Appetizers are fun food, so experiment with colours and textures. We served Baba Ghanouj, spicy black bean dip, artichoke and asiago dip and two cheddar and crab dip (all Longo’s own), some veggies, Stonemill baugette and tortillas. You can jazz up dips with a bit of sprinkled fresh chopped herbs or bits of firey red pepper. We also served flavoured oils and a selection of breads. Fruit and cheese are also great options because they do double duty as dessert.

Some of the amazing things that we served are: Maple Leaf Turkey and Roast and Longo's own Honey Roasted spiral ham with pineapple. To dress the meats, we served cranberry sauce, gravy and Maille's honey mustard. We prepared a gorgeous Mesclun salad with a light balsamic vinagrette, baked yams and Vidalia Onion dip (see food section for recipe). Also, we presented assorted whole olives, baby gherkins, cut veggies and tri-colour Olivieri tortellini on skewers . No meal is complete without some delicious and hearty bread to sop up stray flavours — we opted for a delicious foccacia and the classic: French baugette.

Dessert is definitely the most fun part of any meal. We chose the Rival Chocolate fountain as our centerpiece and chose some smaller desserts that could be dipped in the liquid chocolate. We opted for brownies, peanut butter cookies and fresh fruit. We also presented luscious lemon tarts, cute cupcakes and cheeses. Save time by using mixes like Dr.Oetker and Betty Crocker. We won't tell if you won't...