Top Sydney party finger food caterer has recently catered backstage at the Australian X Factor show. It was a huge success and they are always proud to provide excellent service to their clients no matter how big or small the event is.

Take a look at a sample of their finger food menu:

• Vegetable spring rolls
• Tasty beef pies
• Mini sausage rolls
• Chicken dim Sims
• Pizza – Ham and pineapple/supreme
• Grilled meatballs
• Mini chicken drums
• Fish cocktails
• Filo hot dogs
• Mixed volavants 3 types
• Thai/crab cake
• Marinated pork fingers
• Cheese and spinach triangle
• Tempura chicken pieces
• Cocktail samosas
• And more

Give your next party the x factor…

… and book your party finger food with http://www.mrfingerfood.com.au/

It’s the peak of the cocktail party season and time to pull out all the stops to create a fantastic get-together that will be the the highlight of the year which will last until New Year.

Cocktail parties used to last only a couple of hours either side of sunset but these days they are often an all-night affair while some even carry on until the sun rises!

Ideally, that’s just the way it should happen. But on the down side this means you have to prepare a little better and add a bit more food and drink .The guests don’t lack for anything as they start celebrating the end of the year.

Mr Fingerfood have put together a their top cocktail party entertaining tips.

1. First of all, make a list of all the things that need to be considered: How many guests? What’s your budget? Do you have enough seating, tables, cutlery and glasses for everyone?
2. Send out invites in good time – you’re not the only one throwing a party this time of year. The Care2 network has beautiful e-cards, and be sure to follow up with a quick phone call.
3. Venue: It’s always best to host your party at your own home, as you are familiar with your surroundings. It also saves you money.

   That said, a stylish marquee tent can be adorned with sheer linens and fairy lights that twinkle against the evening sky, instantly extending your entertaining area.

   If you’re hiring a venue, ensure it’s clean, has parking, kitchen facilities, there’s space for a music system, tables for food and a bar area.

4. Ensure a good selection of bite-sized treats, such as cold finger foods, delicious dips and good extra virgin olive oil with crusty fresh bread, miniature warm pizzas, laden with fresh gourmet toppings and a few sweet delicacies.

   Click here for 10 gourmet-inspired finger foods.

5. Arrange platters around the space of your home where you andyour guests will be moving about and keep an eye out for when you need to top up.
6. Napkins are essential, and should be ready available to guests.
7. There should be a variety of soft drinks, waters, wines and champagne. Or you could mix up large pitchers of fruity cocktails rimmed with flavoured salts. And don’t forget, one can never have enough ice.
8. Good lighting sets the mood; use huge candles, dim lighting or beautiful pieces of art lamp work (feather lights) to soften and compliment the surroundings.
9. Hook up your I-Pod to the house music system and play a mix of your favourite tunes. Or keep a stack of easy listening CDs close at hand, like the complete collection of Café del Mar and the global sounds of Putumayo.
10. Don’t forget to tell the neighbours you’re having a party! Or, if all else fails, invite them along.

Check out Mr Fingerfood website and book your catering for your cocktail party food.

The colours of Christmas

Christmas full of vibrant colours. Festive stockings, glowing strings of lights and perfectly wrapped gifts which take center stage. The colours you choose for Christmas decorations can impact the atmosphere. Consider your goals whether it be: icy and intense, modern and fresh, cozy and traditional, elegant and luxurious before deciding on a colour scheme.

Remember that red and green are the classic colours of Christmas but your decorating doesn’t have to stop there.

The cool blue looks icy and cold, like the light of winter after a heavy snow has settled.

Bright red and green: these are synonymous with Christmas, they’re the traditional colours most often associated with the Christmas season. In practice, red and green go together in almost any setting in your home; from the mantel piece to the table centerpiece that highlights Christmas china.

Dreaming of a white Christmas: A white Christmas can be glamorous and fresh. That’s the beauty of decorating with such a versatile colour. With contemporary interiors, an all-white Christmas is en vogue: current, up-to-date, modern.

