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How to Have a Successful Dinner Party.

You would like your dinner party to be remembered as an incredible event and still don’t know how to do it – read the following tips. Do they sound useful, reasonable and easy to follow? Do you share the opinions they express?

Have plenty and variety of dishes and drinks. Have water and wine flowing. I always feel it better to over-buy than to under-buy, to over-feed my guests than to under-feed them. People tend to be crumply when they are left hungry. And always have a fabulous dessert – it’s really what people will remember. Cater for your guests’ tastes. Make sure to have some sort of thing the guests can nibble on after dinner as well, such as dried fruit, nuts, small cookies, etc.

Don’t make the things you haven’t made before. Cook the dishes you have practised. It’s also helpful to record the menus that worked for you in a special book along with notes on what might be fun to add or change. That way you don’t have to recreate the wheel every time. If you are not a confident cook make big dishes of simple food. Also watch out for allergies and other diet restrictions.

Do as much preparation as you can in advance: freeze, cut, boil, bake, etc. It will save the precious minutes, you will get everything ready before the guests arrive, you won’t make them wait for the food and you will be able to mingle with them instead of balancing between them and kitchen.

There is nothing worse than one hostess or both hosts being away from the table between the courses flapping in the kitchen when the guests are left to talk among themselves. As long as everyone has enough to eat and drink, take it in turns to be away from the table and plan the dinner so that there is minimal cooking time once the party is underway. The constant absence of the hosts makes the guests feel uncomfortable (“Should we help?”, “Aren’t we too imposing?”).

Don’t depreciate the value of your cooking before anyone has even taken a bite. It can be construed as fishing for compliments, plus nobody would probably even notice the little things you’re disclaiming. Just let the food be enjoyed and the conversation focus on other things. And if something is really bad, don’t be overly apologetic. Just note it and move on. Usually there is too much food anyway. Likewise, don’t go on and on about the recipes and steps of your creations, unless asked directly.

Most of the suggestions sound too pompous and too much like hard work. Just buy some decent food at a good restaurant, turn it into your own dishes, add a few touches, buy plenty of drink, light some candles, put on your best smile and enjoy.

Don’t be too adventurous with cooking, unless you are a competent whizz at it. People have come for the conversation, not for your twice baked cheese soufflés, so you don’t have to spend all your time in the kitchen beforehand and feel exhausted during the party.

Clean the house, decorate the table. But don’t overdo decorations. They will overcrowd it, leave little room for the dishes and make passing them rather inconvenient. Tall flowers won’t let people see each other and have a good talk. Besides some people feel ill at ease being around a highly arranged table.



Place your guests with some thought to their interests and temperaments so that everyone has the best possible time. Invite people who will be compatible, or if different are not too opposed to one another. Of course, there may be a few people that don’t know each other. The best way to break the ice is to get them help you arrange some things (set the dinner table, mix some drinks or something else you might need help with). This way you are giving them a reason to talk to each other and have them get along.

During the party try to join everyone in the conversation. There is nothing more pleasant than having a good conversation. Learn a few jokes or funny stories for any breaks in the conversation.

Remember to make your guests feel your warmth as a hostess and how happy you are to have their presence for the occasion.

Relax. Nothing throws off a great dinner party like a tense hostess. At the end of the day the perfect wine, fabulous food and guest sitting arrangements are lost if your guests think you are taking the whole thing too seriously.

People will have just as much fun with Pizza Bagels if you let them. As the hostess you have to be engaging and make everyone feel comfortable – which you can’t do unless you feel that way yourself. You should feel like you can command the crowd during the first few awkward conversations. The best dinner parties are the ones in which the hosts have as much fun as the guests.

Good music never fails to please. I always like to have background music at my dinner parties unless I know for sure my guests don’t like it.

I think background music spoils the conversation, and after asking people to repeat what they say for half an hour, they just sit back and think longingly of bedtime. Besides music in never to the taste of all the guests and can be extremely irritating.


Date: 2015-02-28; view: 712


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