9 Things to Serve at Your Oscar Party

Whole Foods’s online catering menu offers lots of options, including platters of tortilla-wrapped curry and barbecue chicken and veggie sushi.

Mini twice-baked potatoes make a filling hors d’oeuvre. / Photo courtesy Giada De Laurentiis.

Head to Stachowski’s Market in Georgetown for a great selection of cured meats. / iStock photo.

Treat this Slab Grilled Cheese like a party sub. The recipe is from food52.com. / Food52 photo.

Vace’s white pizza. / Photo by Benjamin Raymundo for MyLittleBird.

A selection of Beard Papa’s cream puffs. Oh, my.

You can’t go to the movies without a tin of Stella’s Popkern.

Raisinets, nonpareils, licorice, Jujubes and Junior Mints. Now, that’s movie candy.

YOU DECIDED at the last minute to invite some friends over to watch the Oscars on Sunday because really it’s not a lot of fun to sit by yourself and tsk-tsk over the worst facelift or too much filler. Or sigh over how fabulous Cate Blanchett looks—again.

The Evites are out, and OMG, more than 20 people have responded and are arriving on your doorstep at 7:30. You don’t have to slave over food preparations. We suggest a  combination of a few easy-to-make appetizers and strategic local shopping.

If Matt Damon in The Martian could figure out how to grow potatoes on Mars without water, you can follow the Food Network’s directions for making these adorable twice-baked mini-baked potatoes.

Whole Foods has two good options on its online catering menu: the Very Veggie Sushi Platter, perfect for the vegetarians in your party, and Wrapsody (tortillas of buffalo chicken, curried chicken, smoked salmon and turkey). Both options come in large and small platters.

Vace is our favorite neighborhood stop for fresh pasta, sauces, charcuterie and white pizza. Tip: Cut the pizza into squares to make it look more like an hors d’oeuvre. Ask Vace to give it to you unsliced.

What’s a movie without popcorn? But not just any popcorn. Don’t go the microwave route, please. Try Stella’s Popkern, D.C.’s first gourmet popcorn food truck. Try flavors like caramel, salty caramel and dark French chocolate drizzle dusted with sea salt. (For pickup, contact her at 202-308-6364 or by e-mail: hi@stellaspopkern.com.)

You haven’t tasted Beard Papa’s Cream Puffs (1332 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 202-450-3140)? Did you know it was a Japanese franchise? Treat your guests to these yummy, custard-filled confections. Anyone for a cookie-crunch puff?

See more of our party food suggestions in our photos above.

— Janet Kelly