Now that you have your decorations picked out, it’s time to plan your party. On the next page, get your food sorted and book your Christmas party food with All Suburbs Catering.

One of their great menu options is the Jingle Bells Buffet:

CHOOSE ANY 2 MEATS

• Oven Baked Turkey with Cranberry Sauce
• Roast Chicken Pieces
• Hot Roast Beef with Home Made Gravy
• Leg Ham on the bone with condiments

5 FRESH SALADS OF YOUR CHOICE

• Tossed Garden Salad
• Coleslaw
• German Potato
• Creamy Pasta
• Waldorf
• Seafood Salad
• Tropical Rice

To get this menu for your guests ring Barbara FREE CALL 1800 230 380. Book your Christmas party food with All Suburbs Catering.

Remember we don’t need your final numbers until 5 days before.

Are you getting ready to throw a fabulous party and starting to feel the pressure? If so, then remember you’re not alone. Lots of people turn into a ball of nerves before an event. The number one rule is that organising a party takes a lot of planning! My Caterer have put together some important factors to consider so that you can plan it right:

Step 1: Decide on what kind of party it’s going to be

Initiall, think about what is achievable with the time scale and the resources you have. Will it be informal or formal? Inside or outside? Large or small? A seated dinner or a reception? What do you need to achieve from the event?

Step 2: What’s your budget

The budget needs to be very precise so that you know what you can and can’t have. In some Christmas parties there is a few revenue opportunities (ticket sales, sponsorship and donations, etc.). For all everyone will be expenses from the delivious catering to the entertainment and staffin. If you keep good records and plan ahead you will be guaranteed to be halfway there – always be ready for the unexpected!

Step 3 – The guest list

Who would you like to invite, not just who you want to invite! If its a corporate event make sure you remember all the relevant departments and don’t miss anyone out!

Step 4 – The location

Think carefully about where you want the party to be since it will need to be easily accessible. Look if there is any nearby public transport or parking facilities since this makes a difference to your guests.

Step 5 – Venue considerations
Will there be enough space for your guests and are there any noise restrictions? Will disabled access be required? Do you need a stage/dance floor or special equipment and if so is there enough room? Also, think about the accommodation where will your guests stay?

Step 6 – Catering

Having a great selection of food and drink at your event is crucial. Think carefully about what style of food you want to serve; will it be buffet, bowl food, sit down, food stalls or canapés? What beverages will be available too – if you’re having a reception will you be having cocktails and canapés or some fizz, wine and soft drinks? How do you want things served, and who do you want to serve them? Who clears up afterwards?! If you’re considerign having a caterer then checkout My Caterer to receive 3 competitive Christmas catering quotes so that you can choose whats best for you.

Step 7 – Theme

Themes won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but for most they can be really good fun! Remember to think outside the box– we’ve catered for all sorts over the years from Winter Wonderland to a recent 1920’s themed Murder Mystery and even a outrageous Electric Eighties party. Full room décor really compliment a theme and bring a party to life!

Step 8 – Music and Entertainment

Great entertainment is paramount in an event. A lot of entertainers and bands have footage nowadays so you can check them out to see if you like them first. You could even have a comedian come in to lighten up the mood!

Step 9 – What’s the plan

Make sure you have an itinerary without one you’re destined for failure. You will need a detailed itinerary and all the necessary contacts numbers at your finger tips.

Step 10 – Inspired Invitations

The invitation is your guests first impression of what the party will be like. Make sure you include the dress code, the date, what time the party starts and finishes and if there wil be any food and drink available, the address, who to RSVP to and if you are having a cash bar make note of it on the invite as not everyone will think about bringing their money. Your theme can be reflected on your invitations.

