If it's end of summer, back to school, or any other busy time of the year and you're hosting a gathering of several people, a sandwich supper is the best! Why? Because you don't have to cook at all! Just assign your guests to bring all the sandwich insides, and you provide the sandwich outsides and decor!
We recently met with some friends and put together a sandwich bar, gathered and caught up with each other, and enjoyed food and fun!
For the bread, we decided to have a variety: naan rounds, wheat rolls, multigrain bread, bagels, sub rolls, and spinach wraps. To make the tablescape interesting, we decided to add height for the display of bread. I happened to have four baskets at home, but these can be bought very inexpensively. We just placed the baskets on their sides and filled in with the different variety of breads.
I had a small lighthouse on a shelf at home (you can always find inspiration from what you have!) and also saw bags of chips at Target with lighthouses on them, and the colors and shapes matched, so that was it! I placed the bags in a red plastic bin I had, cut open the tops and set them up for grabbing. The lighthouse was placed in front of the bread area.
Instead of paper napkins this time, I used bandannas. They are very inexpensive, easy to wash, and I keep entire drawer full of them for parties. They don't have to be ironed, either! They were folded up and placed in hot dog baskets by the bread.
Lastly, I used a big round tray and lined it with another bandanna, set the cutlery in a mason jar, and added just plain white plates. There was plenty of color elsewhere.
As guests arrived, they brought avocado, meats, cheeses, cucumbers, red onion, dressing, lettuce, tomato and more to fill inside the sandwiches after we got our plates, bread and napkins.
We sat around in a circle, each one shared what they'd done this summer, and we spent time praying for each other and telling stories that made us all laugh.
Go on, host a party. And don't turn on the oven. Just set up your table, open your door, and have fun.