Food/Beverage Ideas for Preference

[jwright25]

It's important to also think about the overall presentation of the food. If you are serving plates that are already prepared (rather than buffet style), lay a leaf of nice green lettuce (cleaned and dried) on the plate and arrange the food on top of it. Some things that we have used in the past:

Non-sweet:
- spoonful of chicken salad on a nice cracker with a half grape on top
- cheese straws (like long cheese crackers)
- fruit skewer (melon, grapes, strawberries, pineapple)
- mixed nuts sprinkled on plate (be aware of allergy possibilities though)
- half of a chicken salad croissant

Sweet:
- small brownie with dollop of chocolate icing, topped with strawberry slice you can get the pre-made "Two-Bite Brownies" if you don't have time to bake.
- Lorna Doone shortbread cookie with dollop of cream cheese/sugar dip and piece of fruit on top. Vary the fruit - mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, grapes.
- mini-eclairs (pre-made from Sam's Club)
- mini-cheesecake (pre-made from Sam's Club)

Beverages:
- ice water with lemon slice
- tea / lemonade punch

[SigmaPezY60]

Some PNM's are vegetarian also. I know many recruitment processes don't allow time to prepare for those sorts of things ahead of time. So possibly including a question on the forms PNM's fill out when recruitment begins for them to indicate special food needs would be helpful.

For orgs that don't do a structured formal recruitment you could include on the invitation to the preference party a request to make accommadations for special dietary needs (diabetic, vegaterian, food allergies etc)

It's just something extra that can be done to make the PNM feel welcome.

[aephi alum]

I just remembered...

My sophomore year was our first time participating in formal recruitment. At the time, we were a local sorority. For pref, we made vegetarian sushi. My big knew how to make sushi, and I wanted to learn, so it was just the two of us making rolls with ingredients like shredded carrots and cucumber. IIRC, we made them the morning of pref, to serve that evening.

The problem is that it's time-consuming. (For the life of me, I can't remember how we found the time to go off and make sushi.) You could buy sushi, but it can get expensive - you might blow your recruitment budget. Hmm, maybe if you had a few alums with some time on their hands?

[Felicity]

Originally Posted by jwright25

It's important to also think about the overall presentation of the food. If you are serving plates that are already prepared (rather than buffet style), lay a leaf of nice green lettuce (cleaned and dried) on the plate and arrange the food on top of it. Some things that we have used in the past:

Non-sweet:
- spoonful of chicken salad on a nice cracker with a half grape on top
- cheese straws (like long cheese crackers)
- fruit skewer (melon, grapes, strawberries, pineapple)
- mixed nuts sprinkled on plate (be aware of allergy possibilities though)
- half of a chicken salad croissant

Sweet:
- small brownie with dollop of chocolate icing, topped with strawberry slice you can get the pre-made "Two-Bite Brownies" if you don't have time to bake.
- Lorna Doone shortbread cookie with dollop of cream cheese/sugar dip and piece of fruit on top. Vary the fruit - mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, grapes.
- mini-eclairs (pre-made from Sam's Club)
- mini-cheesecake (pre-made from Sam's Club)

Beverages:
- ice water with lemon slice
- tea / lemonade punch

WOW! These are great ideas! I really like the small brownie, mini eclairs and mini cheesecakes ideas!! Maybe some kind of tea sandwiches would be nice too... Thanks!

[Buttonz]

Veggies & dip
Pretzels & dip
dried fruit
nuts

both diet and regular soda
Sparkling Cider