How to avoid grazing at parties?

This weekend felt like the unofficial start to the holidays for me.    I had a family Halloween party Sat night, and on Sunday another parade party for Halloween.   Each party had a huge spread of "munchie" foods.    Of course most of it is all junk, and hard to keep on course.    I tried to pick the veggies and fruit first, but its hard to stay away from the homemade brownies, cookies, etc!  Family functions are the worst for food choices!!!    Any tips on how to survive these events?    I tried to count my calories Monday morning, and found myself almost 1000 calories per day more then I'm normally taking in!!   WOWZA!?!?!?!     I figured Monday is the start of a new week...time to regroup and get back on track!   

well, you did a lot of what I do!

1. start on the healthiest snacks

2. bring your own lower-cal snack food (they don't even have to know it is low cal)

3. drink a lot of water over the course of the event

4. position myself as far away from the food area as possible as I'm socializing

5. try to get in extra movements (this usually means dancing, but for family functions I get my mom & aunts to go on a walk)

6. Take the rest of the week to recover, and don't make it continue into the next day... count the overage and move on like normal.

Never go hungry. Never "save" your calories for the party by skipping a meal or meals.

If you can get a workout in before the party, it may help you stay motivated and also gives you a cusion should you want to try something.

Don't try to completely avoid the buffet table or you really will graze. Pick the one thing that looks like it is too good to pass up and take a small piece. If you can, toss it after 3 bites. If you don't like it as much as you thought you would, toss if after the first bite. Trust me, it won't taste any better after 5 bites and the calories are not likely worth it.

I always keep a drink in my hand -- it makes it more difficult to graze simply because you need to balance the glass and your food in order to eat.

I also try to avoid drinking just water because it simply isn't satisfying enough when faced with all those yummy foods. A low cal option that is yummy and satisfying is juice and selzer water mix.

I 100% agree with scaroppo's suggestion to NEVER go hungry!  That is surely the killer that will land you right next to the brownies & cakes.  I also think putting in a workout before the party, if possible, is an excellent strategy - in my case, I signed up for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning!   

I take a small plate with the healthy selections, and walk away from the table, making them last.  I try to go for things like veggies with hummus, or something similar that I know will be satisfying and filling while being lower in calories. 

In addition, I know that if it is a special, once-a-year occasion (like Thanksgiving & Christmas), I will give myself a break and allow a few more treats than I would otherwise.  I just make that the treat for the week and stick to eating very healthy the rest of the days.  For the holidays, I usually "prepare" by being very good the weeks leading up to them, then being very good the weeks after.  It usually works! 

All I can recommend beyond what the others have suggested is to carry a clutch and a drink. It's hard to eat when the hands are full. I also think you should indulge in the best of the best, that goes for company and foods!

Maybe it's just me, but even with a bad day once a week my weight ends up dropping very quickly on the two or three successive days thereafter...it always catches up to where I'd be on the trendline had it just been diet as usual.  So I don't stress about going 500 or so into the surplus side...if it's just one day.  I try VERY hard to avoid a weekend where I'll be doing anything like that two days in a row for obvious reasons.

All of these strategies above sound like great tips though, so I might use them too.

I have a Halloween party Thursday.  I am dreading it.  There will be veggie stir fry, mac and cheese, cookies, brownies, CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE (luckily I had cheesecake recently so I might just say in my head I already had that treat).  I am gonna eat an apple a little before I go (they really fill me up), eat dinner there, and bring a piece of gum to keep my mouth occupied.