Nibblies/snacks for girl's night in? Help!

I know I can count on you wonderful ladies to save my backside every time... I need some ideas!
I'm having my first official girl's night in next weekend, as DH is going camping with a couple of mates. I've invited a couple of my girlfriends around for a few quiet drinks and an evening in, we will have the kids running amok so that should be interesting... no real plans other than drinks and talking wedding stuff (as one of the girls got engaged recently and we're all throwing ourselves into helping her with planning the big day).

I just need some ideas on snacks/nibblies I can have at the ready in case we need some food to soak up the cab-sav... and all I can think of is boring old standard cupcakes! I'm going to go ahead and make them but if anybody has any ideas on how to jazz them up a little, or a recipe for some really unique ones (Rouge I'm looking in your direction!), I'd appreciate it. I'm thinking of maybe having a small variety of little bits and pieces we can snack on, maybe some homemade dip and vegie sticks/crackers, something sweet that I can have prepared beforehand (ie cupcakes/brownies etc), and... I don't know. I've never had people over for anything other than BBQs and I don't know what to do!
I need ideas for things that I can either prepare beforehand and have sitting in the pantry/fridge ready to go, or things that can be whipped up in a few minutes.
Any advice/ideas/recipes would be greatly appreciated!! TIA!!

My fav easy snack for guests is phillideplhia cheese and sweet chilli sauce with bickies and carrot and celery sticks. Chips, shapes, pate, cheese, frozen party pies, samosa, spring rolls etc.

Good luck and have fun

French bread sticks cut up with cream cheese and smoked salmon or roast beef and half a cherry tomato.
Spring rolls or other oven type hot finger food, at DDs 18th nuggets went down really well. We also make baby hot dogs using a dinner roll and a ****tail frankfurt.

Corn dip cob loaf, three layer salsa dip - very easy and yummo! Pizza scrolls made with puff pastry.

I was going to say three layer salsa dip too!
A cheese plate?
Those frozen spinach & fetta fillo things, yuuuuummmm...

Fruit platter or fruit kebabs (sprinkle with cinnamon and then chuck under the grill)

chicken wingette's or drumettes

mini quiche

spring rolls

rice paper rolls

choc dipped strawberries

Enjoy!

Simple sandwiches are always good. Just ham and tomato, chicken, mayo and corn....cut into little tringles with the crusts off of course! Cobb loaf dips are always yummo and pretty simple. Mini pizzas for something a bit more 'meal-ish'. Homemade mini sausage rolls or quiches. Mmmm, yum! :lol: I'm making myself hungry!

Dark chocolate and chilli cupcakes:

100g SR Flour
50g Cocoa Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Cardamom
0.5 tsp Nutmeg
100g butter
100g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tablespoons milk if required

For the topping:
Dark chocolate
Red fondant icing
Green fondant icing

cream the butter and sugar
sift the dry ingredients together
in a separate bowl whisk the eggs and combine with vanilla
Blend the egg into the butter/sugar then fold in the dry ingredients, with some milk if it is too dry
divide into cupcake wrappers and Bake for 12-15mins at 180°c.

When the cakes are cool use the fondant icing to make mini red chillis to go on top of the cakes. Stick them to the cakes with melted dark chocolate.

Yummy!!!

Leek & Brie Tarts. Make tart bases in patty cases out of puff pastry circles (about 6cm cutter) then blind bake (stab with fork) at 200 for about 10 mins (or until puffed but not golden). Top with cooked leek mix (fry leek, garlic, salt & pepper) and then a slice of brie, put back in the oven (reduced to 180) and bake till golden and bubbly. Everyone loves these :)

Ahh, my head is exploding with all these awesome ideas!! Thanks so much, ladies, I knew you'd save me :D
Traveller... well, what can I say?! I'm LOVING this recipe, I'm off to get ingredients for it tomorrow! How perfect!

And then to sort through the rest of these ideas and pick the ones that will suit me best... they are all wonderful, thanks again :D

Traveller, they sound delish!

At a friend's recently, she made dip by mixing the dry french onion soup mix with some cream cheese (philly, maybe a tub?), and it was soo yummy! I couldn't stop eating it!

Have a great night!

great ideas already
my fave is goergeous mini sandwiches.
- ham mustard and cheese
- cucumber and mayo
- tuna and mayo
- turkey, brie and cranberry sauce
- lettuce, tomato and cheese
experiment with bread too and cut of the crusts
also i love nothing more than a plate of fresh berries with some toothpicks to stab ;) so strawberry, blue berries, raspberries etccc
meat balls supperrr easy go to your butcher buy some hamburgers rip them up roll into balls and pan fry to they are crispy and yummy as! also if your butcher has some thai chicken patties to the same thing

Cob loaf dip ... very yummy. If you need/want a good recipe, I have a great one that is always a hit.

Bruschetta - really simple:
Dice a red onion, 2 ripe tomatoes, stir through a teaspoon of crushed garlic, a tablespoon of good olive oil and a handful of chopped basil. Toast a french breadstick cut into 1cm thick slices and sprayed with olive oil. I am really lazy with this next bit ... I put it on the table seperately and people can come past and put their own tomato mix on the bread (so the bread doesn't go soggy) and I have a bottle of balsamic vinegar that people can drizzle over the top as well. I do this for picnics too ... really easy stuff.

Happy partying :)

I am loving some of these ideas! Hope you enjoy the cupcakes, they look amazing and have a gorgeous flavour that is different to usual cakes and great for those without a full on sweet tooth:D

A platter full of yummy bits and pieces to nibble.
One of my girlfriends always brings one when we have girly nights at my place, this is what she puts on them.
-kabana
-salami
-a few different dips
-olives
-****tail onions
-sundried tomatoes
-chargrilled capcicum
-dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with rice and other yummy things)
-carrot and celery sticks
- wedge of brie
-crackers
-marinated mushrooms
pretty much nothing to prepare, just dump it all on a platter and perhaps toast some nice turkish bread to slather with dip:)

So what's the verdict??

Hope you have a great time!