A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a craft night through the Girls’ Night group that I started in January with some friends. Each month, one of us picks and event or party to host and invites the rest to come. Some events are bigger than others. This particular one involved three people – Sister, V, and me.

One of my favorite parts of planning these events is the opportunity to host and prepare food and fun for others. Even though this event only had three people in attendance, I still found a way to entertain with food.

After doing a lot of thinking an hearing that the girls wanted pasta, I went searching on Pinterest for pasta recipes. Instead, I found several things that led me to the final decision – I was going to create a pasta bar! Below are some nifty hints (and pictures!) on how to host your very own pasta bar.

First off, everything has to be cute! I pulled out the scrabble tiles for this one!

In order to host a pasta bar, you are going to need lots of pots and a busy stove to cook all of the different kinds of pastas! You want to keep them separate. 🙂 I think I pulled out every size pot I own.

You’re also going to want to warm your sauce. I used the crockpot for this. This was a first time experiment and I learned that they need to stay in the crockpot a little longer. It also would’ve helped if I used smaller jars so that I could put the lid on and keep heat in. The sauce was a little cold, but still very tasty!

Prepare your garlic bread! My favorite is to buy a loaf of French bread and use a garlic spread from my local grocery store on it. Keeps it simple and delicious.

 Prepare your toppings! I put out various cheeses, including Italian blend and cheddar. I did not have any parmesan, so that was missing from this event. I’ll have to remember to buy some for next time!

 

Place out the sauce, uncover the pasta, and let your guests enjoy! (I used small fish bowls for the pasta sauce. I thought it was a fun little touch.)

And of course, no hostess post is complete without a shot of her! Here I am cooking up a storm in my “Little Black Apron.” (Seriously, that’s what it says on it!)