All the best,

All Suburbs Catering
www.mycaterer.com.au

All Suburbs Catering have created a great checklist for creating a sucessful charity event catering:

• Does your event require a permit from your local council or shopping centre for example Bunnings require a non profit organisation/charity to apply in writing to hold a stall out the front of their stores.
• You will need a copy of your Certificiate of Currency for the public liability
  insurance. Regularly you will need to supply this with your application.
• Once you have decided and confirmed your dates for your charity catering event make sure you let all club or organisation
  members know the dates. You may want to allocate a advertising sub-committee.
• What are you thinking of doing with any leftover goods at the end of the day? Will anyone be taking them home
  or do they need to be stored somewhere for future events.
• Arrange all your goods and equipment required.
• Do you need to record your sales?
• Arrangement of catering – contact Carol on 1800 251 440 so that she can help you get your catering sorted for your charity event.

Any experienced event planner or caterer will tell you that the key to a successful party is planning. Simply making a few dishes and sending invitations is normally not enough. A little advanced planning saves you stress and time so spend five or ten minutes deciding on what type of atmoshphere you want to create. Just invision walking yourself through the party as a guest. This ensures that when the party time comes, both you and your guests will have a fantastic night to remember!

The Perfect Magical Party

The holiday season is always packed with parties; so be wise and send invitations three weeks in advance. Remember that the sooner you send out your invitations, the less likely it is that your guests will have other plans for that date. Invitations should indicate the starting and ending time of your party and should outline the food you will be serving. Whether it be a light holiday fare or a traditional sit-down dinner and of course don’t forget to include directions to the venue.

Make your magical day a reality by planning

Make sure that you choose a menu for which many of the items can be made ahead of time. The great thing with sorting out the catering is that its one less worry for you. All Suburbs Catering offer delicious party platters for your party so that the food is ready an prepared.

Chicken Roasted
30 pieces $70.00
Succulent chicken wings and legs, coated in
our special marinate, spit roasted and served
cold for your enjoyment anytime!

Chicken Skewers
40 pieces $70.00
Our satay chicken skewers are presented
beautifully and provide a different alternative
for your guests. Served with a satay dipping
sauce.

Cold Cut Vegetables
$55.00
Not only a vegetarian selection, but a great
healthy choice for your guests. Capsicum,
mushrooms, cucumber, celery and cherry
tomato, served with a avocado dip.

Cold Meats Platters
$75.00
Cooked, smoked and cured meats, all rolled
to present a lovely display, witha cherry
tomato garnish and antipasto sundried
tomato!

Cold Quiche
40 pieces $60.00
Our classic Fabulous FingerFood quiches,
served cold as a cold appetizer! A mixture
of lorraine, sundried tomato, asparagus, and
mushroom style quiches!

Remember that foods that can be eaten without a fork and knife keep spills and dribbles down, and they reduce the amount of dishwashing you have to do later. But if you do serve dishes that require dinnerware, make sure you have table seating for guests to sit down and eat. Make it easy on yourself. If you dread cleanup, opt for nice plasticware that can be tossed in the trash.

If you don’t have time to deep clean your home the day of the party, hit the heavy traffic areas such as your living room, dining room, and bathrooms, and leave the rest for later.

Set the mood with holiday music playing in the background and lit candles sparkling throughout the house. Personalize the night with a special activity. Invite your guests to write a holiday wish in a guest book displayed on your coffee table or ask them to join you for some caroling. Little details such as these help make your party an event to remember.

Guests love party favors. Send yours home with a little something extra: a small ornament, a bag of cookies, even a candy cane with a bow is a sweet way to say happy holidays.

Invitation Ideas

An invitation is your guest’s first impression of what your party will be and what the experience will be like. This can be used to build up the excitement, don’t settle for a phone call or purchased invitation. Instead you can use your party’s theme to inspire your own quirky creations.

You can add a nice personal touch, use a photo from last year’s party as the front of your invitation, or send one with your family dressed in holiday garb or outfits that complement your party’s theme. You might also have your child draw a picture of the nativity scene, your party, or a present. Scan the photo onto a computer and print onto cardstock.

