I've posted this before and am pasting from one of the old threads:

Another
of my favorites that is always a BIG hit is Olive Poppers. I remember
making them in the 1960's from Sunset Magazine, I think. They've made a
comeback, at least around here, partially because of Tom Douglas serving
them in his restaurants. This is his recipe; the original used plain
black olives or maybe pimento stuffed green olives. I use kalamata now
and some kind of green olive (make half a batch of each kind) - garlic
stuffed is good, but pimento remains my fav.

Since I can't buy huge kalamatas where I live, I use the biggest
pitted ones I can find and kind of splay them open (2 of them for each
popper) and wrap them around the cream cheese. The olives don't have to
be pretty. I never mess with the pastry bag. I don't use cream cheese
with the green stuffed ones and can usually find colossal green ones
with no problem

Palace Olive Poppers - Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen 6 to 8 Servings
If you want to make a lot of poppers for a party, double or triple the
recipe and use a pastry bag with a plain 1/4-inch round tip to fill the
olives. Soften the cream cheese first by beating it lightly with and
electric mixer. Unbaked, these dough-wrapped olives will keep
refrigerated, covered with plastic wrap, for a day or two and then baked
when needed.

24 colossal size Kalamata olives (or pitted or stuffed green olives -skip cream cheese if they are stuffed already)
3 tablespoons cream cheese
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
9 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
1 to 2 tablespoons milk, as needed

Herb Sour Cream Dressing (Dip for the Poppers)

1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt(optional)

1 Pit the olives with an olive pitter,keeping them as whole and
unbroken as possible. Place the cream cheese in a small bowl and beat it
with a spoon to soften it slightly.Using your fingers, stuff the olives
with the softened cream cheese. Set aside.

2 Combine the Cheddar cheese,flour, Tabasco,and salt in a bowl,using a
wooden spoon or rubber spatula.Add the melted butter and mix.Add the
milk,starting with 1 tablespoon and using more as needed, and mix. Use
your hands to knead the dough for a minute until a soft dough is formed.

3 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.Pinch off small balls of dough
about the same size as the olives.Flatten each ball of dough with your
fingers and wrap each olive with it. Place the dough-wrapped olives on a
parchment-lined baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake until golden
brown,about 25 minutes.

Olychick note: Serve warm or at least warmish - if they've cooled too much just warm them
for a minute in the oven. Don't microwave them. If you want to
differentiate the poppers with the black from the green olives, I
usually sprinkle some paprika on the green olive ones before baking.

Oh, and they do hold well, unbaked for a few days. Just makes sure
you keep the olives kind of dry when you're assembling them. And I never
make the dip either, I just serve them plain.

Oh, phew! When you said "neighborhood" I was thinking 100. I've made appetizers for 100, but it's far more work than fun. :)

Do you know what the other courses will be? It sounds like you're aiming more to tidbits than larger plated starters?

Are you good at using filo dough? If so, cut it into strips, two layers apiece, brush with tasty oil, add a dollop of yummy filling and roll up. Sprinkle with powder grated assertive cheese or nuts (optional, but useful for telling apart different flavors). Or you could buy the little premade filo cups and fill them. Filling could be a meat or chicken paté (just run some cooked, moist (with some sauce) meat and veg through the grinder, mix well and adjust seasoning), caramelized onions with something crunchy like half a water chestnut, a mash of root vegetables, etc. If you want help with a specific filling, just ask. Bake for about 10 minutes until just starting to get brown. Reheat for the same amount of time.

I don't know what the top trends are, but melon wrapped in prosciutto has been very popular for the last some years, and is pretty light.

You could do a dip extravaganza--currently on trend--if they're the kind of people who like to commune around a dipping table--several standing height small bar tables are ideal. It's especially fun if you like making your own dippers such as tortilla chips, potato crisps and pita. Have a Texas seven layer dip, baba ganouj, and loaded sour cream dip (with herbs and crunchies like bits of scallion, lychee nuts, bell peppers, etc.). And lots of raw vegetables for all.

