On a chilly day, a soup swap party is a wonderful place to be. When the days are short and it feels like winter will never end, organizing a soup swap party is just the thing to invite warmth and cheer into your home.
GATHERING OVER SOUP
If you’ve never been to a soup swap party before, don’t worry; it’s exactly what it sounds like.
It’s a unique opportunity to gather your fellow soup fan friends and neighbours, uniting everyone over a shared love of soup.
Since soup isn’t generally served at this kind of party, even non-soup fans can be included in the festivities as long as they adhere to the number one rule…
HOSTING A SOUP SWAP PARTY: THE VIDEO
If you’d rather hear me chat about how to host a soup swap party, here’s the video. Want to see more videos like this one? Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!
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THE NUMBER ONE RULE
The number one rule is that each couple or guest needs to bring…did you guess it? Soup!
They need to bring soup!
We’re not talking store-bought cans or tetra paks either.
No, guests need to bring their best soup recipe to the table for everyone else to leave home with.
BEST PRACTICES FOR HOSTING A SOUP SWAP PARTY
Now that you know what a soup swap party is, let’s go over some best practices to ensure yours goes off without a hitch.
SET A LIMIT
I’m a big fan of food-themed parties.
Oyster parties and pizza potlucks work well with a larger crowd, but a soup swap party can put a lot of work on your guests.
The more invitees, the larger everyone’s batch of soup will have to be. While a big group means a greater selection of soup for everyone to leave with, it also means more work for each guest.
It’s certainly worth bearing in mind when deciding on how many folks to invite.
DECIDE ON A QUANTITY
Logistics are important for this kind of party. Now that the number of guests is decided, the next thing to determine is how much soup each portion should be.
This way, everyone will know how much soup to make and bring. Generally, a half to a full litre or quart of soup is a good rule of thumb.
THE CONTAINERS
In addition to swapping soup, containers will also be trading hands.
Make sure your guests know that they likely won’t be seeing their containers again, so they shouldn’t use something they would like to hold onto.
Put forth the suggestion of using mason jars or used yogourt containers. As long as the portions are equal, it doesn’t matter what they bring their soup in.
PRINT OUT THE RECIPES
I love coming home from a soup swap with a bunch of different homemade soups for me to sample.
Sometimes there’s a soup that completely sweeps me off my feet that I simply must recreate.
Encouraging your guests to print off copies of their recipe will not only give everyone the ability to make a batch for themselves later down the line, but it also serves as a kind of memento.
WHAT KIND OF FOOD SHOULD I SERVE AT A SOUP SWAP?
Since there’s already plenty of soup to go around, you might not want to serve up bowls of soup during the swap. But hey, if that’s something you want to do, don’t let me stop you. It would totally be in the spirit of a soup swap!
Maybe you want to keep things warm and cozy, in which case a hearty stew or a crockpot of 5 bean chili might be in order. If your invitees have a high heat tolerance, here’s a recipe for a red hot slow cooker chili. Include a basket of rolls, a fresh salad, and maybe even some mac and cheese if you’re feeling ambitious.
Another option is keeping it light and easy with finger foods or appetizers. Pop a couple of trays of escargots in the oven. Put together a platter of deviled eggs and crudités with a homemade ranch dip. Make a batch of choux pastry and fill them with whipped goat cheese, crab salad, or a smoked salmon mousse. Don’t forget the shrimp ring!
And what about dessert? Every party needs dessert! After all, it was Julia Child who said that a party without cake is just a meeting.
Layer cakes aren’t complicated to make, but a dark chocolate ganache tart is even easier.
If you keep a ziplock bag of choux puffs in the freezer, then profiteroles are one of the easiest bite-sized desserts to make because all you have to do is fill them with cream or custard!
Classic French madeleines are always a hit, too and don’t need a whole lot of fussing to make.
PLANNING YOUR SOUP SWAP PARTY
I think the biggest thing I want you to take away from this is the idea of a soup swap.
The thing is, there is no right and wrong way to host a soup swap party.
I can go on and on with party planning talk, but a soup swap is easy.
You invite friends and family with kitchen savvy and you tell them to bring soup and printouts of their recipe.
Your guests come, you feed them (because that’s the hospitable thing to do), and when they leave, you’ll have a new soup for every day of the workweek.
THANKS FOR DROPPING BY THE KITCHEN!
Hopefully, I’ve given you some party food for thought.
Have you heard of soup swap parties before today? Have you ever been to one?
Do you think you’ll be hosting one anytime soon?
I hope you’ll let me know in the comments below!
By the way, if a soup swap party isn’t your cup of tea, perhaps a pizza party potluck might be more up your alley…
A DIGITAL SOUP SWAP
Need inspiration for what kind of soup you’re going to make for the big day? Here are a few recipes some of my blogger friends pitched in that you may have noticed sprinkled throughout this post. As much as I love soup, at the time of writing this, I only have my recipe for victory borscht available (it’s inspired by a WWII rationing recipe), and I wanted to offer ideas!
New England Corn Chowder from Lindsay at Our Future Homestead (she even includes a recipe for bread bowls!)
5 Bean Crock-Pot Chili from Angela at Front Porch Blessings (She makes hers with venison, yum!)
Nourishing and Gut-Healing Chicken Soup from Marisa at Bumblebee Apothecary (If you have anyone in your family with allergies or health problems, you’ll want to pay attention to what Marisa has to say about the GAPS diet. It might be life-changing.
Vegetable Soup from Shannon at shannontorrens.com (Shannon calls this her diet soup, but I bet it tastes delicious!).
Celery Root Soup from Anja at Our Gabled Home (Did I mention I love celery root soup?).
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