Hand’s down, the number one thing people say when I see them around town is how envious they are of our Friday Night Snacks™. And I generally reply, really? It’s just cheese and crackers. But I know, despite my self-deprecating, that’s it’s more special than that and today I’m going to share 3 ideas for making your snack plates a little more special, too.

1. Get yourself some pretty serving plates. I pick them up at all kinds of places, from Christmas Tree Shop to Home Goods to yard sales. I love ones with words on them like Celebrate, I love plane white ones, and I love special seasonal ones. It’s nice to have a variety because you can rotate them to make things more fun but you can also tailor your plate to match (or not clash) with your food. Going along with those serving plates, get yourself some fun cocktail napkins. I have an entire drawer of cocktail napkins to choose from. Some are seasonal, some are snarky, some are generic and some are just plain. Like the plates, I pick them up in lots of places and I’m always on the look out for them. Cocktail napkins make great souvenirs, too!
2. Serve a variety of snacks. My go-to is cheese, crackers & olives. I also like to add some salami and hardboiled or pickled eggs when I have them. I like to have a couple of different types/flavors of cheese, too. I’m a big fan of stinky cheese but a nice cheese spread is always welcome as is a good aged cheddar, smoked gouda, pepperjack and more. If cheese isn’t your thing (well, if cheese isn’t your thing I don’t know if we can be friends, honestly) then go for something else like vegetables and dip or snack mix. The idea is to have something that’s easy to pull together that’s easy to eat. When I’m feeling fancier I do other things like hummus or stuffed mushrooms, baked dips or homemade calzones. I have a whole Pinterest board of appetizers and I just recently started one called Friday Night Snacks.
3. Establish a ritual. Regular commenter Robby is the one who pointed out to me that the big draw of our Friday Night Snacks is the ritual of it all and I think she’s 100% right. The thing that makes this time special is about more than the pretty plates and funny cocktail napkins. It’s more than having really expensive cheese from Vermont. It’s about the time we spend together, it’s about making the extra effort to set this time aside. And for us what works is Friday nights. Maybe for you it’s Saturday afternoon or Wednesdays after work, it doesn’t matter when you set apart the time for something special, what matters is that you do it.

Those are my thoughts on how you can incorporate a special routine into your week. I can’t wait to hear if you try this out!

And don’t forget to leave a link to your blog if you wrote a Thursday post for this week!