Canapés have been back in style for a couple of years, especially forward retro flavors. Kind of gussied up kitsch. You can buy the little toast rounds or make your own, then make little stacked jewels and piped dreams on them. Since deviled eggs are popular, you could pipe the filling onto a pumpernickel toast and top with a curl of fresh pimento, then use the white and some minced walnuts and curry mayonaise as a bed for a slice of olive on wheat. You could make a Reuben sandwich canapé with a round of corned beef on some sauerkraut on Russian dressing on a rye round, with a slice of pickle spear on top.

Do you know what the main is?

Is there a theme? Like Mexican or Italian or is it just a progressive dinner and anything goes?

This Leek and Camembert Tart is wonderful.

I've never heard of it. Thought it might be another name for 'elders'. Instead of senior citizen. (haha). A 'progressive'. Any who, i looked it up...

A progressive dinner (US) or safari supper (UK) is a dinner party with successive courses prepared and eaten at the residences of different hosts. Usually this involves the consumption of one course at each location. Involving travel, it is a variant on a potluck dinner and is sometimes known as a round-robin. An alternative is to have each course at a different dining area within a single large establishment. In a safari supper, the destination of the next course is generally unknown by the participants, and they have to decipher a clue before moving on. In the USA, participants go to each house for the various courses. Often there is a regional theme for each dinner, such as Italian, German, or French. Various wines to suit the courses are often served at each location. A challenge is keeping the food warm and ready at each location. An alternative is to have the courses at different restaurants.

Hmm, interesting. How many people and how many homes involved?

Seems difficult for the main meal folks keeping things prepped and ready on time....depends on the dish i guess.

Other possibilities for a buffet of apps...chicken liver pate, served with toast points, a half a salmon filet poached in a well seasoned court boullion, mini egg rolls, pre fried and warmed in the oven, mini cabbage rolls ( like cabbage rolls but tiny, only 2 bites per, on a tooth pick...VERY labor intensive! but guaranteed to get high praise!) Tiny choux paste puffs stuffed with..."something"..crab salad, ham salad, egg salad, chicken salad...whatever. Tiny garlic knots with marinara sauce for dipping....devilled eggs....who doesn't like them?

Yep, Sleevendog....a royal pIA for the host of the main!...apps and desserts are easy!!
Imagine planning a main course for a time after the app course and the salad course....and everyone pops in and you need to have your meal pop out of the oven? And you are trying to plan a dish that can be finished and held in the oven for 2 hours!...Comes down to stew of one sort or another. I did serve a roast loin of pork once, but it was cool by the time we arrived and had to be heated and then you have to deal with the starch and vegetables.

The progressive dinners that I've been to were hosted by close by neighbors--within a couple of residential blocks at least--and done on foot, sometimes with extra guests who parked by the people who invited them, and usually more smaller courses, rather than one big sit down main. The timing could still be an issue, but with a lot of frivolity and someone occasionally dashing away to make sure the next course was coming along well (usually with a teenaged dinner-sitter), it didn't really burden anyone who didn't enjoy the pressure.

The timing was that each host would have 20-30 minutes to finish cooking between courses and would go all evening, soup to nuts (hors d'oeurve and cocktails, soup, salad (though sometimes salad was later as in Europe), fish, meat, fruit (or fromages et fruits when that was so popular here), sweets and coffee, nuts and nightcaps), so a lot of the dishes were heavy on the prep and mise en place, but then cooked a la minute. :) My current neighborhood manages a "bring an appetizer to share" type of open house once a year, if we're lucky. Sigh.

Sarah, I hope it's all wonderful fun!!

I guess my concern is it supposed to be nibbles (like for a cocktail party) or a real appetizer (like a first course at a dinner party) and will it be sit down or stand up and mingle. My suggestions for the first (cocktail party and stand up and mingle) would be different for a sit down first course type of appetizer. If it's the second, this time of year an asparagus tart would be a nice course served with a good white wine or perhaps a crab bisque -- that's always elegant. For the first option, there are a lot of stand up muncies -- spanikopita comes to mind, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto which is baked and then served at room temperature, shrimp cocktail (so traditional but oh, so good especially if the shrimp is roasted).

