Directions for 10:30 Coffee Hour

     SET-UP: Arrive at the kitchen at 10:00 or before so you can set up and still be on time for church. Sue will make the coffee and tea water and put them out on the table against the West wall of the Parish House. She will also put out cups, tea bags, sugar, ½ and ½ and stirrers. On the small table to the south, she will put out glasses for juice. Next to the juice table is the table where the snacks are put out. Sue also sets out three card tables with chairs. She will cover the tables with the plaid cloths that are from the skinny cupboard in the anteroom off of the kitchen, but cover the tables if necessary. Put napkins (found in the top left hand drawer in the anteroom bank of cabinets) out on the snack table, prepare food to set out (see below), cover it, put it in the small dining room off the kitchen or in the refrigerator in the kitchen if necessary. (DO NOT PUT FOOD IN THE PARISH HALL UNTIL THE FIRST ADULT COMES THROUGH THE PARISH HOUSE DOOR AFTER THE SERVICE. Make sure that an adult is the first person through the snack line!)

     (If it's Parish Breakfast day, white cloths will already be on two tables against the south wall. The good news is, if you are scheduled for that day, that there will probably be food left over that can be used for Coffee Hour.   The bad news is that you won't be able to get into the kitchen until 10:15. Remember, on those days, to take the white tablecloths home to wash, or find a volunteer to do it.)

     PREPARING SNACKS:   Everything you need for Coffee Hour—except what you contribute—should be somewhere in the kitchen or in the anteroom off the kitchen in the cupboards and drawers. Be sure to check both the refrigerator and the freezer for food that can and should be used up. Sue or someone else around will know where various foods and serving dishes are kept. Be sure to ask if puzzled.

     A good snack table might include: (SUGGESTION ONLY. VARY AS YOU WISH)

Cheese and crackers (brick cheese in refrigerator, crackers in cabinet)

Bagels and cream cheese (bagels in freezer, to be cut into 4-8 parts, with tub of cream cheese from refrigerator)

Vanilla/lemon cookies--for non-chocolate eaters (store bought, in cabinet)

Pretzels or other munchies in bowl (one-time use bags in cabinet)

Bite-size muffins, cookies, or other leftovers in refrigerator or freezer

Home-baked goodies, 2-4 plates (from a coffee-hour baker or from you)

Fruit (only if you think to bring it)

           

            Nancy Russell has arranged a schedule for keeping the cabinets stocked. Let her know if anything is running low.

     COFFEE HOUR & CLEANUP:  Slip out of church before the last hymn. Try not to put everything out at once in case there's a big crowd and you need refills. Put out pitchers with juice and fill a few glasses.
     During coffee hour: Keep juice, creamers and plates of goodies refilled. Be sure to save something for the choir. Combine as necessary. As coffee hour winds down, start taking serving plates, cups and trash to the kitchen so Sue can start washing up.
      After coffee hour: Clear tables, remove and shake out plaid tablecloths (they only need occasional washing) and return them to the cupboard. Throw out uneaten food. Help Sue finish cleaning up the kitchen.  

     Enjoy, relax, and thank you! Doing Coffee Hour is usually fun, a great way to meet fellow parishioners and an important contribution to St John's.