Eleventh Day of Christmas Party and Menu Ideas
Entertaining Themes and Recipes Based on Ladies Dancing
Nov 10, 2009
According to the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, the gift associated with the eleventh day of Christmas was eleven ladies dancing. It is unclear if the ladies were doing a burlesque type dance or more sedate ballet or folk style jigs. There are companies who will provide burlesque dance lessons for groups of ladies in the home, but this article will focus on ideas for parties based on ballet or the musical Grease.
Host a Ballet Themed Party
There is a wealth of ideas for parties based on the ballet. The simplest is to invite guests to arrive dressed as famous ballerinas such as Darcey Bussell or male ballet dancers like Rudolf Nureyev. Alternatively, base the party around one of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballets such as The Nutcracker Suite or Swan Lake.
Food ideas are plentiful too. Serve a fruit pavlova in honour of the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. Why not consider dishes using plums after “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”? Duck in plum sauce is quite delicious. The name of the dancer and actress Moira Shearer brings to mind sheep shearing so dish up lamb burgers or Lancashire hotpot.
Throw a Grease Themed Party
A Grease themed party is a wonderful excuse to invite guests to arrive in 1950s fancy dress. Ladies can dress up as Olivia Newton John by wearing full skirts with net petticoats and adopt bouffant hair styles whilst the men can dress up like John Travolta in leather jackets, drainpipe trousers, and slicked back rock ‘n roller hair. Play the soundtrack from the musical in the background.
It would be the perfect excuse to serve up junk food such as hot dogs, burgers, fries, popcorn and ice cream. Create cocktails from different soda based drinks. Or, for a less junky 1950s dinner, why not serve meatloaf (see recipe below), with or without tomato sauce, accompanied by sweet corn, peas and mashed potatoes. Follow it up with a traditional apple pie.
Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe
Ingredients:
- ¾ lb minced beef
- ¼ lb sausage meat
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp mixed herbs
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp brown sauce
- 1 oz white breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- Few drops of Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Method:
- Peel and chop the onion
- Mix all the ingredients except the egg together
- Lightly beat the egg
- Add it to the meat mixture and stir well
- Lightly oil a loaf tin that is big enough to take the mixture
- Put the meat mixture in the tin and squash down well
- Cover the tin with some foil and bake the meat loaf at gas mark 4, 180 C, 350 F for about an hour or so until the meat is cooked through and the loaf is starting to clear from the sides of the tin
Readers may also be interested on this article Themed Parties on the Twelve Days of Christmas for further information on the popular Christmas song. If these ideas based on ladies dancing don’t appeal, why not consider those offered in the article The Tenth Day of Christmas Party and Menu Ideas or Twelfth Day of Christmas Party and Menu Ideas?
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