Get-Together

Yesterday we had 54 people at our house for a get-together. I am really happy that it went well. We had lots of kids. It was very hot down here yesterday. It rained before everyone got here and after everyone left. I couldn't ask for better weather, except maybe having it a bit cooler! I tried to keep it as simple as possible. It seemed to work.

Here is what we did: B kindly grilled the hot dogs and hamburgers with the help of one of our neighbors. The guys were very hot but they were good sports and did a great job! The hot dogs were Oscar Meyer Naturals without nitrates or nitrites.

The day before I made pork and beef BBQ. I simply bought a large piece of beef brisket (6 lbs) and cooked it in my large slow cooker for 8 to 10 hours with a bottle of Jack Daniels original recipe barbecue sauce. The pork was an 8 lb. pork loin. I put some barbecue marinade over it and added some home made barbecue sauce along with a bottle of Jack Daniels Honey barbecue sauce. B said it was a bit too vinegary so when I heated it up for the party I added half a cup of brown sugar over the top. All 6 pounds of the beef were gone and about 6 or 7 pounds of the pork were eaten. Our guests all seemed to enjoy them. Some people even asked if I had the pork and beef catered!

As for side dishes, all I did was open a bag of potato chips but my mom made corn on the cob (super good). The other guests brought broccoli casserole, pasta salad, Chick Fil-A chicken nuggets, onion dip, fruit, veggies and so many other wonderful things that I NEVER would have thought of making.

For dessert I made some frozen funnel cakes from Market Day which I heard were wonderful. I never got to taste any which is a good sign. I also provided the kids with snow cones. I had one of those inexpensive electric machines along with my manual ice shaver from Pampered Chef. We ran out of ice but the kids were happy! I had about 8 different flavors of syrup for the snow cones. My wonderful guests brought yummy desserts. We had tandy cakes, fruit pies, jello desserts, cookies, Amish cinnamon bread and many other awesome treats.

For kid entertainment we had 4 water guns -- I mean the big Super Soakers, the ketchup and mustard game which is just a bunch of ketchup and mustard bottles (empty) from the dollar store filled with water that the kids use to get each other soaked. I also brought out D's swing ball which is an inexpensive version of tether ball. They had fun playing all the water games and swing ball, too.

Most of the adults found cool shady spots to sit in the back yard. I was in and out of the house most of the time enjoying some AC along with the shade outside. I would say that after all was said and done, it was a successful event!