Planning A Progressive Dinner

Years ago, I told my husband we were going to a progressive dinner. He asked what we were progressing toward. I said the dessert house, and he immediately agreed. The point of the dinner, often orchestrated during the holidays, is for groups of people to have several courses, at different homes. A progressive dinner can involve as few as three couples, or several hundred. Usually, everybody begins the evening together, feasting on appetizers, then and ends the evening together with dessert. The main course is eaten at several different homes, depending on the size of the group.

Progressive dinners are wildly popular in large subdivisions, as a way of pulling the neighborhood together and helping people get to know each other. These dinners have the added bonus of going easy on the hostess. If you are serving the main course, the guests are only going to be at your home for the duration of the meal, and then everyone moves on to the dessert house. Ditto for the appetizer house. The last house, which if your group is large is often a clubhouse, is the one that often ends up being the true party.

Larger progressive dinners take more planning, but many people are happy to participate once they realize they do not have to do the entire dinner. Some groups collect a fee, pool the money, and then proceed to allocate funds to different hosts accordingly. For example, if you having the main course at your house, you may receive fifty dollars to help offset your expenses.

The progressive dinners I have been involved with over the years, usually consist of approximately 12 couples. At the appetizer home, everybody brings an appetizer and a bottle of wine. The hostess provides several appetizers, beer, and maybe a few cocktail drinks (pitchers of Cosmopolitans, Martini's, etc). Then, the group goes to two different homes for dinner, so each home has six couples for dinner-large enough to feel like a party, but still a manageable size. The hostesses of the main-course- homes have already worked out what side dishes are needed from her guests, so their contributions are dropped off earlier in the day. After dinner, the guests progress to the dessert home. The hostess of the dessert house, like the previous house, has already worked out what dessert she made, bought, or got friends to prepare.

Progressive dinners are also fun to do as themed dinners. You could have an Italian one, where you served antipasto, salad and bread, lasagna, then Tiramisu. An Asian theme would also be fun: dim sum or sushi, soup and salad, teriyaki chicken, beef, or shrimp, and then sorbet and fortune cookies. The possibilities are endless. The upcoming holidays are particularly popular times for these progressive dinners, since everybody is generally anxious to show off their beautifully decorated home. If you have never participated in a progressive dinner, now is a great time to organize one.

Adlen Robinson is a free lance food writer and columnist. Feel free to send her an email with your questions at [email protected].

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