Card Party Snacks

We play cards with friends at our home nearly every Saturday night. We have been doing this for at least 15 years. It is fun for us adults because we can still get some entertainment and have some fun on Saturday nights with out having to get babysitters. Most all of us have kids so going out on Saturdays is not an easy thing. It is a lot cheaper to stay home and play cards, and all the kids can play in our basement or one of my kid’s rooms. Little ones can play in the family room which is opened and right next to the kitchen where we play cards.

Of course when you have people over to play cards every Saturday night chances are you are going to have to provide some kind of snack. Once in a while other people will bring things but most of the time my husband and I provide snacks and soda. We do not really drink so we do not provide alcoholic beverages, so if someone wants to drink they can bring their own alcoholic beverages. Most of the people we play with regularly do not drink either, some times we have new people come over and play who do drink but if they want something other than soda they will have to bring their own.

When it comes to serving snacks while people are playing cards, you really have to think in terms of two things simple and clean.

Why Simple?

Simple because most of the eating done while card playing is mindless. People like to crunch and munch in between hands, most of the time they are not really paying attention to what they are eating or how much. People tend to eat a lot while playing cards because of this, so you will want to provide something that you can get a large quantity of for a small price.

Why Clean?

When people are playing cards the one of the last things you want to do is get the cards dirty. Getting the cards dirty can not only ruin the deck of cards, but can also mark cards. Imagine if everyone knew that the card with the marinara stain on it is the Jack of Clubs, it would kind of make it a disadvantage to have that card because everyone would know what you have. Believe me this kind of thing makes serious card players very angry.

Also serving anything that could possibly spill or drip on the table should be avoided as well.

So in order to keep everything clean and fair snacks that are eaten at the table should be clean and mostly dry, things that won’t get on the fingers.

Probably the messiest things that might be acceptable are chips and salsa or another type of dip. These kinds of snacks are only recommended if there is a lot of table space. If you have an over crowded or full table, you simply don’t have enough room for this kind of snack. Elbows and everything else will bump in to these snacks because you will need one bowl for the chips and one for the dips, and there will need to be several of these on the table. Any dip even at a table with a lot of room should be fairly thick in textures. Tortilla chips, sun chips, and crackers are good for this, but avoid potato chips because they are greasy and will get all over your fingers.

Recommended Snacks

In keeping with theme of clean and simple here are the card party snacks I recommend the most:

Pretzels (The best, cheap and plentiful)

Peanuts (Make sure no one is allergic)

Mixed Nuts (See Above)

Bride Mix (Not if it’s too hot or even a little warm in the room)

Crackers with a squeeze cheese (place a few cans around so no one has to reach or pass)

Popcorn (Any kind is fine, but a cheese popcorn might get messy)

Cracker Jacks or Caramel corn

Some kind of pretzel mix such as an already made purchased Chex Mix.

Gorp. Or Trail Mix (see recipe below)

Pretzels mixed with pop corn and peanuts

Sun Chips (The new cheddar once are awesome)

Snyder’s Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Sandwhiches

Snyder’s Peanut Butter Pretzel Sandwhiches

Combos any Flavor

Small sandwiches

Submarine Sandwich cut up into individual serving sizes

Cubed Cheese

Small bite sized sausages

Mini wieners

Cookies home made or store bought (careful with the chocolate on hot days)

Grapes (already removed from vine and washed – serve with cheese cubes)

M & M’s

Heartier Food

The above snacks are snacks that are acceptable to eat at the table. You could of course have some snacks or more hearty food on the counter top or a separate serving table. It should be understood though that those foods are to be consumed away from the card table.

Some times if we are having something special on a card night we will take a designated break time to consume some messier foods.

We have gotten pizza, or I have made wings, or Italian Beef Sandwiches, meat balls, or sloppy Joes. Among other things but we break to eat these things or someone who is out of a hand can go and grab a quick bite if they like. These types of things are easy to make in-expensive, and you can feed a lot of people with them.

What Do I Serve the Most

On nights when it is all about the cards and everyone has already come well fed, I find that pretzels are just about the best things to put out. They are inexpensive, low in fat, and nice and dry.

My Trail Mix Recipe (Although I am sure this is many people’s recipe)

Equal parts of all of these

Peanuts

M&M;’s (regular)

Raisins

And if you really want to make it good but less healthy add some Raisinets

Pour all of these items in to a large zip lock bag. Then shake the zip lock bag up like crazy, until everything is evenly mixed. Warning: This is addictive.

Have a good time munching and playing cards!