Pot-luck theme ideas?

February 2, 2006 7:02 PM

Got any pot-luck theme ideas?

I'm in charge of planning the monthly pot-luck menu for our small group from church. There are seven couples and each will bring an assigned thing. Therefore, I need ideas for dinner menus with seven "items" for lack of a better word- appetizer, main course, sides, beverages, dessert, etc.

So far I have Mexican: chips/salsa, soda, taco meat, shells/cheese, tomatoes/lettuce, sour cream, ice cream. Or maybe breakfast for dinner: juice, coffee cake, egg dish, meat dish, fruit, pancakes, butter/syrup.
Get the idea? Please help. I'm not feeling creative tonight and I need to assign things tomorrow morning. Muchas gracias.

posted by orangemiles to food & drink (10 comments total)

Fondu?
broth, cheese, veggies, meat, chocolate, fruit and, of course, some fondu pots
posted by Airhen at 7:14 PM on February 2, 2006

We did a garlic potluck, everything had to have garlic. For dessert I made roasted garlic ice cream.
posted by LarryC at 7:14 PM on February 2, 2006

How about "nothing vegan"
posted by rxrfrx at 7:24 PM on February 2, 2006

Orange colored food!
posted by aubilenon at 7:32 PM on February 2, 2006

Yeah, colors are good. Try requiring red, white and blue in each dish; it works nicely for Americans and makes a neat-looking spread.
posted by mediareport at 9:49 PM on February 2, 2006

Some friends of mine did an Iron Chef potluck, which basically meant requiring all the dishes to have a common ingredient. The host dressed up in a homemade Chairman Kaga costume, and opened the evening by biting into a pepper and grinning enigmatically. Then they gave prizes..

The ingredient they chose was "strawberry," which seemed to work pretty well in both the entrees and the deserts.
posted by yankeefog at 1:41 AM on February 3, 2006

How about a heritage potluck, where people must bring something made from a traditional recipe based on their family origins?

Mexican may not be a great theme, as some elderly people might find the food a little difficult to digest.
posted by hazyjane at 2:50 AM on February 3, 2006

Do foods around the world over the course of a year. Mexican, French, Scandinavian, German, African, Morroccan, Indian, Canadian, South American, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. Especially incorporate the nationalities in your group, or cooking specialties someone may have.
posted by theora55 at 7:52 AM on February 3, 2006

For many years, a group of friends have been celebrating one of our birthdays with a theme potluck. Here are some I remember:

Blue food
Square food
Flaming food
Caveman food
Poisonous food (tomatoes, peanuts, mushroom, etc.)
Food that looks like other food
Aphrodisiac food
Molded food
Pies
Rotten food (blue cheese, 1000-year-old eggs, etc.)
Food you used to hate as a kid but love now (or vice versa)
Food of the 50s (when the guest of honor was born)
White trash food
Historic food

Next year we're going to try a theme that's really different: food that tastes good.
posted by ottereroticist at 9:08 AM on February 3, 2006

Aw man, now I want to eat a lot of square things.
posted by aubilenon at 12:40 PM on February 4, 2006