Hosting a proper dinner party isn’t just difficult and time-consuming; it can actually be kind of nerve-wracking as well. We expect so much of ourselves when planning it, and it seems like everything needs to be perfect for it to be a success. Luckily, it’s not that difficult to pull off an amazing dinner party, even if this is your very first one.
Just have a read on these great tips and you’ll be the perfect host or hostess in no time. You might even have time to enjoy yourself a bit.
#1 Give your guest list some thought
No dinner party is successful if the guests are a bad match. You should give your guest list some proper consideration before sending those invitations off, and make sure that the group you have will enjoy each others’ company.
Even if the food is a disaster and you all end up eating pizza out, it will still be fairly successful if everyone had a good time.
Try to think about where you place people around the table as well if you’re hosting it at your own house; everyone should have someone to talk to while also being able to get to know other people. It’s a fine balancing act but you can do it.
#2 Ask about allergies way in advance
If you’re cooking and hosting everything at home, you need to know about people’s allergies before you put that food in the oven. It’s never any fun to learn that two of your guests have celiac disease and another one can’t eat nuts when you’ve prepared a fantastic almond cake dessert.
If you’re hosting a dinner party at one of those private dining rooms, you should let the venue know about any allergies as well. Your guests will probably be pushy about this themselves as they’re the ones with the allergies, but make sure that you do that round a bit in advance of the party.
#3 Choose the food you know
Don’t try to go overboard with a dish you’ve never cooked in your life – especially not if this is your very first dinner party. This is the perfect time to show off your signature dishes and those you’ve cooked to perfection a hundred times before.
Try to do something different with them if you want to, but make sure that you don’t drive yourself crazy by trying something brand new and very stressful. Another point to this is that you should, if you can, avoid those dishes where you constantly have to be in the kitchen to stir and supervise.
Simple is definitely the best when it comes to dinner parties as you’ll be able to mingle with your guests and enjoy yourself a bit as well. That way, the guests will feel like they actually spent time with you rather than just seeing you rush in and out of the kitchen.
