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Thank you Mardi Gras Napkins for sponsoring this post. Visit your local retailer to get the conversation going in your home!

These Potluck Play Date ideas are great for kids and adults!

As per this blog’s name, we love potluck celebrations, but since we moved a year ago, we haven’t had too many. Time to bring back our tradition of inviting people into our home to share a good meal and good conversation. This is a great year-round tradition, and it’s a fun way to help your children connect with their school friends outside of school. Here are ideas and tips for hosting a Potluck Play Date with adults and kids.

Potluck Play Date: Choose a Theme

It’s fun to choose a theme for your Potluck Play Date! This may be based off the decor {e.g. Christmas in July with flamingos in Santa hats and twinkling lights}, the way your guests will come dressed {e.g. everyone wear a Hawaiian shirt for a Luau party}, or the type of food {e.g. bring an item perfect for Taco Tuesday}. This is a great way to use some of those leftover decorations you may have from previous birthday or holiday parties. Have your children participate in planning a theme they think their friends will just love!

Potluck Play Date: Send an Invitation

Create an event on Facebook or use an online service like Evite to send an invitation for your Potluck Play Date. Let your friends know the date, time, if they are able to invite additional guests, and a place to sign up for what they would like to bring. Also, are you hosting the potluck in your home or is there a better location? Perhaps you have a clubhouse within your community, a room within your local library, a pavilion at a nearby park, or even your school’s cafeteria after hours? Depending upon the number of guests, you may have to consider a larger venue for your potluck play date.

Potluck Play Date: Setting up for the Event

My best advice: Keep things simple! Paper plates, paper cups, Mardi Gras Napkins, and plastic utensils are an absolute must. The more guests, the more clean up afterwards, so minimize your workload with disposable items. Ask a friend or two to arrive early to help you set up extra tables, chairs, decorations, tablecloths, and food dishes.

Potluck Play Date: Arranging the Food

The great thing about a true potluck is that there are lots of different dishes to choose from. Arrange the food buffet-style so your guests can take what they want. Because this is a Potluck Play Date for kids and adults, be sure to include some kid-friendly favorites! Remind your guests that they can bring store-bought or homemade dishes. Also, don’t forget to ask if there are any allergies in advance. This is really important when inviting your kids’ school friends over.

Potluck Play Date: Get the Conversation Started

For Richard’s birthday last January, we hosted a Sushi Making Party with some of our friends. While shopping for the event, I grabbed a pack of Mardi Gras Napkins, and when we were making our sushi rolls, I noticed they had these fun conversation starters on them. So I began reading them aloud. Two of the guests were family members of our friends who we had never met before, so the napkins were a great way to break the ice with new people. We talked about places we would like to travel to one day and other plans for the future, our dogs, our vehicles. We laughed and shared stories. These conversation starters on the napkins really worked!

Potluck Play Date: Have Some Fun

It’s time to wipe away the boredom and bring mealtime fun back to the dinner table with Mardi Gras paper napkins! With Mardi Gras Napkins, you don’t have to plan a whole bunch of games or bring along any real supplies – all of the ideas are on the napkins. See the image above? It invited the kids to make a new dance move, so they did just that. And the kids definitely had fun making up their own silly moves!