What Should I Demo at My Holiday Show?

[pamperedgirl3]

I'm having a holiday show at my house on Nov. 30 that will be part demo/part open house. I want to do a short demo first to get guests involved & then give them time to eat, look at gift idea displays, chat, & order. I pretty much have everything planned except for the demo recipe. I want something that doesn't require much, or any, baking time & something that shows products that maybe don't get shown all the time. But now I am second guessing myself & wondering if I should even do a demo recipe. My husband thinks people will just want to be there to order, but I was hoping that by doing a guest interactive demo that more people who haven't booked might want to book a show like that.

Any opinions as to a demo/open house or just an open house? I was also thinking of just having products out to demo, but I did that last year & no one tried them out. Last year I did just an open house. One person came, ordered, & left. The other six grabbed food & sat & chatted for the entire time, placed an order, & left. I don't think anyone even looked at my displays & no one tried the products I had set out. Of course, it WAS all family except for the person who came & ordered & left.

HELP! I love to second guess myself all the time & I'm starting to talk myself out of it!

 

[chefkristin]

Try the Harvest Chicken Salad!! It is so good!!!!!!

 

[pamperedgirl3]

It is good. I've made that at several of my shows this fall.

 

[pamperedbyrd]

How about the Velvety Chocolate Truffles found in the 2005fall/winter Season's Best. Also I think there is a Truffle recipe in the new cookbook. Your guests can roll thier own Truffles in diffrent coatings. Like toasted coconut, chopped nuts, grated chocolate, and crushed candy canes.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Thanks for the ideas! Do you think that I should do a demo, or just let them shop? If I do a demo, I was going to put on the invite that a short demo was included, plus time to browse & shop.

 

[pamperedbyrd]

Thanks for the ideas! Do you think that I should do a demo, or just let them shop? If I do a demo, I was going to put on the invite that a short demo was included, plus time to browse & shop.

If you do the truffles I would have the truffles mixture made up ahead of time because it needs to refrigerate. But you can demo the Deluxe cheese Grater for the chocolate, the food choper for the nuts. You can even show the meat tenderizer by using it the crush candy canes.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

Thanks! That's a great idea. That also kind of solves my problem of not knowing whether to do a demo or not. I could just do the toppings as a demo & then the guests finish while they get other food. Plus it fits with the holiday show theme.

Thanks for the ideas! I think I'll do the truffles b/c I've done the Harvest Chicken Salad at many of my shows already & I kind of wanted something different.

 

[pamperedchefjunkie]

I am doing a lot of bazaars this season. I've done two so far and they were so so. I'm doing one on Saturday and I really like the Potato Show idea I got off here. You might just get a few potatoes for people to demo the products and then have a snack to eat. I did the Harvest Spice Nuts that came out in a weekly bites a few weeks ago. They turned out really yummy![/ATTACH]