Appetizer help!

[shupe]

Hopefully you guys have some easy ideas for me! Our small group is doing a progressive dinner, but we're kind of lazy so we're just having two appetizer houses and one dessert house! We're the first appetizer house and I'm trying to think of a way to have an appetizer "theme" for each house to make it more fun and avoid overlap - like chips and dips at one house and fruit and cheese at the other. But everyone has children (ours are the oldest at 10 & 8, most are under 6) and since the appetizers are our meal, they need to be kind of substantial but kid-friendly. And the 2nd house will want to have do-ahead or crock pot appetizers. I was thinking maybe 3 or 4 choices at each house. Any ideas would be welcome! Thanks!

Amy

 

[Kat Stokes]

Salsa or fruit chutney is always good over cream cheese and served with crackers.

Fruit/veggie platters with yogurt dip/ranch dip.

Meatballs, little smokies, a hot artichoke dip (easy in the crockpot).

 

[MamaBee]

We were just at a 2 year old's birthday party and they had a hot pizza dip... yummy!

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup pizza sauce
2 tablespoons chopped green bell pepper
2 ounces pepperoni sausage, chopped
2 tablespoons sliced black olives

Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, oregano, parsley, and basil.
2. Spread mixture in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate, or a shallow microwave-safe dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the pizza sauce over all. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, then top with green pepper, pepperoni and olive slices. Cover, and microwave for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

 

[shupe]

Thanks! Those sound yummy. Any ideas on how we should split the two houses?