There are plenty of ways to spice up your open house and make it both an enjoyable and memorable experience for all of your attendees. Let’s make sure everyone will walk away with a great impression of what’s in store when they buy your property by looking into 5 creative food ideas for your Santa Cruz open house.
Sidestep the Traditional
Anyone can put out a few pitchers of water or lemonade, but you need to go beyond these basics to make things stand out.
A wonderful option to accomplish this goal is adding some fresh sliced fruit to water or lemonade. Another popular choice is a Southern sweet tea with lemon wedges.
Of course, these can be combined with other refreshments to round out a spread and contribute vibrant color to the overall package. Just because it’s a simpler idea doesn’t mean it can’t make a positive impact on your open house attendees.
Add Some Sophistication
If the buyers you’re targeting are singles and couples without children, it could certainly pay off to mix in a splash of elegance by offering mocktails.
Mocktails are non-alcoholic mixed drinks typically made with soft drinks, juices, and fruit that imitate the visual style of traditional cocktails. Take into account the time of year you’re selling your home to help inform which direction to go when choosing your mocktail offerings.
Frozen apple margaritas or a pineapple punch bring out the green and yellow notes of summer. If you’re dealing with a winter sale, cranberry sangria topped with fresh mint gets the job done while complementing a red and green holiday theme.
Think Beyond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Getting into the open house staple of baked goods, you can continue to find atypical methods to meet your needs.
Foregoing brownies in favor of blondies is a solid choice that’s unlikely to turn people away. If you want to find something more seasonal, offering a pumpkin pinwheel filled with cinnamon frosting brings that fall look to the table.
Lemon squares may not seem impressive but they still fulfill their purpose of a sweet treat and leave chocolate out of the equation. Cinnamon rolls and mini donuts have become a more popular preference lately to fill the home with the pleasant baked good smell while avoiding chocolate.
The Way-Out-There Approach
Now that you have covered the more expected refreshments you would normally see at any open house, let’s look at some more out-there ideas that could turn heads.
Regular potato chips can be a messy choice, but switching them out for avocado or eggplant parmesan chips alleviates that problem while still providing what is almost certainly a unique solution.
Another suggestion is grilled skewers of different meats and vegetables. For example, marinated chicken skewers with zucchini are guaranteed to be a big hit and work really well if you’re targeting more health-conscious buyers.
The Ironclad Failsafe Option
If you’re feeling that you don’t have the time or the stresses of selling your home are becoming overwhelming, there’s always the possibility of hiring a caterer to cover all of your open house refreshment needs.
Clearly the pricier option on the table, you’ll meet with a caterer to carefully select a menu that you feel best represents your home on the market and can also be aimed directly at your target buyer demographic. Shop around to find the caterer that you feel best fits your needs and budget appropriately and then let them work their magic.
Guidance for a Great Open House in Santa Cruz
If you’re selling your Santa Cruz house and want to host a show-stopping open house, contact our team at 831-588-2334!