Birthday Fondue: A Delicious Tradition

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For the 5th year in a row, we hosted a fondue party to celebrate my birthday.  Basically, we buy the cheese and the chocolate, and a few bottles of wine, and some bread and fruit to start us off, and then ask that our friends bring along something to dip in the cheese or chocolate fondue.  This year, my boyfriend included an awesome flow chart to help our guests figure out what to bring:

I love hosting this party every year.  It’s fun to celebrate with friends and have different sets of friends meet each other!  And they’ve said how much they look forward to this every year 🙂  Plus I much prefer this to the birthday dinners out, where you invite a bunch of friends to a restaurant and at the end of the night there’s that awkward moment where everyone offers to pay for the birthday girl/boy.  Instead, friends come to my place, bring something way cheaper than a fancy meal at a restaurant, and get to chat and eat and have fun!

I prefer hosting this than any other potluck party.  Plenty of options, and as long as you know it tastes good in chocolate or cheese, you’re in the clear!

Suggestions for cheese fondue: bread, veggies, pretzels, crackers.

Suggestions for chocolate fondue: fruit, pretzels (again!), marshmallows, cookies.

Plus, if you think about it, it’s a pretty frugal party.  No one has to spend much money, and everyone gets plenty to eat!

We pick up cheese (and some wine) at Trader Joe’s.  We have a go-to recipe we use for the cheese fondue, though once we lucked out at Trader Joe’s because they had a pre-made fondue mix (all the ingredients in the linked recipe already added) and it was actually cheaper!  And just as delicious!

And chocolate fondue is pretty simple, too.  Chocolate chips, some heavy whipping cream, and then a splash of a flavorful liqueur (amaretto/almond, cherry, etc.) or extract.  Mmmmm.

And we’ve had the same electric fondue pot like this one for years.  It’s served us well for quite a few fondue parties.

So, have I convinced you that fondue parties are a frugal, delicious way to celebrate anything?  Do you host fondue parties?  Does it make you feel like you’re living in the 70s?  Are you jealous of the deliciousness?  Should I put you on the invite list for next year?  What are your favorite foods to dip in chocolate or cheese?