Bon Appetit: Hosting The Perfect Dinner Party🍴

~ If you have never entertained guests before, the thought of hosting a soiree in your own house, might make you pretty nervous. 🏡

 

However, preparing for any sort of gathering in your own kitchen should not be a stressful experience at all. While entertaining your loved ones and enjoying their company, it’s easy to creatively show your cooking skills. The key is in planning and preparation. Get this right and your evening should be enjoyable, not just for your guests, but for you, too. Please take a look at these simple ways you can ensure that you host the perfect dinner party.

The Menu

If you wish for the food to be the main attraction at your event, it’s easy to ensure a well thought out menu that will easily impress your guests and make the evening memorable. If you are introducing a recipe that is starchy and satisfying as your main courses, such as a casserole, stew or one-pot meal, then you will want something light to follow, a sorbet, jelly or mousse, for example. A heavy starchy desert would leave you feeling heavy after the meal and the following morning.

Plan your menu so that it is light, simple to prepare, and doesn’t cause you to be away from your guests for too long. If you can do most of your prep before your guests arrive, you can enjoy their company rather than being a slave to the kitchen and being more cook than a host. For sure that was my problem for years. An extensive prepping and cooking complicated meals for our guests, left me lifeless to enjoy my own party. Nowadays, planned food menus are the only way in my kitchen.

The Kit

If your pots and pans have seen better days, it’s crucial that you pick up some new nonstick cookware to make your time in the kitchen a more enjoyable and healthier experience. Trying to scrape off the roasted vegetables from a baking sheet that is a decade old is an experience no chef wants to endure. Copper-based pans and trays are the ideal way to ensure your sweet peppers don’t stick and your dauphinoise potatoes don’t burn.

Ensure that you have a sharp set of knives to aid the swift chopping of fresh vegetables and the main course itself. In my younger twenties, not knowing about the knife sharpness, the dull cutting tool would slip during the dinner preparation. I was left with cuts. Nowadays, I sharpen the knives before each and every use.

 A table is best laid simply and not too fussy but with a centerpiece of some sort. If you are giving your dinner party a theme keep it sophisticated with an art deco attire theme or a black and white theme. The favorite book character or movie icon theme is more for the fancy dress party that you might host later in the year. However, my favorite way to dine with friends is to throw a movie night dinner. I decorate the kitchen and dinner table with the paper movie plates and various garlands. It looks festive and after the main course, we watch a fun movie, while enjoying popcorn.

Lists

Lists are awesome. Period. Make a comprehensive list detailing the food you need to buy, how you’ll lay the table, what you will serve, the music you might wish to play, timings for dishes and anything else you can think of. Having a list can prioritize your thoughts and keep your mind focused, giving you something to refer to should you feel frazzled at any point. For sure such lists saved me many times, over and over again. Once I forgot to serve boiled potatoes. After that, the lists are essential planning additions to my festivities.

Being the perfect host is not so simple, especially if this is your first time inviting guests to your home for a dinner party. However, following these easy steps, you can ensure an unforgettable dining experience for you and your loved ones. 

Hope you found these hosting ideas helpful.

Have a very well planned day, my dear friends!

Luda@PlantsandBeyond🌿

Photographs listed here do not belong to Luda @PlantsandBeyond.com

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