Hosting a Salad In A Jar Party is easy as long as you plan ahead a little. Get all the tips you need to host your Salad In A Jar Party in this post.
This past week, we wrapped up our 6 week Daniel Plan with a cooking demonstration by Chef Neena of Grace Farms, a Salad In A Jar Party, and a bonus session on Happiness and Contentment by our Community Pastor. Chef Neena prepared a Spiralized Cucumber Salad and Ahi Tuna Avocado Tartare, both of which were fabulous.
The Salad In A Jar Party was a fun group activity, and a great way to celebrate the completion of our Daniel Plan study. Everyone brought a salad topping, and I provided the mason jars and salad greens. I got this idea from one of the women in our study group who had hosted a similar party at her house.
Given the size of our group – we had over 20 women – the challenge was to make sure we had enough toppings and enough variety.
I would highly recommend hosting a Salad In A Jar Party for your next girls night out, or lunch gathering – it’s a great conversation starter because everyone has their own favorite salad ingredients and packs their jars so differently.
Here are some suggestions on how to host a Salad In A Jar Party:
- Make a flyer with the details – include a picture of what it looks like and specify what you want people to bring
- Have people sign up for an ingredient and specify how much to bring. For each quart size jar, you will need about 2 cups of toppings plus 2 cups of salad greens. We did 2 jars a person, so we needed 4 cups of each topping per person plus 4 cups of salad greens per person.
- A week or two before the party, order as many quart size jars as you need for the party. I ordered enough so each person could make 2 jars to bring home (I found the jars to be less expensive online than in the store). You can also ask people to bring their own jars – it’s just cheaper to buy them in bulk and I didn’t want people to have to worry about hunting the jars down, so I purchased them for everyone.
- A few days before the party, send an email to everyone and remind them what they signed up for, and ask them to bring their ingredient prepped and ready to use. We held our party offsite so I brought a few extra containers in case people didn’t bring their ingredient in a container.
- A day before the party, buy enough salad greens for the number of jars you expect people to fill. Some people will want to fill their jars mostly with toppings, so you may need to prep some extra toppings to have on hand (I brought extras of whatever ingredients we were short on based on the signup sheet as well as fresh strawberries and sprouts that I grew).
- Make a big batch of dressing in case people want to put some in their jars (optional).
- The day of the party, place all the jars on a big table and have lots of spoons ready so people can scoop all the toppings into their jars. We set up two tables because we had so many people, splitting up the toppings between the two tables (with a big group, you are going to have duplicate ingredients so this works out fine). Put the salad greens in a big bowl with tongs so people can easily push down greens into their jars.
- Make a demo jar so everyone can see what the Salad In A Jar will look like.
That’s it!
As far as the method to layering the Salad In A Jar, here are a few tips:
- If using dressing, put a few spoonfuls of dressing in the bottom of the jar before adding any toppings
- Place the hardest vegetables and beans at the bottom (e.g., carrots, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, chickpeas, black beans)
- Next, layer whatever your favorite toppings are other than the salad greens and nuts (this inclues softer, juicier veggies/fruits like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, blueberries)
- Add the nuts (if using) and salad greens last
To eat, all you have to do is shake the jar if you are using dressing, or pour it out on a plate if you like.
Be sure to take a picture to remember all the fun you had!
I wish I was at the party. I love salads in a jar. This is my favorite blog post of the day!! Sharing now :
This is a great idea! I’ve done soup exchanges before but love this for spring or summer!
Thanks Amy – it’s a great group activity for the spring or summer!
So creative Jeanette! I’m totally in with a party in a jar!
Thanks Sommer – it’s a fun activity and you can do it with a crowd!
That sounds like a fun party!
It was a lot of fun Angie – you should try it!
So much fun! This is my kind of party! Thanks for sharing these tips, this is definitely something I would do in the future 🙂
Sonali – you must try this – it is so fun!
I love this idea! Thank you for sharing!
Kim – this is a really fun party idea – hope you try it!
Thank you! This is great! I saw a photo of a salad in a jar party and wanted to have one but didn’t know how to go about it.
So glad you find this helpful Yolanda – have fun!