A Few of my Favorite Things: A Trader Joe’s Holiday Cocktail Party

As you know, I love homemade appetizers! And I love cheese boards. However, during the holiday’s I’m always on the hunt for premade appetizers that still taste homemade. I’m telling you – Trader Joe’s is the place to find them! The Holiday’s are busy and I entertain a lot, but I don’t want to sacrifice on taste just because I’m busy. So, I’ve gathered up A Few of my Favorite Things for a Trader Joe’s Holiday Cocktail Party.

I recently went there with the goal in mind to buy food and drinks for a Holiday Cocktail Party. The total was just under $100 and I got some great things! My menu is made to feed about 10 people and all the items are great quality! These adorable wooden bowls made it to the checkout, too! I’m totally freaking about these bowls. 

The bowls will be a staple through the Holidays! Okay, moving on to the Trader Joe’s truffle selection! The store has some great seasonal truffle items. Everything from truffle butter,  to salami, and cheese, to truffle oil and sea salt. It’s all incredibly affordable, too! 

Frozen Appetizers

Trader Joe’s also has the best selection of frozen appetizers! I’m telling you, your guests will never know they’re not homemade. The quality is great and the flavor is exceptional! And I love love love making appetizers. You know that! However, I do need some shortcuts during the holidays and the store’s selection of premade food allows me to maintain quality. 

I also bought great dipping sauces for the appetizers, too! Like Sriracha BBQ sauce for the bacon wrapped dates and blue cheese mustard for the pastry wrapped sausages. So yum! And those French Onion Soup bites – TO DIE FOR!  It is bite-sized perfection! I recently made my own appetizer very similar to these and I’m serious – these are just as good! 

Cheese Board Items

Cocktail parties are great because it allows people to just mingle as they eat and nibble as they please. It’s one of my favorite ways to entertain! And a cocktail party would not be complete without a cheese board. I always go to Trader Joe’s for it’s inexpensive and high quality cheese selection. 

The Syrah soaked cheese, triple cream brie, and manchego are my favorites! So yum! They also have a great mushroom brie, too. The store has a variety of different meat that amazingly compliments the cheese. They have a very tasty truffle salami that I love and many other options. 

I always add olives and water crackers to my cheese boards. And Trader Joe’s has the best mixed olives! I also love the Dolmadakia’s (stuffed grape leaves). They’re delicious! Seriously the best! I placed the olives in those adorable wooden bowls and it worked out perfectly! 

A Very Merry Pasta Salad

And then to give my guests a little more substance, I threw together the simplest pasta salad ever! Right now, Trader Joe’s has “snowflake” pasta that is so stinking cute! I wanted to keep with the Christmas theme so I added red and green in the way of cheery tomatoes and edamame. I love the frozen edamame at Trader Joe’s! It’s a staple in my freezer. 

I mixed the pasta salad with some melted truffle butter and a little bit of my simple vinaigrette. And then sprinkled the top with fresh basil. I added a little depth of flavor By roasting the tomatoes in the oven until they just started to blister. You can serve this salad hot or cold. So yum! 

Sweet And Everything Nice

Again I used those adorable wooden bowls to serve the salad in. They’re the perfect size for cocktail parties. All cocktail parties need a little something sweet, right!? So, I bought some super yummy macaroons in the freezer section – and oh my goodness! They seriously rival fresh macaroons! 

Spirits To Get You Boozy

Lastly, but certainly not least, the Boozy cheer! It wouldn’t be a cocktail party without some! Trader Joe’s has the BEST wine and champagne selection! Not to mention, incredibly affordable! I love the “Trader Joe’s Select” variety of wine and champagne. It’s basically the same as the really expensive variety in others stores but without the high-end name behind it. 

Trust me, the spirits are great quality! They also have a great selection of sparkling nonalcoholic beverages! I always like to have some of those on hand at every party I throw! I hope you have found some inspiration in my rundown of Trader Joe’s Favorites! Please comment below if you have tried any of these items or have any questions! Cheers! xoxo