Get guests into party mode by compiling a custom CD of holiday music or other music that goes with your party theme.

If you have no time to make your invitations, you can buy them and write a handwritten invitation with black ink. This is an elegant and personal way to notify guests of your party.

There’s that question again – ‘how are you celebrating this new year?’ Will you be spending it with friends and family for a close intimate party or will you be welcoming 2011 with a big party? For those of you who are undecided, here are a few ideas and tips on how to party your way into 2011.

Head to the city

The countdown to midnight will kick off from 5pm with pre-show entertainment around Sydney harbour. There will be an Indigenous Smoking Ceremony featuring five indigenous vessels to cleanse the harbour of evil spirits followed by an Acknowledgement to Country show.

The Harbour of Light Parade will sail a 15km circuit around the harbour which will feature over 50 illuminated vessels decorated with lights to represent this year’s New Year’s Eve theme – Awaken the Spirit.

The traditional family fireworks at 9pm will give a prelude to the midnight fireworks with an eight minute choreographed performance firing from four spots on the harbour, the rooftops of some skyscrapers and also some other surprise locations.

But the big spectacular which takes 15 months of planning is the 12 minute midnight fireworks display firing from seven barges on the harbour, the rooftops of skyscrapers and of course the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Hot Spots – in and around town

With the fireworks being the highlight of each New Year’s Eve celebration, it’s always crucial to get the best seats in the house. And the only way to do it is to know where to go:

The obvious spots
• Darling Harbour
• Royal Botanic Gardens
• The Rocks
• Circular Quay

Hidden favourites
• Clarkes Point Reserve, Hunters Hills
• Blues Point Reserve, McMahons Point
• Ferry Wharf, Rose Bay
• Nielsen Park, Vaucluse
• Dudley Page Reserve

Party platters are always great so that you can have a party and have the catering sorted before hand.

Choose from:

Chosen what you like? Visit Mr Fingerfood catering for New Years Eve catering and book your catering today. This way you can enjoy the comfort of your own home by having some friends over and then head to one of the hotspots to enjoy the celebrations.

So the new year celebrations are fast approaching. Get your catering booked for a fantastic cocktail party to remember. Book your new years eve party catering with AllSuburbs Catering and choose from their great menus. Here are some selections from their menu:

1. Antipasto Platters (v)
2. Smoked Salmon & Avocado
3. Decorated Cold Prawn Platters
4. Cheese, Cabanossi, Jatz & Nuts Platters
5. Sushi Platters (v)
6. Gourmet Open Sandwiches.(v)
7. Seafood Crumbed Whiting Fillets.
8. Gourmet bites of the World (5 types)
9. Marinated Beef Satays.
10. Deluxe Vegetarian Mix (5 types) (v)
11. Fresh Oysters in Shell
12. Peking Duck Pancakes
13. Galaxy Gourmet Tarts (v)
14. Stuffed Mushrooms (v)
15. Cocktail Quiche – Lorraine – Florentine.(v)
16. Rice Paper Rolls (v)
17. Vegetarian Chats (5 varieties) (v)
18. Marinated Prawn Kebabs
19. Deluxe Meat Mix (5 delicious types)
20. Marinated Chicken Kebabs.

Book quick since AllSuburbs are booking up fast for new years eve catering!

Need to hire a party bar? How about having a glow bar in your party venue to keep the drinks flowing then book with OnTapBeverage.

Corporate events that give you the competitive edge… as an ambitious company, we respond quickly to our customers needs. It is important to us that you remain the character behind your event. We are therefore very flexible when it comes to being able to create exactly what you want, turning your vision into a reality.

As corporate catering event specialists, How Can We Help You? offer a one-stop hospitality service, with a whole range of corporate activities and we have the ability to accomodate even the smallest of budgets. from organising small business seminars to full-scale conferences. Taking the stress out of planning an event, with our wealth of experience in a wide range of different services, including venue sourcing, catering, atmospheric theming, team building and entertainment for all corporate events.

