Apres Ski Fondue Party

 Our friends Brandi Smith and Scott Sachse moved in down the street (literally, just 5 houses down!) so we decided to host their neighborhood welcome party to introduce them to the ‘hood. To say our neighbors are fun is a huge understatement. Just reference the Luau for proof of that. Our neighborhood group is called the Southside Swillers, and at every party, I'd say we earn the "swillers" part of that nickname. Almost all neighborhood parties have some sort of theme, so we chose “Apres Ski Fondue” for this one. The theme was inspired by an episode of Modern Family.

Here's the invitation.

It was perfect with the recent snowfall, and fondue is so fun and easy. I already have 4 fondue pots and tons of forks, so it was pretty simple to just cut up fruits, veggies, and breads for dippers, then make melty cheese and chocolate fondue. I did two kinds of cheeses (traditional Swiss and cheddar ale), with apples, breads, and veggies as dippers. For chocolate, I did a milk chocolate peanut butter with s’more station and my favorite: dark chocolate with strawberries, bananas and pineapple.

Everyone came decked out in their Apres Ski attire too – ski goggles, ski pants, fair isle sweaters, fur boots and Uggs, Rollie’s trapper hat -  and even Hudson dressed the part in a ski sweater, socks with little skiers on them, and a matching stocking hat.

Hudson was dressed for the slopes, but settled for the Jumperoo

Brandi & Scott - Officially Neighbors!

Down vests and Tank 7 Beers for Scott & Rollie.

 As with most of our neighborhood parties – it raged on until after midnight. And there were fireworks and some sort of floating lantern that took off about a mile down the road!  It ended up being a great way to welcome our new neighbors – and show them that it’s really not your typical neighborhood.

Up to no good.

Let's find a way to make the uninvited neighbors mad.

Going, going, gone.