Do you want to throw a party but you don’t want to be responsible for all of the food and drink? No problem! I have a few tips and tricks to help you organize your neighborhood block party, or a Potluck in your backyard.

Set expectations 

There’s a saying, “if you don’t set an expectation, it leads to nothing but disappointment”. A lot of people are challenged by setting expectations because they think it’s being bossy. Guess what, it is but that is OK! I am giving you permission to be bossy. It is all about your town.

One reason you need to set the expectation as you don’t want everyone showing up with a gelatin salad or a dozen varieties of deviled eggs.  You want to create a party with a variety of flavor profiles and you are the engineer of that train.

People truly want direction. Everyone has very busy lives and don’t necessarily have the time to sit down and consider what they might bring to the potluck. If you give them direction, even just as far as category of food, that is helpful to both you and the attendee.

Let’s get down to brass tacks

1. Invitation list. Write everyone’s names down that you would like to invite to this potluck. Whether it be block party or a Fourth of July barbecue. Whatever type of party it is, you need an idea of the attendees. The reason for this is if you assign people by last name you want to make sure you proportionate evenly. There’s lots of peoples last names that start with letters towards the end of the alphabet. Let’s say you are going to provide hamburgers and hotdogs and assign appetizers, sides and desserts. You don’t necessarily need to divide up the 26 letters of the alphabet evenly if you have a lot of people with last names that start with S and T. Does that make sense?
2. Send out your invitation with clear directions. In your invite, you can say something like “if your last name starts from A-F please bring an appetizer” or you can say “it’s a Potluck, please let me know your favorite dish you’d like to bring”. Either way is fine but give some direction. If these are close friends, you might even know what their specialty is or something that would complement your main dish. Feel free to ask them if they are willing to bring that dish. 
3. Create that list either on a Google doc that you can share with everyone or you can manage that yourself. If all the sudden you have three people bringing a taco salad reach out to the person you’re the most comfortable with and ask them if they have some thing else they could bring. It’s OK to ask I promise.
4. On the day of the party, have things set up so when people arrive with their food, it is clear of where they should go. If they are bringing their own serving utensils, make sure they are aware of that. If you are providing the serving utensils, you could lay them on the table with a sticky note stating their name and dish. A road map of the buffet if you will.
5. If your party is going to be outdoors and you need to store things to keep them cool, please let your guests know. They can either bring it in a cooler or if you have extra room in your fridge make sure it’s clean and people can get to it.
6. Depending on your friends and if they have food allergies that you need to be aware of, you can ask your guest to label their food with possible allergens, i.e. nuts, gluten, etc. If this isn’t a factor for you then there is no need to do more than a label of what it is.
7. Ask everyone to label their serving dish! I have a bag in my closet filled with unclaimed potluck dishes and utensils. I let people know they have two weeks to pick them up. If not, I will donate them to a local charity.  If you are someone attending a potluck, please don’t bring your Aunt Mary’s vintage piece of china to serve potato salad. You will be disappointed if someone breaks it or you forget it. Save those for events at your own home.
8. Have fun! The best part of having a potluck is, there’s not a ton of cleanup and prep for you to do.
9. Be clear on what you’re providing like drinks, plates, cups, etc. And if it’s BYOB, make sure they are aware of that also. Even if it is BYOB make sure to provide plenty of water and non-alcoholic drinks like seltzer or ice tea.

Remember, being clear is being kind. Don’t overthink asking for your guests to let you know what they’re bringing is being picky. In the end, you will have a lovely get together and create memories and that’s the goal. I woke up open.