Every year, on the weekend before the 4th of July, our family throws a party. In addition to a great selection of food, the party usually involves a big water ballon fight, various beers on tap, and a fireworks show that wow's the crowd. Every year we hire out for food though; we often have chicken entrees, sushi, sandwich trays and potato salads or similar catered food. Once we splurged and had someone roast a pig, but we decided that was too expensive. All of our family agreed though that we had the best experience at last year's party when we had a clambake celebration.

I can suggest following the seafood route to anyone wishing to organise a summer party like the ones we do. Ok, I admit it's never really unexpensive to hire professional catering services for a party. But - if you already decided to cater anyway - the seafood root is not very more costly than a traditional macaroni, chicken and potato salad or any other similar common food that caterers usually provide.

For the last couple of years there have been approximately 200 people to our 4th of July parties. Experience tells us that it is not likely for all 200 to be there at the same time, but an overall estimate for this year is the same as usual. I wouldn't suggest throwing a clambake celebration with less than 40 guests, due to it being a little wasteful. If you expect more than 40 participants though, a party of this kind might be fun!

The clambake celebration that we hosted was obviously through a catering company. We ordered a full menu, including clams, mussels, lobsters, and quahogs. They bring over live lobster, and kill/cook them in front of you. Half of the fun (both for the children and the adults) is to watch the showmanship of the chefs doing this. They also have a lot of rocks and seafood laid out that they serve the food on top of.

What we ordered was considered to be a "standard clambake" but they also had an option for a "New England clambake". Both were similarly priced, but I guess that the New England one had more local menu offerings for New England stuff. I was pleased with the one we ordered, but I cannot say anything about the New England style, because I haven't tried it (yet!)

Last year's 4th of July clambake celebration was so wildly popular that we couldn't dream of changing the food this year! This year's party is already fully planned, including the fireworks, water balloon fight, and beer that everyone enjoyed last year, and we can't wait for July to come!