Easy, crowd-pleasing favorites for feeding a house full of people
We host around 25-30 people in our home every Tuesday evening. Many times, we are hosting others throughout the week. My home and my kitchen are not massive, but we make it work! With five kiddos and a total of seven of us living at home currently, I feel like cleaning ends up taking the majority of my time right up until company arrives. That means I’m always looking for easy, tried-and-true recipes to make, because eating pizza every time we have people over gets old!
Maybe this list is so I can organize my recipe links in one place. Or maybe it’s so someone out there can have some new ideas of things to make when they are next hosting! Either way, I hope this post is beneficial! Please let me know if you try something and give me some feedback! What are some of your easy, go-to, crowd pleasers?
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🥨 Appetizer Ideas
Crockpot Meatballs
Dump one frozen bag of meatballs, a 10-oz jar of grape jelly, and 12-oz of chili sauce in a crockpot and cook on low for about 4 hours. Serve warm.
Bruschetta Dip
Crockpot Rotel Dip
Cook 1 lb of mild breakfast sausage and put in a crockpot
Dump 2 cans of undrained Rotel, 1 16-oz Velveeta, and a block of cream cheese on top
Cook in slow cooker until melted, stirring frequently
Serve with tortilla chips
Dorito Dip
One block of cream cheese
One can of chili
Melt in stovetop pan
Eat with Doritos
Pineapple Cream Cheese Dip
One block of cream cheese
One can of drained, crushed pineapple
Mix together
Serve with Ritz crackers
Pigs in a Blanket
Cut crescent roll dough into strips & wrap around lil’ beef smokies (I like all-beef). Bake at 350 for 11-12 mins. These are addictive and go very quickly!
🍝 Meal Ideas
BWW Garlic Creamy Chicken Pasta (crockpot)
Swim Queso Chicken and Rice Bake
Sandwich Platter
Make a bunch of sandwiches (ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, ham without cheese, turkey without cheese, pb&j, etc.), cut them all in half or in fours and stack on a platter.
Charcuterie Board/Table
You can do this on a charcuterie platter or stretch some cute wrapping paper across your table or bar and go to town adding anything you want!
I usually do a few salami roses (easy instructions here: Watch how-to video → )
Other things I’ve used on these boards are olives, pickles, crackers, cheese, chocolate-covered almonds or pretzels, fruit, veggies, dips, cookies, macarons, etc. Organize them how you want directly on the board or in cute little bowls and then repeat that pattern on the other side of the board if you’re putting more of the same ingredient. These are so fun because you can be as creative as you want. You can even have a theme! We’ve done a couple of ladies’ events where each lady brought their own themed-board. So much fun!
Here are some examples of what we did: See photos →
Marinara Alfredo Meatballs
Dump a bag of meatballs in the crockpot
Dump in enough marinara to cover the meatballs
Stir and set on low for 6 or so hours (stirring every now and then)
Right before serving, add more marinara if needed, and a jar of Alfredo
Cook some pasta on the side as an option when serving
Creamy Sausage Orzo
🧁 Dessert Ideas
Dump Cake
Butterfinger Cheesecake Dip
1 tub of Philadelphia No Bake Cheesecake
Caramel
Butterfinger bits
Apple slices
Dump the cheesecake filling in a bowl
Add as much caramel as you want on top
Add as many Butterfinger pieces as you want on top of that
Eat with apple slices
Pumpkin Fluff
1 tub of Cool Whip
1 can of Libby’s 100% Pumpkin
1 3.4 oz box of instant vanilla pudding
Splash of vanilla
Sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice
Mix all together
Serve with cinnamon graham crackers
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Tried one of these? I’d love to hear how it went! 💛
BRUSCHETTA DIP
