I just got back from a family birthday party in California. It was a joint party for my mom and her twin sister. We often have family parties that center around appetizers, so we borrowed an idea from a friend of mine and made it an appetizer contest. We had categories for best appearance/presentation, healthiest, family favorite, and best new appetizer. I picked up prizes for each category and we also had a prize for the person with the least votes.
We made a big chart and gave everyone stars to vote for their favorites. It was a lot of fun and we had some amazing appetizers!
We told everyone that if they wanted, they could pair up with someone and come dressed alike. Quite a few of the people did that and it was really cute.
We also had a trivia contest where we asked things like their favorite colors, foods, flowers, and trivia questions such as who was president the year they were born, etc. The winner was one of their sisters. It was surprising the things you don't know about your own mom!
My cousin's 18 year old daughter won most healthy with her homemade sushi. She tied for best new appetizer so we gave that prize to my other cousin's son's girfriend who brought an amazing hot bacon dip.
The whole idea of having a contest was really fun. The friends who gave us this idea had done a very successful party that I had to miss because I was out of town. I was always disappointed in having to miss it, so having one of my own was the next best thing.
The one thing I did learn was not to let the youngest and cutest guest stand by the voting board and ask everyone to vote for 'his' appetizer (clam dip his mom made). And just in case he thought he might not win, he then started moving stars around! He didn't win but cuteness trumps and he managed to walk away with the box of See's candy that had been awarded to my cousin for her family favorite brie in bread!