Need Food/Beverage Ideas!

[Katmandu]

In the Pleistocene era when I went through rush (yes, in 1973, we were Rushees...) one of the houses had, in addition to other goodies, a large beautifully carved watermelon basket filled with icy cold fruit kabobs on little decorative skewers. The basket was garnished with edible flowers and there were more flowers strewn around it on the table.

Double whammy, as it served as both a gorgeous centerpiece and yummy refreshments. On a 100+ degree afternoon in Oklahoma, it was lovely...

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Katmandu

In the Pleistocene era when I went through rush (yes, in 1973, we were Rushees...) one of the houses had, in addition to other goodies, a large beautifully carved watermelon basket filled with icy cold fruit kabobs on little decorative skewers. The basket was garnished with edible flowers and there were more flowers strewn around it on the table.

Double whammy, as it served as both a gorgeous centerpiece and yummy refreshments. On a 100+ degree afternoon in Oklahoma, it was lovely...

Oh, this sounds good. And with them being kabobs, serving is easy.

[MaggieXi]

Upscale hor deourves (sp?) can be easily found at costco or bjs. However, you may want to look into your campus food/catering service.

The year I was recruitment chair, we had a sister who worked for campus catering and they supplied us with a fantastic list of different foods and they were realitvely cheap (even less expensive than the bulk stores.) For preference, we ended up having proscuttio wrapped melon, mini-veggie spring rolls, and cup cakes (both chocolate and vanilla) with vanilla icing and a sugar rose on them. The cupcakes were beyond delish!!!! (Just be sure to serve them on a plate WITH a fork!!!-- we didn't do that at one party and it was an issue!)

For drinks, we served lemon aid and iced tea -- not super upscale, but a big thing of country-time goes a longgggg way!

[Ivygirl8985]

Oh wow, that sounds really good! Where would you get an ornately carved watermelon though? Because I gaurantee we couldn't do it ourselves!

I also like the lemonade/tea idea....for some reason I was thinking drinks needed to be much more difficult than necessary. Would those go in punch cups or should I try water goblets?

[MaggieXi]

For our drinks, we just used clear caraffes from, yet again, campus catering. We just tied double blue and gold ribbons around the neck of them and made them look decorative.

[OneTimeSBX]

the dollar store is your friend...

one next to my house had these adorable hand painted glasses with flowers on them...they were tall like orange juice glasses, so a Shirley Temple would look very nice in them...Walmart also has a line of glasses like that for a dollar a piece i believe...they would make great souveneirs!

[EtaPhiZTA]

Originally Posted by Ivygirl8985

Oh wow, that sounds really good! Where would you get an ornately carved watermelon though? Because I gaurantee we couldn't do it ourselves!

I know that you can order them at my local Jewel Store (Albertsons). They usually require 48-72 hour notice, but they are very nice. I actually had them carve one in the shape of a baby carriage for a shower I hosted.

I would assume any large grocery store chain could do this for you if you wanted.

[Katmandu]

Oh wow, that sounds really good! Where would you get an ornately carved watermelon though? Because I gaurantee we couldn't do it ourselves!

Re: Watermelon Baskets
Internet sites show patterns and step by step instructions for baskets from simple to ornate--they are really surprisingly easy to do. My first one even turned out beautiful. However, even easier is to ask your friendly local alums to do it for you. There's bound to be a Martha Stewart in the group to make your life easy and we love to be asked to help with recruitment.

[ASAalpha]

One thing that chapters on our campus do with drinks to make them a little more 'special' is to put a scoop of flavored sherbert in each cup along with sprite or whatever. It is fun to drink and very refreshing! Plus you can get a huuuuge tub of sherbert at wal-mart for cheap!

[adpiucf]

You can also purchase or get an alum to donate a beverage fountain -- that will look pretty (so long as it isn't one of the cheesy ones). I think the Shirley Temple idea is a good one-- pretty color and tastes simple enough.

You know, I'm not a fan of dumping sherbert into punch. The first time I ever saw this was at sorority prefs at my university and I couldn't stand to drink the stuff.

Whatever you serve, just make sure it is simple and it will appeal to a variety of tastes. Make sure you also have an alternative for diabetics.

[bejazd]

Do you have Trader Joes in your area? They have some sparkling juice drinks that would be really pretty and a little upscale. My kids like like the sparkling cranberry, blueberry and even the pomegranite. We don't drink a lot of sodas, so I serve these at the holidays and parties.

if you like the Starbucks passion fruit iced tea drink, it's pretty easy to replicate the same flavors with regular iced tea and adding the welch's passion fruit or cherry juice blend drinks.

[greekchef]

Also, a source for a carved melon may be a local culinary school. If you have a local community college with a culinary department you may be able to find out from the chef/instructor a talented person to carve you one or to have it done as a class assignment.

The most basic punch I do is a simple 1:1 blend of Pineapple juice and Ginger Ale spiked with a touch of Almond Extract. It light, not to sweet, drinkable if its hot outsided, is not thick and gooey and staining. A simple ring of pineapple juice and fruit frozen makes a pretty garnish if served in a punch bowl.