Great food, friends and a lot of fun!
Nothing beats sharing good food and drink with family and friends. A great way to do this is to have a regular get together at someone’s home. If you make it a standing night with a regular group of friends, everyone knows the date and can attend when they are available. So here’s to Foodie Night in! And a guide how to start a supper club of your own with a group of friends.
So what is Foodie’s Night or a Supper Club?
A supper club or foodie’s night is a chance to get together at someone’s home and share some great food and drinks. The format can be flexible and you can organize it anyway that works for your group. Here are a few suggestions to help you start a supper club:
- Pick a country or cuisine as the theme. Everyone can bring a drink or cook a dish. Whoever is the host for the month can coordinate the menu so you have appetizers, main dishes and desserts.
- Pot Luck- everyone brings their latest favorite dish so you can try each others recent recipe finds.
- Pick a cookbook- and everyone cooks a recipe from that book. (You can use the library for this as well if you don’t want to buy the book.)
- You can also have someone host, set the menu and ask others to bring what they need for the night.
- Seasonal favorites- set a seasonal menu to showcase what is available at the local market.
- A member’s upcoming or recent travels- use foodie’s night as a way to explore the foods for an upcoming trip or share the new foods you discover on your return.
- The alphabet- just work your way through the alphabet, having someone pick a theme for each letter.
- Mix it up have a formal sit down meal, have an evening of appetizers and drinks. Have a wine tasting night, or a beer and food matching, or a BBQ at the park.
The 6-Step Guide How to Start a Supper Club or Foodie’s Night of Your Own
1. How many members should your supper club have?
You might want a small group of dedicated members or a larger, looser group, to provide more flexibility if people are unable to attend every month. You might want to have a larger group than you expect for dinner. For example there might be 12-16 members, so there are at least 8-10 attendees every month.
2. How often will your supper club meet?
If you put your Foodies’ Night or Supper Club in your calendar you can schedule around it. Yes, life does intervene and there will be times when you can’t make it, but it will become something you look forward to and want to be there.
Is it lunch or dinner? Or are you happy to mix it up?
3. Who’s Hosting?
Decide on the duties of the host. Some suggestions have the host organize and coordinate the invitations and menu. It might be up to the host to pick the cuisine, country or cookbook. Or you might want to agree the next meal’s theme as a group at the previous gathering.
4. Where to Meet?
Think about where you will meet, and who will host and organize that as part of the calendar. If someone has a great outdoor area, it might be good to meet at their house during summer weather. Or if someone has a small house, maybe have an outdoor gathering their month at a local park. Another option is to have someone with a large entertaining area at their house physically have it at their home while someone else is performing the duties of “hosting”. Drinks and appetizers can work well in a small space too!
5. Organize the Menu: Meal and Drinks
With today’s online tools it is easy to make sure everyone is organized. You can use a tool like Evite or Punchbowl, or even Facebook or Google calendar to organize invitations, track RSVPs and coordinate the menu. Or just use email or the phone if that is just easier.
And don’t forget the drinks! Decide how drinks will work as well. Does everyone bring something, is it in lieu of cooking, does the host provide, or does it vary according to the menu?
6. Enjoy it!
Have fun, eat some great food, maybe even find a new favorite dish, and enjoy each others company. Take some photos! And look forward to next month’s gathering! And you don’t have to be a great cook to start a supper club, an enthusiastic eater is also a welcome member!
Your Turn . . . Tell us about your Supper Club or Foodie Night In!
If you have a regular supper club with all your foodie friends we would love to hear about it. Do you have any tips for others wanting to start a supper club or organize their own foodie night? Please leave us a comment below or over on our Facebook page.
I found a great story about belonging to a supper club from Lindsey at Pinch Of Yum! One more great reason to start a supper club!
Sarah
Love this article! It’s great to encourage people to eat together. I host supper clubs in Lancashire and focus on healthy eating and encouraging people to eat together and cook from scratch. I also organise a monthly cookbook club where we pick a cookbook per month and everyone makes one recipe from it and eats together to share the results. Great way to connect with the community and like minded people.
Editor
Sarah- that sounds fantastic- wish I lived in Lancashire. Hopefully your efforts will inspire some other readers to do the same!
Tandy | Lavender and Lime
A supper club is such a great idea and can be so much fun. I really want to try and start one but I just don’t seem to have the time right now for anything 🙂
Editor
Find that time to organize it. It can’t be all work and no play.
Erika
This is an awesome idea and a great guide! I have heard of the idea of a cookbook club recently — which is similar to one of the variations you list here. So cool!
Editor
You’ll love it Erika. A lot of fun and almost forces you to getogether with your friends on a regular basis before time pressures intervene so that it never happens.
Christina
What a great idea! I hadn’t thought about setting up a dinner club before but it is definitely a great way to taste good food and not have to do the cooking all the time!
Editor
It is also something you will look forward to as you see the next date approaching on your calendar. We love them.