Chef Neville of Mrs. B’s Reggae Cafe prepared a grilled curry fruit with honey dish.Monday marks the unofficial end of summer. Families and friends gather on Labor Day for one last hurrah before kids really knuckle down to the new school year and their parents – the workforce to whom the national holiday pays tribute – return to their jobs after a long weekend.
A great Labor Day party should be simple on the hostess, welcoming and relaxing for guests on their day off. Soak up the spirit of summer’s end by using themes such as:
• Back-to-school: Decorate in the team colors of your children’s schools, set up self-serve food stations with food names written on a chalkboard, serve food in lunch boxes.
• Neighborhood block party: Everyone brings a potluck dish and camp chair. Set up a sound system to play music for dancing under the stars, or project a movie onto a big sheet for family entertainment.
• Whiteout: Remember that fashion mandate about not wearing white after Labor Day? So give the color one last fling and ask everyone to wear all white to a party on Labor Day. Adventurous moms might add really messy children’s games — paintball, egg toss, water balloon battles — a great bribe to get kids to roll with the dress code.