New Spring Gifts from Hickory Farms

The spring season is always an exciting time of year. As nature is bursting with color, we are bursting with energy to get outdoors and enjoy beautiful weather and our favorite spring season traditions. So to celebrate this vibrant time of year, Hickory Farms is offering new spring gifts to make the season even sweeter. It’s just our way of making this season burst with color, energy, and now flavor, too!

Each spring gift from Hickory Farms comes in a beautiful basket that was thoughtfully designed with bright spring colors and flavors that are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face. Made with only the freshest of ingredients, our spring gifts feature refreshing fruits, delicious snacks, and delectable treats that can take any spring activity from plain to perfectly delightful.

With The Spring Treats basket you can enjoy D’Anjou Pears, a Fuji Apple, a Navel Orange, Mixed Nuts, 2 Farmhouse Cheddar wedges, and Olive Oil & Rosemary Crackers. You also get our famous Pastel Chocolate Dutch Mints and a Large Spring Flower Decorated Sugar Cookie for a nice sweet treat.

The Hickory Spring Reserve features a lot of the same delicious gourmet snacks and sweets including the Pastel Chocolate Dutch Mints and our cute, flower-shaped Sugar Cookie, but this beautiful basket also includes Kiwi Fruit, Roasted & Salted Pistachios and a bottle of Mirassou Chardonnay.

Our Bountiful Spring Tastings come in a beautiful basket filled to the brim with signature Hickory Farms gourmet goodies including Roasted & Salted Pistachios, Chocolate Covered Dried Strawberries, Lemon Crème Almonds, Mini Dried Fruit Tray, and a Large Spring Flower Decorated Sugar Cookie.

Our new spring gifts are perfect for welcoming a new neighbor or as a special way to wish someone a happy birthday. They make for wonderful graduation gifts and thank you gifts, too!

Who are you planning to surprise with spring colors and flavors this season? Tell us in a comment below.

Share Our Strength’s 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Hickory Farms is proud to support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. Share Our Strength is the leading nonprofit organization working to end childhood hunger in America. The organization offers a variety of ways for individuals to get involved and play a part in the fight to end childhood hunger. And one of these opportunities is right around the corner – the 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry!

Now celebrating its 10^th anniversary, Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry has rallied more than 1.4 million participants and raised over $9.6 million since 2003 to support the No Kid Hungry campaign’s work to surround children with the healthy food they need, every day. This is accomplished by connecting kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals and, through its Cooking Matter program, teaching families how to shop for and prepare delicious, healthy, low-cost meals at home. New and returning Bake Sale participants will have yet another opportunity to contribute to the cause with the 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry, which kicks off on March 21^st!

People interested in participating can either host a bake sale or join a bake sale if they know someone who’s already taking part in the fundraiser. Once you’ve decided how you’ll participate, be sure to check out the Bake Sale Resource Center. It is stocked with tons of great information like flyers and signs, social media tools, recipes, and more – everything you’ll need to hold a successful bake sale.

Special Cookies for the 10th Anniversary of Share Our Strength's Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Photo via Share Our Strength

Not sure if you are up to the challenge? Find support and get inspired by reading the success stories of corporate groups, communities, and individuals who have hosted successful bake sales to help fight childhood hunger.

Share Our Strength Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Photo via Share Our Strength

Visit our website to learn more about Hickory Farms’ involvement with Share Our Strength. And if you’re interested in joining the fight to end childhood hunger, be sure to visit the Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry website for more details on participating in the 2013 Bake Sale.

Organizing a Progressive Dinner Party

Dinner parties are a fun way to gather with family, friends, and neighbors, but it also involves a lot of work for the host. A progressive dinner party is a great option that allows everyone to show off their culinary skills and share the hosting responsibilities.

Progressive dinner parties usually work best with a smaller group of people and with people who live in the same neighborhood or within a few minutes of each other. Once you’ve determined who will be participating, it’s time to figure out who will be the hosts for the evening and what they will serve.

Photo via My Insanity

Most dinner parties involve four courses, but you can add more or take some away as needed. Courses can include appetizers and drinks, soup and salad, a main course, a cheese or vegetable course, and after-dinner desserts and drinks.

Once you’ve decided how many courses will be served, it’s time for the hosts to gather and plan a menu and a schedule of events. Will you stick to dishes that follow a certain theme, or will your group allow for creative freedom, with each host offering a different type of cuisine?

One important point to remember as your group plans the progressive dinner is that you’ll want to select dishes that can be prepared mostly in advance and that require minimal heating time. For example, the host in charge of serving appetizers can offer a spread of gourmet sausage, cheeses, crackers, and nuts. It’s easy to prepare and quick to restock, which means you can spend more time socializing with your guests.

For hosts serving soup and salad, a crockpot soup recipe is your best friend! Start cooking your soup earlier in the day, and then turn the heat down before you head out. The soup will be warm and ready to eat when guests arrive at your house.

Photo via Healthy Snack Recipes

And since you’ll be moving from one home to the next, it’s also important to create a schedule and stick to it. Give your guests plenty of time to arrive at the first home, or tell them to arrive within a certain time frame, and list the time of arrival for each house on the invitations. Be sure to progress to each house at the times listed. This is out of courtesy for the next host, as well as allowing for the next course to be served in a timely manner.

Do you have any tips, recipes, or ideas to share for progressive dinner parties? Please leave a comment to share with us!