How to Host a Great Dinner Party

It’s just great when people decide to use their home for entertaining, we work so hard on making our home the way we want it, and too often of times people never have the opportunity to show it off and to use it to its full potential. If you’re planning a dinner party, here are some tips help you along the way.

Your first step is to decide what type of party this is going to be, simple, formal, or gourmet. A simple party would be a very casual get together, you may decide to even order in, these parties your guests dress “as is”. A formal party is one where you prepare dinner, people usually dress it up a little, and often people even turn these into murder mystery dinner parties or such. A gourmet dinner is when again guests would dress up, but your main focus is on food presentations, you want it all to look just right, and you spend a lot of time planning and preparing for this.

Once you’ve decided on the type of party you’re having, now it’s time to think of the guests you’re going to invite. You want to make sure the people you invite are polite, interesting, and they all get along with each other, that being said, switching it up a bit is also good, by inviting people who don’t know each other, also try to blend the types of people for example, a teacher, a stay at home mom, a business owner, etc… this way the conversation will stay entertaining and new relationships have a chance to grow.

Now, plan the menu. You’ve already chosen a type of party and the guests so now, you have a general idea of the simplicity or difficulty of the menu and if anyone has allergies or are a vegetarian, etc.

You really can make a party your own, as simple as you’d like or you could work yourself to the ground. Depending on your own style you could make place cards or have people just seat themselves, you can send out invitations, or email/phone and personally invite friends, you could emphasize more towards the food, food presentation, room, décor, or conversation. The great things about a dinner party are that any and all of these are wonderful and they’re just as good as the next.

One mistake many people make is “over-candling” while candles are beautiful, make sure to keep them scent-free. You want the aroma of that wonderful food you just worked so hard on to fill your house. If you want to add some vanilla, lavender, or other soft scents to home with candles, maybe places them in the bathroom. Another thing to watch is flowers, don’t place a huge bunch of flowers on your table, in case of allergies but also because again the scent can be over whelming and they may appear distracting.
Over all have a great time, start small and work your way up to the gourmet style of parties, and just try to not stress out over the small things, have fun with it.

Things that are often forgotten on party day

Coat rack or ample hangers for guests’ jackets
Somewhere for shoes
Ice
Napkins
Clean towels in the bathrooms
Extra toilet paper within view and reach in the bathroom
Coffee and tea
Cream and sugar
Salt and pepper
Empty garbage compartment
Film or a charged camera