If it's a small dinner party, can I substitute appetizers for the actual meal? Sure, it's another way of having appetizers passed around instead of the formal sit down meal. It is completely acceptable to...
It is completely acceptable to use appetizers or other finger fodds at a small dinner party instead of serving a formal sit down meal. The key is to have a large enough supply and variety of appetizers so that people still get plenty to eat and leave feeling satisfied and not hungry.
According to Brian Hay, a chef and culinary instructor at Austin Community College and a sommelier who also teaches for the International Sommelier Guild, "If your guests are very talkative, they eat less; and if they are not talking, they eat more
If you have a special theme for your party, you will want to tie at least some of those appetizers into your theme, the more the better of course. You can get ideas for appetizers by looking through cookbooks or books that deal with throwing themed parties. You can also check the internet for ideas. For very specific themes, the internet is a great resource for finding new ideas.
You will also want to make sure that everything is served in small portions and can be eaten with the fingers so people don't have to walk around holding onto silverware. For example, if you are serving pizza as one of the appetizers, cut it into small shapes, such as two inch squares. This can be done with other foods as well. Anything larger may be harder for people to handle if they are walking around and talking while they are eating instead of sitting in a chair at a table. Toothpicks can be put into foods to make dishing them up easy and the toothpick gives them a utensil of sorts to eat with so they aren't worrying about messy fingers. You should also keep a supply of small beverage size napkins available at all times. You can place small piles throughout the rooms you are using and make sure to go back and keep replenshing them.
How do you know how much food you are going to need? You want to make sure you have enough food and that guests aren't going home still hungry. You could throw the most amazing party with great decorations and wonderful food, but if there isn't enough of it to go around, people will remember that above all else.
Hay says, "The question is how much are they mingling and walking around? If they are walking around, they are probably going to have a glass in their hand or their plate. So while you are talking to someone, you are going to be taking little bites of things, but you are going to be talking as well. If you scheduled the party for three hours, you will need 15-18 little bites per person for the first hour when they are walking around. They are going to be eating a lot and they are going to slow down as they get full."
