Hosting a dinner party can be quite stressful for anyone who hasn’t ever put one on before. There’s a surprising amount of work that goes into it, and it can be very easy to lose track of what you need and what you’re doing. Thankfully, if you keep your head and stay on target, putting on a perfect, memorable dinner party is really easy. Here’s how.
The Best Equipment
What’s the state of your kitchen like? If your appliances are starting to get a bit rusted or worn, it might be worth upgrading to newer, more efficient equipment. If you’re going to be hosting a lot of these sorts of dinners or you plan to make a lot of time-consuming roasts, you could even look into installing a double-oven setup. This allows you to create a proper roast and still have an oven free for other dishes or sides. Speak to a manufacturer like Asko Appliances or your local retailer for advice on choosing quality equipment.
Pick a Theme
Themes are fun and they can go a long way towards making a dinner party really memorable. A costume party might be going a bit far for dinner proceedings, but you could try something simple like picking a particular colour for everyone to wear or silly hats if you don’t want it to be too formal an occasion. You can even pick music to go with your theme for a bit of extra atmosphere.
Tell a Story with Each Dish
Similar to having a theme, you can use each dish you serve for dinner as a way to tell a story. Create a meal that explains your heritage or even something you all had at a restaurant once and really enjoyed. Serve a dessert that relates to a joke among your friends. It’s rarely about the quality of the dish but rather the story your guests take away at the end of the night. Make them laugh and they’ll be talking about the night long after it ends.
Prepare
Preparation is half the battle when it comes to putting on the perfect dinner party. Know who’s coming so you know how much food you’ll have to make and how many drinks you’ll need. Know what you’re going to make well in advance so you can practise if you aren’t confident making it on the night. Create a to-do list so you don’t forget anything in the planning stages that might lead to disaster on the night.
Start with a Drink
A great way to make sure the night gets off to a cheerful start is to kick it off with a nice drink. Nothing too heavy though – bubbly drinks are good for lifting the mood. If you’re going to be busy with food prep, make sure you delegate the task of putting a drink in everyone’s hand on arrival to someone else.
There’s a lot that goes into putting on the perfect dinner party and these are just five of them. What does your dinner party prep checklist look like? Share in the comments below.