Host a Moms Night with Ease. It’s Worth It.

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{Disclaimer: We have partnered together with our sponsors, Healthy Living Market and Cafe, to bring you this fun post idea!}

Thank goodness for modern technology, because I honesty don’t know if I would have any friends without texts and email. Between focusing on work, kids, and everything in between, my smartphone has become an extension of my hands. While that suffices day-to-day, it’s just a stop-gap until we can all get into the same room and really catch up.

Getting together for a moms night is worth every one of the 50 texts it takes to get coordinated.

Hosting a night with friends, though, doesn’t have to be hard. While my friends and I often potluck it, now and then it’s fun to pamper some deserving moms with a little night-in. Recently I shopped Healthy Living Market and Café in South Burlington to prep for an evening of hosting at my house.

Moms night: all we need now are the moms!

My goal was to assemble a fun spread for five people – drinks included – for under $50 and fewer than 30 minutes prep.

I was looking for a variety of sweet and savory goodies. Being October, I wanted to pay homage to fall flavors and incorporate at least a few local products.

I was most worried about fitting alcohol into the budget, but a bottle (22 oz) of the ultimate fall beverage, Citizen Cider Unified Press, was $5.99. I bought two for $11.98. Given my friends’ varying interests in alcohol, an average of eight ounces per person seemed a good start. A third bottle would still have been in the budget, and of course friends are the best at bringing along a bottle of wine.

Citizen Cider

I didn’t choose the next treat; it chose me. I have a wee addiction to kettle corn, and Healthy Living carries the seasonal favorite Boom Chicka Pop pumpkin spice kettle corn. I know, I know – pumpkin spice. But don’t rule out this flavor yet, because Boom Chicka Pop pumpkin spice kettle corn has holidrizzle. In plain language, that’s a white chocolate swirl throughout. Fiber meets fun.

Boom Chicka Pop Pumpkin Spice Kettle Corn with Holidrizzle

For the snacking centerpiece, I wanted something simple but still special. All it took was Vermont Creamery‘s Cranberry, Orange and Cinnamon Goat Cheese to steer me to a cheese plate. From the cheeses themselves to accompanying crackers, fruits, nuts, or olives, the mix-and-match options of a cheese plate are endless. It’s also a quick option for any budget. I chose to serve the goat cheese and a smoked gouda with delightfully crisp crackers and slices of Scott’s Farm heirloom apples called Cox’s Orange Pippen ECO. They have a tart, citrus flavor that I thought would complement the cheeses nicely, and they have the most awesome apple name I’ve ever seen. I also snagged a couple Shelburne Orchards Macs for $0.79 per pound.

cheese plate

Finally, the piecè de résistance. Or piecès, because I picked two. Vermonters know that the state’s best-kept secret is its network of small and home bakeries, which I’m convinced are responsible for Vermonters’ relentless optimism. Two significant players in that happiness market are Douglas Sweets in Bolton Valley and La Panciata in Northfield. Douglas Sweets makes both savory and sweet shortbread bites, but I landed on wee orange spice bites to keep with the citrus theme. The La Panciata peanut butter cookies I brought home are a serious one inch thick (I measured). If my friends don’t ohh and ahh over that, then maybe we weren’t meant to be.

Dessert cookies

The final tally: 15 minutes prep and $39.20 (pre-tax) total.

Perfectly doable during the week after a full day at work or on a Saturday after hours at the ball fields. Cheers to good food, wonderful conversation, and amazing friends.

moms night goodies

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