by Joanna Green
Every year Tesco Time to Care Appeal adopts a charity with a strong community presence as its Charity of the Year. For this year's charity, Help the Hospices, Tesco aims to raise £3 million for the UK's local hospices. By taking part in the Wine at 9 campaign you can do your bit and have a great time
Invite your friends round for a get-together, try out some new wines and raise some needed cash for a worthy cause. There are several easy ways to make a donation. Your partygoers can give cash, send a cheque, call with a Visa card or get together and make an online contribution. Whichever method you choose, Wine at 9 is the perfect excuse for a party. And with these ideas to get you started, what are you waiting for? Get those invitations in the post.
With the recent remakes of Charlie's Angels and Starsky and Hutch, the Abigail's Party era is back with a vengeance. Embrace the decade that taste forgot and throw your own '70s revival night.
Set the mood: Dig out that lava lamp and hang a disco ball from the ceiling. Spin some classic disco sounds (Abba, The Bee Gees or Rose Royce) to get the dancing started.
Audience participation: Hey, you're not in this alone. Tell your guests to plunder their wardrobes for a suitably tasteless outfit and award a 2004-era prize to inspire them to create the best costume. As another diversion, play Who's Who? by asking guests to bring a picture of themselves in true '70s style and see who can guess the identities in the photos.
Eat and drink: Drink Mateus Rose, Blue Nun and Black Tower if you're feeling really retro. Or better yet, serve Tesco Vintage Claret and raise some extra money (10% of the price of each bottle bought between 11th and 17th September will be donated to Help the Hospices). Fondue, cheese and pineapple skewers or quiche lorraine can be delicious even if your mother did serve them at her dinner parties. Round off the night with the definitive '70s dessert: Black Forest gateau.
Recipes:
Be dramatic and throw a stylish duo-chrome party à la Truman Capote's famous annual black-and-white balls
Set the mood: Print a classic black and white photograph on the invitations. Buy monochrome balloons and table confetti. Look for off-cuts of fake zebra skin to throw over the sofa and lay the floor. Dig out those black and white posters you were once so fond of (The Kiss by Doisneau?) and hang white fairy lights from the ceiling.
Audience participation: If your guests want to play games, draughts or chess will be in keeping with the theme. Make the dress code black tie or casual black and white. What better excuse to dust off that 'little black dress'? Pair it with a black or white feather boa for extra pizzazz.
The music should be big band or smooth jazz (try Glen Miller, Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong) or for a '60s slant try the Beatles' White Album. Rent black and white movies to show on the television: The Third Man, Casablanca or a Hitchcock classic.
Eat and drink: The wine can be any well-chilled white or make Black Velvet cocktails with Guinness and champagne (half and half - pour in the Guinness, then top up with the bubbly). Keep the food themed too with bowls of black olives, black and white seared scallops, white bean salad or cassoulet, miniature black puddings and warm, crusty white bread. For dessert, make white wine jelly, white chocolate mousse or Black Forest bread and butter pudding. Or use the party as an excuse to serve the richest, darkest chocolate you can find. Finally, get some black and white film in that camera and make it a night to remember.
Menu ideas:
One so rarely gets to act like a diva in modern society. Throw a Hollywood idols party and unleash the starlet within you
Set the mood: Send invitations in the shape of Oscars or clapper boards to create an air of film-star glamour and roll some red carpet up to your front door for the guests' arrival. Dress as your all-time favourite Hollywood star and give a prize to the most glamorous guest or hold your own mini Oscars ceremony (chocolate or fake gold Oscars can be bought from novelty shops).
Decorate the room with as much gold and silver fabric as you can throw at it and stick gold stars on the doors; the tackier the better. Keep the lighting low and show classic Hollywood films in the background (think Breakfast at Tiffany's, Some Like It Hot and Brief Encounter).
Eat and drink: Bubbles are the order of the day, so serve champagne or for an inexpensive alternative try Cava or Prosecco. Make Kir Royales and other champagne cocktails. And for a great red wine try Tesco Californian Merlot Reserve (10% of the price of each bottle bought between 11th and 17th September will be donated to Help the Hospices). Make your own smoked salmon canapés and if you're feeling flush, buy some sushi or caviar. You won't need a lot; after all, the Hollywood elite don't eat very much.
Menu ideas:
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is set to hit screens this autumn. Celebrate the return of the Chardonnay-swigging, chain-smoking singleton with your own matchmaking party
Set the mood: The décor should be devilish with an air of romance. Place vases of flowers around the room and light plenty of candles. Invite all your mates round and ask them to bring a single friend. The dress code should be best pulling outfit or perhaps a pair of pyjamas, which Bridget was so fond of.
Play some suitable party games encouraging your guests to get up-close-and-personal. Maybe a game of Twister, Pass the Orange or Truth or Dare? The music should be party classics with some mellow jazz towards the end of the evening.
Eat and drink: As Bridget knew so well, the best matchmaking aid is plenty of social lubricant - wine. Guests can bring along a bottle (or three) of Chardonnay (try Tesco finest Australian Chardonnay Reserve: 10% of the price of each bottle bought between 11th and 17th September will be donated to Help the Hospices) and the food laid on should be minimal. Bridget Jones is an obsessive calorie counter so anything consumed will be done so with guilt. Keep it simple with olives, dips, home-made brushcetta, cheese, pate and bread. And as a going-away party favour slip this list of hangover cures into your guests' coat pockets.
Recipes:
- Quick tomato bruschettas
- Healthy guacamole, Feta dip with mint and more dips
- Canapés for dummies
- Sun-dried tomato-olive spread
- Easy homemade ice creams
Find out more about Wine at 9 and Help the Hospices