Antipasto skewers.

Exactly! Because I always, always, always want antipasto (not just for parties, really. name your meal.), but it ends up being either a fork and plate thing, or an everyone-gets-their-fingers-in-everything thing even if you try to do things on toothpicks. The skewers are brilliant.

bacon

Mmmm. bacon.

Now I'm thinking of Parties I Have Known. Typical family holiday things are shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, ooh and one time my aunt made this delicious dip that was like a Reuben sandwich.

My parents' Christmas party has those skewers, veg and dip, sometimes fruit and this ginger dip (no one seems to like that but us), sometimes a spiral cut ham with rolls... We've done hot passed hors d'oeuvres, but I can only think of Pesto Pinwheels, due to an incident when I was in high school and we forgot to put them out, so they were the afterschool snack all winter. What else? I know there's more, but I can't think of what.

For easy, my friends and I often do a platter with meats and cheeses and then hummus and carrots.

I love snack foods/hors d'oeuvres/etc., and most especially dip.

Edit: Depending on your crowd, this might be a little much, but I made a ridiculous buffalo chicken dip recently....

Now I'm thinking of Parties I Have Known.

Parties I go to usually have a fantastic assortment of cheeses (including triple-cream Brie with homemade quince paste), lots of fruit, chips and homemade salsa, and my mom's artichoke dip. (Which I get to have on Friday, yaaaay!)

Ooh! Brie en croute! Maybe not for summer, but a parents' party classic. Another thing way easier than it looks, if you buy the frozen puff pastry. Throw some apricot jam on top, and bake. YUM.

ooh and one time my aunt made this delicious dip that was like a Reuben sandwich

hungry now

The last party I really cooked for was a LONG time ago, but I always do spiced pecans and usually goat cheese & onion relish tartlettes, though for 30 people tartlettes might be more work than I'd be willing to put in.

The onion relish link seems to be broken there - it's here: [link]

[edit: Oh, and you can also just serve the onion relish on top of a baked brie. I find the easiest way to make it toothpick/cracker friendly is to put the brie in the freezer just until it firms up and then cut it into cubes (leaving the round shape intact) before you bake it, thus saving your guests the trouble of cutting through the rind.]

PS, All hail the Wayback Machine! That website was lost when I migrated to Dreamhost and I still haven't found the time or energy to put it back up.

Hold on to your ovaries, folks: [link]

Backstory: his friend Sophie at day care turned 2 last week. He's been singing on and off for days. After I stopped videoing, I said, "Do you love Sophie?" He replied, "Yes. Big hug."

I knew I was missing something obvious -- the Cream Cheese Thing! It's layers of neufchatel or whatever with pesto, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts in between. Possibly my favorite.

I really have a dip problem.

Jessica's spiced pecans rock.

Backstory: his friend Sophie at day care turned 2 last week. He's been singing on and off for days. After I stopped videoing, I said, "Do you love Sophie?" He replied, "Yes. Big hug."

Aw! That is nice!