Five Unexpected Holiday Party Bring-Alongs

Holiday time means party time, and we hear it's polite to bring along a little somethin' somethin' for your host and fellow invitees. Mixed nut assortments and fruitcake may very well suffice, but might we suggest any of the following as a means to express your gratitude and general holiday spirit in a less totally-cliche way?

Smitten Kitchen's chocolate Guinness cake
If you've never contributed to a holiday party in any capacity other than setting the table and refilling water glasses but want to quickly establish yourself as a culinary force to be reckoned with, give this a shot. Worked for me, at least. For parties, you can make a few smaller cakes in individual loaf pans and decorate with festive wrapping-- but really, after your friends try it, they won't give a crap what it was wrapped in.

Yankee Magazine's cranberry salsa
Sweet, spicy and tangy, it's easy to make and keeps well in glass jars in the fridge, so you can make a big batch ahead of time and portion out over the holidays. Throw in some plain crackers and some goat cheese, and you've got the munchies covered. Or you could just eat it in the car on the drive over. Whichever. Just check your teeth for stray cilantro before heading inside.

Stone Brewery's Arrogant Bastard
Presenting your host with a 22 oz. bottle of this super-intense ale will be funny if he's not one, but even funnier if he is!

My mom's seasoned oyster crackers
Okay, so she actually just snipped the recipe from a packet of Hidden Valley dressing mix about fifteen years ago, but she's made them so many times since that they've become every bit the family holiday tradition as Christmas tree hunting and 24 hours of A Christmas Story watching. Make a big ole tub of 'em for your friends, and you'll see why.

Paste's holiday playlist
That's right: Just commandeer the host's computer, go straight to PasteRadio.com and press play, filling the house with the gentle strains of the Flaming Lips' “Christmas at the Zoo” and Robert Earl Keen's yuletide classic, “Merry Christmas from the Family.” Feliz Navidad!