Health & Beauty Tips

On the Saturday before Independence Day, my family always hosts a Fourth of July celebration. There is usually a water balloon fight, lots of beer, an awesome display of fireworks, and a wonderful variety of food. There is always something catered, like chicken, and lots of different sandwiches, potato salads, sushi, etc. Once, we hired a pig roaster. It was fun, but the expense was too much. Last year was the best Fourth of July party so far, because we decided to have a clambake celebration.

If you have a catered party in the summer like ours, I think you should have the caterers serve seafood. You are going to spend a good sum of money on catering, and for just a little bit more money, you could serve interesting seafood rather than the run-of-the mill catered food like chicken and macaroni that you often find at these events.

Our parties for July, the 4th have usually about 200 people more or less. Maybe not 200 all at once, but throughout the day, I can estimate we have no less than that number. One thing it's important to tell is that I don't suggest a clambake celebration unless you have at least about 40 people, since it would be it would be somehow wasteful. Provide you have 40 or more people, I think it's a good idea.

Of course we offered our clambake party through a catering company. We ordered a complete menu, which included mussels, clams, lobsters and quahogs. The bought over the live lobsters and cooked them in place. Part of the fun (both for adults and children) is to look at the chefs doing this. They also lay out lots of rocks and seafood and they they serve the food on top of it.

We went with the "standard clambake", but optional, a "New England clambake" was also available. The price was similar, the difference was probably a more local tweak to the New England version. The one we ordered was delicious, but I wish I could compare the two. I might go with the other option the next time we eat clambake.

Last year's 4th of July clambake celebration was so wildly popular that we couldn't dream of changing the food this year! This year's party is already fully planned, including the fireworks, water balloon fight, and beer that everyone enjoyed last year, and we can't wait for July to come!