Pie Party

One of my favorite kinds of Christmas parties to throw is a Pie Party. I like to host it early in the month before the craziness of the holidays ensues and as extra motivation to decorate early for Christmas. The premise of the party is simple: each guest/couple is asked to bring a homemade pie of their choosing. The party consists of sampling each of the pies and then voting on our favorite pie for three categories: Best Overall, Best Tasting and Best Presentation.

Prizes are awarded at the end of the evening to the winners and each guest goes home stuffed with pie and vowing to avoid sweets for the rest of the holiday season. It is a simple party to host and only involves making one pie, decorating as much or as little as you choose and creating number . I wasn't good about taking photos during the party, but here are a few we snapped before the many pies and guests arrived.

This year I decided to try something new and I made a Peanut Butter Mousse Pie. 

What is your favorite kind of holiday party to throw? Also would you rather be the guest or the hostess? For as many parties as I have thrown and I am still trying to find a delicate balance between taking care of my duties as hostess while still having fun and taking the opportunity to mingle with my guests. 

After hosting a Pie Party for several years now, here are a couple of suggestions:

• Limit your guest list to 10-15 people and one pie per couple. If you ask your guest to consume more than seven slices of pie they are going to look at you like you have gone mad. 
• Give each couple a tasting plate. No matter how thin you slice them most people cannot consume 5-7 slices of pie single-handedly. 
• Discourage frozen pies. Unless the pie was made the day before, it is impossible to not end up with a soupy pie. 
• Encourage your guests to state in their R.S.V.P. what kind of pie they are going to bring. I did not do this this year and as you can see we were all thinking along the same vein. 
• Either invest in multiple pie servers or ask your guests to bring one. There is nothing less fun than having to leave mid party to wash pie servers.
• Keep the mood light. Even though this party is competition based, it is more about being together and enjoying one another's company. 

Here is the aftermath. This was the year for the cream pies. Not a berry or fruit pie in sight. The pies from L to R were: Coconut Cream Pie, Hawaiian Pie, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pie, Sugar Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie and Peanut Butter Mousse Pie.