Our corporate clients tend to order our sandwich platters for their large departmental meetings accross the city.

Two options are listed below:

Standard Sandwich Platter

7 Varieties of gourmet sandwiches including

• Chicken Breast Fillet with Basil Pesto and slices of fresh roma tomato.
• Tasty Cheese, Ham off the bone & Sweet Mustard Pickle
• Tuna, avocado, lemon, dill, and mayonaise
• Fresh Egg, Lettuce and Mayonaise
• Freshly roasted Beef, wholegrain mustard and roma tomato.
• Tasty cheese, Lettuce and roma tomato with Basil Pesto
• Advocado and sliced Turkey

All sandwiches are prepared using daily baked swiss bread, both white and multigrain varieties are used.
40 pieces of sandwhich fingers is $69.00

Gourmet Sandwich Platter

7 Varieties of gourmet sandwiches including

• Turkey, Cream Cheese, Cos Lettuce and Cranberry
• Smoked Salmon, Cucumber, Cream Cheese and Capers
• Falafel, Hommus, Tabouli and Tomato
• Sopressa, Tasty Cheese, Basil Pesto and Fresh Roma Tomato.
• Chargrilled Capsicum, sundried tomato pesto and danish fetta.
• Curried Egg and baby spinach
• Garden Salad, with tomato, red spanish onion, and avocado.
• Roast Chicken, avocado, mushroom, and shaved beetroot.
• Roast Pork, fresh coleslaw, and cream cheese.

All sandwiches are prepared using daily baked swiss bread, both white and multigrain varieties are used.
40 pieces of sandwhich fingers is $89.00

Remember to book with MrFingerFood for a great selection of hot and cold food for your event. Visit their finger food menus today.

1. It should include options for vegetarians or those with dietary requirements. You may also consider a fish dish and an alternative meat dish as a main course because an enormous number of people don’t eat fish but don’t necessarily mention this as a dietary requirement.
2. It should provide a wide range of tastes to avoid becoming repetitive. If you have a tomato based starter you may want a cream based sauce for your main course, and if your first course is quite sweet you might like something spicy or peppery for your main.
3. Each dish should make you smile. Many couples end up choosing a particular menu because they like the main course and they don’t dislike the rest. Each item in your wedding catering menu should make your mouth water, so if your caterer doesn’t provide a set menu which does that ask them to swap and change courses until you are happy.
4. It should suit the tastes of your guests. There’s no point in paying for lobster if the majority of your guests would rather eat steak, but equally you don’t want to dish up novelty burgers if your guests will be expecting a top class formal dinner.
5. It should work with your chosen wedding wine. Unless you plan on serving a different wine with every course, you might want to look for a menu where each dish works with a general wine. If you are serving a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir, these will work with most canapés, a light first course such as a soup or cheese soufflé, and a fish based main course.
6. It should work well with the season. Look for menus that feature light refreshing dishes for the spring and summer months, and hearty warming dishes for autumn and winter weddings. Try to include seasonal produce in your wedding catering menu; this should save on cost as well as making the dishes appropriate for the time of year.
7. It shouldn’t be too messy. Pheasant in a red wine sauce may be a particular favourite of yours but will you really feel the same about it once you’ve got a deep red stain on your wedding gown? Your guests will have got specially dressed up to come to your wedding so don’t choose a menu featuring dishes that are likely to stain.
8. It shouldn’t be too heavy. Your guests may be hungry after the ceremony, but they still have to get up and dance after the meal so you don’t want them to be bloated or nodding off during the speeches. If your first or main courses have rich creamy sauces, or feature pastry or cheese, try to keep your dessert light and fruity. If you have your heart set on that decadent chocolate torte for dessert, look for a salad first course and light fish or poultry main.

For great wedding catering for your perfect day visit: All Suburbs Catering