Rolling home!!! (Punch)

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	Punch
Date:	08/11/00 (1443 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets them all in the party spirit...fast!! Cheaper than providing a bar

Disadvantages: Can have disasterous consequences!!! Can be horrid if you mix the wrong things

Let's face it we all drink and eat too much at christmas time, it is a reality of the season of goodwill to all men (too much goodwill to all men in most cases!). My family has always been known for throwing a good party and this tends to be especially true at christmas when everyone is much more in the party mood and you can be that little bit more creative in the things you organise. Organising a party can be a very daunting task as you want your guests to have a good time and it is therefore very important to get the ingredients right and well blended to ensure that everyone is happy and yet it as stress free as possible.

One of the most important ingredients (besides the guests of course) is that there is adequate drink for all your guests! Saying this though providing a full bar for your guests is very expensive and a lot of work, the best way in my experience to cater for all your guests and provide something interesting and fun is to provide the ultimate party punch! I have on occasion just provided lots of wine, but I have found that punch goes down a lot better for a number of reasons.

SO, WHY SERVE PUNCH???

Firstly, people are always curious to try new things and so offer them a glass of something new and different and the majority will give it a go. So many times I have heard people say, "oh just one glass" only to find them queuing up for more all evening and then rolling home at 5am moaning "never again"! Additionally, I find that serving the punch is a great way to make sure you see everyone and talk to them. On some occasions I have been so busy trying to be hostess with the mostess that I have been told the next day that someone was there only to realise I never even saw them yet alone spoke to them, so the social side is a bonus. The main reason though is that it is cheaper yet gives you a chance to do something a little bit different.

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT IT??

It is one thin
g to decide that you want to do a punch, however the practicalities are somewhat different! You need to think about how you are going to serve it first, I have a very nive punch bowl with 12 punch glasses and a server, this I actually got from the Spoils Kitchen shop for around £10 and it is one of those things which has been invaluable. If you don't have a punch bowl like this and cannot find one to buy then think about what you do have lurking in your kitchen cupboards! We actually have a huge metal pan which is traditionally been used for jam making and this with a bit of tinsel round it looks ok for those times when we needed more than one container. Have you any large jugs?? You could consider making the punch and storing it and then refilling the jugs as necessary, then you can have it chilling in the fridge.

Once the practicalities of what to serve it are over the big question is what punch are you going to serve??? In my experience there are 2 schools of thought here, firstly you can just throw the ingredients in and hope for the best. Now I have done this on many an occasion and sometimes it has worked perfectly straight away, but on other occasions it has tasted a bit strange and I have had to keep adding things to make it taste better. Bear in mind that alcohol is expensive and that mistakes can be costly, so you often have to keep adding things in a desperate attempt to salvage what you have! This is also a dangerous method in that yoy have to keep testing the latest concoction and this can be lethal, especially if you wish to be standing when your guests arrive!
A little tale of warning for you from my own experience. We had a large party in the summer and although the initial punch was more planned we eventually ran out and in my "slightly" drunken state I just kept topping up the punch bowl with various drinks, only by the end of the night everyone was drinking 100% alcohol punch as the fruitjuice was pushed aside! This was
lethal and the cause of many sick and hungover people!

The second school of thought is the more organised, "lets follow a recipe". There are lots of drink and cocktail books which often have sections which are great, although this is an added expense unless you already own one, you could go to your local library though. Additionally,there is the great website, www.i-drink.com which lets you input your ingredients and they will provide you with recipes or you can search for ideas. For christmas parties large punch bowls of mulled wine is always nice although this takes time to make and can be a bind as it needs to be warm. I have found that thwey sell great sachets of mulled wine spices in most the supermarkets and they tell you what else you need to out in.

SOME EXTRA TIPS

One of the most useful tips I could give it to always keep the punch very fruity and sweet, I say this because then it overrides the taste of alcohol and makes it much more drinkable. I think that is one of the greatest advantages (yet lethal aspects too) of punch in that people enjoy drinking it and it goes down too easy. Thus keep stocks of fruit juice high, try more unusual juices like cranberry, peach, pineapple or mango rather than the normal orange juice. Buy the supermarkets value range fruitjuice as no-one will know as it will be mixed in. Sometimes the sparkling flavoured waters can be quite nice as a base.

I find that having lots of fruit floating around in a punch adds a bit of colour and interest. Also, the fruit gets very alcoholic fast and so beware those who eat all the fruit! The best things seem to be kiwi fruits, apple, strawberries and anything that is not too mushy.

Try and make it look attractive! There is nothing worse than being serves a slushy brown punch and this can happen if you are creating them yourself on the spot. People do prefer to drink things that look nice!

There are some things that do n
ot mix. For instance be careful if you ever think of putting milk in a punch, it can curdle and be quite nasty.

Punch is one of those things that can be dangerous if too much is consumed (see below). however it can also be a great asset to a party as it is one of those things that you do not drink very often and on the whole ot is something that everyone will drink. You can even prepare a non-alcoholic version to be considerate to those who are driving or cannot drink. Good look with your punch making and I look forward to hearing anyone elses tips on how to make that Christmas punch and ultimately the christmas party go with a swing!!

WARNING! PUNCH CAN BE LETHAL!!!(ESPECIALLY IF IN THE WRONG HANDS!!)- DON'T READ ON IF OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION.....

I will end on a few tales from my past parties to illustrate the consequences of serving punch, take from these what you will!

5 years ago (in my early punch making days) we served punch and we had all the neighbours in our village round for a party. The punch was so fruity that everyone was knocking it back like water, we later found 2 of our married neighbours in bed together upstairs, oh and they were not married to each other! Needless to say neither are married to their partners any more.

Another party everyone got so carried away on the punch that 3 people were sick on the carpet and up the walls in the hallway, we had to redecorate! This was a particularly nasty incident and a warning to all those who consider putting blackcurrent in their punch.

This year at out summer party through all the stresses and strains of preparing the party I failed to eat all day, I then served the punch all night, but it seemed that for every glass I gave out (there were 200 people) that I drank one too and I passed out by 10....not good, a definite failure as a "hostess with the mostess"

C'est la vie!

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