How To Host A Pie Party & Creamy Pumpkin Pie (she: Wendy)

A little about myself. The She: Wendy I am a Lucky wife and a Mama to 2 wonderful boys. I love family and learning about how different families work and run. I love to bake and cook. It’s how I show my love for others.

When my Sweetheart and I married, we talked about different traditions we would like to start in our budding family. Since I had moved from the West to the East, we decided to host a Pie Party so I could get to know the names and faces since my Sweetheart lived in the East prior to our marriage.

Pick a date. We have focused our party at Thanksgiving, but a pie party can be held at any time of the year. We have tried different days before and after Thanksgiving. We like doing it before Thanksgiving as a kind of kick-off for the coming season of parties, food, and family and friends. Then start telling people about the party. The reaction is different every time. We have made up invitations every year. When I gave someone their invitation this year they said, “Oh it’s the pie party! Yum!”

Decide What Type of Party. Decide if you will make all the pies, have a pie potluck, or do Thanksgiving left-overs and what dynamic of people you will have come.

We make around 24 different pies each year. For our gathering, we do say that they don’t need to bring a pie, and there is no need to go and buy a pie at the store. If they want to show off their culinary skills, we invite them to bring a pie only if they wish. We have had a lot of different wonderful additions brought to the pie party.

A pie potluck will bring all sorts of goodness to the table. One time a lady brought instead of a sweet pie a chicken pot pie. It was devoured.

Tell your friends to save their left-overs and gather on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving to share the calories.

We invited families and have lots of children running around for our party. If you want an adult only then it is fun too!

Gather Recipes and Experiment. We have just started to gather recipes and try them. We have our favorites of course, like Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, Key Lime Pie, and Cinnamon Crumble Apple Pie. These tend to be staples around our home. My Grandma collected recipes – all kinds of recipes. I have started to go through the recipes and have found some interesting pie recipes like Green Pie, Funeral Pie made with raisins or Soda Cracker Pie served with whipping cream.

I have started to experiment with different recipes to see how it works best for us. Like I will replace the evaporated milk in pumpkin pie for a flavored coffee creamer. It adds a little flavor and compliments the pie wonderfully.

The Party. Label your different pies so people know what they are. Also take out one piece of the pie to start it off. People seem shy to take the first piece. With the last piece put it on a plate so that it will get eaten. Our first year, we had one piece of pie left in every tin because no one wanted to take the last piece.

Clean Up. If you aren’t having a left-overs party and don’t want to store the extra pie, have throw away pie tins that people can take home with a little treat for later. Another option is to take the pies to the local firehouse and let the firemen and EMTs eat the last bit of pie. They get pretty excited for the treat! (We belong to a food co-op and if there is an abandoned baskets it is donated to the firehouse. They are always excited to see us come!)

Evaluate. Talk about what went well and what you would change or if you would ever do it again.

Here is a yummy recipe…..

Have fun!