially when you offer to host.
For our hot dog “bar”, I included two types of pickles, relish, a cabbage slaw, jalapeno, chili, cheese, beans, sauerkraut and chopped onions and sliced onions (we grilled the sliced onions). You could have as few or as many toppings your wallet allows you. You’ll also see in the picture that I have a package of bubbles…they had all of these on clearance and since I knew there would be kids, I picked up some…but the adults would enjoy playing with them too!
Spread everything out so there’s plenty of elbow room….offer the “usual” condiments like mustard, ketchup and mayo and throw in some horseradish or different flavored mustards or ketchups for something different.
I don’t know of any child who doesn’t like playing with bubbles! This will keep them happy and busy as the adults visit.
My friend Patricia, here with my son Tyler, brought me a really cute hostess gift that consisted of some fun gift boxes and birthday cards (she knows I like those kind of things!). Her husband (who is one of the sharpest dressers I know), has retired from work and no longer needs all his ties so she brought a ton of fabulous ones in a gift bag and gave them to my husband. Again, she knows us and knew that we would appreciate them.
Now to be quite honest, I had planned on making homemade ice cream but then changed my mind because I ran out of time and energy! (It had been a long week). So instead we bought it. I got a gallon of Lucerne vanilla ice cream at Safeway (using my Just 4 U digital coupon) for less than $5.00. We offered two types of nuts, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, crumbled cookies, sprinkles, whip cream and cherries. We also had two different types of cones and of course bowls for those who wanted to make a sunday. I chose my toppings based on what I had on hand and what was on sale….and everyone had fun making their own.
I had a ton of these little Dixie cups leftover from something and decided to use them for some of the toppings…(and I was running low on bowls from all the hot dog toppings). This way everyone could just sprinkle whatever they wanted on their ice cream and it saved on using more spoons too.
Why have just an ice cream cone when you can make a sunday AND add a cone?
Our family and friends brought chips and salsa and pico; veggies and dip; pasta salad and coleslaw and a wonderful loaf of homemade bread….with the hot dogs and ice cream, it was plenty, delicious and didn’t cost anyone much money.
After everyone left, I guess our grill was still smelling good because we had an unexpected visitor….guess he heard from all “our” other wild animal friends that our house was the “go-to” place!
