| I would never recommend riesling or brie to someone without knowing their tastes...and I've generally found that people who've never had water crackers and don't already know them turn out to hate them. I've put them out at parties before and found them basically untouched at evening's end.
Runners, do any of you know anything about wines? That might help me fine-tune the advice a little. But anyway...
Wine parties are really fun--and my favorite kind, a really slow, intimate, laid-back kind of fun. I sometimes have them...we'll get some bottles and I'll put on some nice background music, and put out some cheese and some meat, and we just sit around on the floor and drink and have conversation and some good laughs. This is a GREAT way to build attraction and comfort.
The fact that the girls suggested this is interesting to me. One of them has a boyfriend, and flirts with you a lot, and then excitedly approaches you with a request to spend an entire evening drinking in an intimate SPAM at your place? Sounds to ME like she's looking for a way to shed her inhibitions with a handy backup excuse. Know that she probably wants something to happen, but be wary of the "I was drunk" follow-up. Possibly railroad that by playfully taking her class away at some point and saying, "I think you've had enough," not refilling her glass and looking into her eyes and smiling and saying "People aren't as sharp after the third glass... I like talking to you too much for that." And refusing a pour from her sometime with the excuse, "Uh-uh. You think you're gonna get me drunk and take advantage." If something ends up happening, maybe even then pull out of a kiss and playfully ask, "Are you drunk?" ...Now, if something happens and the next day she runs back to the boyfriend and won't pick up where you left off, or attempts to claim you took advantage (either of which will include the phrase "I was drunk"), you have instances to point back to showing that you weren't taking advantage and she knew what she was doing.
As far as what to do for setup, with a wine party I tend to find the more thrown-together and casual, the better. I'm with Lucky on the pinot noir, but for god's sake have someone help you find a decent one--there are a lot that aren't, it's a tricky wine. If you want a different red, a nice shiraz or malbec can't go wrong. For the white, I'd only get a riesling if you think the girls would prefer a sweet wine that tastes more like juice--riesling is VERY sweet. I personally would go either really basic (pinot grigio, which is very mild, barely tastes like anything, and so is largely inoffensive) or bold (a rich, heavy, buttery chardonnay, which will do great things when combined with certain cheeses and foods). Again, keep it casual--tell everyone that nobody is to spend more than $15 on a bottle. Most people wouldn't, but you never know.
Get two kinds of simple meats. A basic summer sausage, and some kind of smoked ham or prosciutto. If you want a third, throw in some pepperoni for a switch-up. Get a few cheeses. A big block of sharp cheddar--basic, and everybody loves it. Provolone--another one everybody already knows and will go for, but most people don't encounter it on its own often in life, so that makes it interesting. Gouda--it's got a wonderful creamy, smoked flavor that interacts well with meat. I would NOT recommend brie unless someone already knows and likes it. I've seen too many people react badly to it the first time, and what you want here are things that'll bring people together without wasting money. Crackers are good, but if you're gonna have water crackers, I would at LEAST suggest having a familiar cracker as well, like a Ritz or Town House or something.
Music's important. Dunno what you're into but I usually hand-pick some really good jazz or some very cool chillout CDs. Once I also put on some mashup mixes, and those turned out to be good conversation pieces because everyone commented and talked each time the song changed.
Create a comfortable environment. No super bright lights. Music not too loud, but audible enough to get the scene going. I found it really worked well when I set one of my parties up so that people had to sit on the floor. I pulled the table away from the couches and put the bottles and the food on the table, and the only easy way to get to it was just to sit around it. It brought everyone physically closer which did great things for the energy and conversation, and also of course made kino much easier and more natural.
And yeah, like Lucky said, if this goes really well then you can get a nice small social group together and do it regularly. And you're default AMOG 'cause you're the one running the event, of course.
It's cool that you guys are doing this. More people should. Please let us know how this goes!
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