If it is a sit down event, I agree with Martha, a crab or other seafood soup would be very nice and elegant.

Sounds like fun. I'm caught up on the 'mains'. But that could be divided up into an Italian style meal. App nibbles, a soup, a small pasta dish...like a ravioli, something seafood, then the 'main'. Usually beef with a veg. Something sweet, then fruit and cheese with a cocktail. That is 7 homes.

Would not work here as most of my friends are horrid cooks. NYC is small dwellings for most even with decent jobs. Just a few of us have the room to host. It does work out as many that can't cook cover the wine etc.

If me i would do puff pastry as i've had fun with it recently. So many different ways to use it. I have this one bookmarked, puff pastry pops

I did pesto parm pinwheels, the bacon parm straws, squares with grueyere, leek and baby ,artichoke hearts, (in the grocery freezer section), and the big hit were the pops, i skewered fresh apple and pear, thin small slices and used a mild blue. cheese. Prepped ahead and kept cold and covered on the baking trays so it was a fast cook.

We get really good olives here. I'm going to make those soon.

These are more casual, but I like cheese straws. Easy to make a day or two before the party and people love them. Smitten Kitchen Cheese Straws

Sorry to post and run! Thanks so much for the ideas thus far. Let me fill in a few more details.

These are all people that live in our condo neighborhood so quite close - 1-2 minute walk between homes.

The courses will be:

Appetizer
Salad
Soup
Main
Dessert

So 5 stops/homes. No set theme - it is quite relaxed. We did this in October. As I recall the courses were: appetizer - cheese plate, caprese; soup (which I did) - roasted pumpkin; salad - various choices; main - grilled lamb; dessert - cheesecake.

Yes, the person with main has a challenge. That person usually just ducks out of the prior stop early to do final preparations.

The appetizer course will not be sit down - probably based around my kitchen island.

Keep the ideas coming!

Mini brochettes. Marinated chicken strips, chilli prawns, bacon and coquille Saint Jacques, cheese and pineapple, roast beef strips, sausages....

Love the mini brochette idea...
If it will all be stand around the island sort of thing, consider a fondue pot of traditional cheese and another of bubbling oil and various things to dunk....like various raw veggies, mushrooms celery sticks blanched broccoli and cauliflower florettes, bread chunks of course, bits of beef, shrimp....and several "interesting" things to dip into when your food is cooked or before cooking.

The "olive poppers" are known in our family as "baked martinis" and have been popular holiday hors d'oeuvres at our house for at least 30 years!! Slightly different recipe as these are large olives surrounded by a nippy cheddar cheese pastry, baked and served warm, no dipping sauce needed. Always using stuffed green olives - your choice of stuffing :-)) Perfect accompaniment to a glass of wine!

As Ina Garten councils, serve at most three different appetizers - one warm (or hot), one cold or room temp and one completely store-bought, like Marcona almonds or mixed nuts.

We did something similar to this many, many years ago. It started with drinks and appetizers at my house. At that time, the group (about 30 people) were divided into teams and were given lists - it was a treasure hunt! Of they went, and when they were through, they arrived at my friend's house for the main dinner and to see how everyone had done (and get prizes!). She made multiple pans of baked lasagna, a huge salad and bread. After that, they returned to my house (where most of the cars had been left), for dessert - think I served cheesecake as it was easy and delicious. It was such a fun party...

Sounds like fun!....Very often I find that simple, with fewer options makes for a vastly better party than trying to cover all bases with "maybe they dpon't like pasta" or "some people migth want something lighter so best to have some chicken"...
I have thrown many many parties with just cheeses meats raw veggies and crackers, with a meat like ham or grilled chicken or pork chops or steaks, and a starch, like baked potatoes, salad, bread and cheese cake dessert....that's always easy and well recieved!