Dinner Party Essentials
Dinner parties can serve so many purposes. They can be a fantastic opportunity to gather friends or family together in one place, a chance to impress loved ones with your cooking skills, or they can be a toned-down way to mark an achievement or occasion. Or, maybe you want to host a dinner party as an excuse to get dressed up with friends? Whatever your reason, here are three steps to take for a successfully glamorous night-in filled with good food and great company.
Plan Your Time
So that you don’t miss out on all the fun that the dinner party has to offer, make sure that you time your cooking preparation in a way that doesn’t demand for you to be in the kitchen most of the night. Draw up a good time plan and make sure to consider what oven or hob space you’ll need. For example, if your starter, main course, side dishes and dessert all need time in the oven, it may make the night tricky to navigate in terms of keeping an eye on the food and joining in on the conversation. Try to tackle the more complicated dishes first by practicing them a few days before, or consider each of your courses and decide if they can be made in advance to save you more time on the night to enjoy yourself. To avoid any further unexpected surprises and to save yourself extra work, make sure to ask your guests beforehand if they have any special dietary requirements or personal preferences. After all, you’ll want everyone to enjoy the night just as much as yourself.
Plan the Menu
What would a dinner party be without scrumptious dishes and flowing glasses of drinks? If you want to show off your culinary skills, the main focus should be on what you’d like to prepare. Try to keep the menu balanced by avoiding heavy dishes that may not work well together. You’ll also need to stay organized, so be sure to make a list of all of the required ingredients and check your pantry to avoid purchasing any duplicate goods before heading to the store. You might also want to consider buying small dishes such as tapas or other nibbles that your guests can eat to keep them going before the main events are served. To make the dinner party even more exciting, take a delve into the cultures of the world and stick to a specific culinary theme, such as Italian, Spanish, or Greek, which all individually offer many mouthwatering recipes. If you plan to serve alcohol to your guests, why not research how to pair wine best with your chosen food?
Be Realistic
Although it’s only natural to want to impress your guests, try to resist the temptation to be overambitious with your cooking. For best results, cook meals that you’ve experimented with before (and had approval of!), and are relatively less-prone to going wrong. However, that’s not to say that you can’t be creative. Preparing new dishes can be extremely rewarding – just make sure that you are being realistic with your choices to fit your timescale and cooking abilities.
Set the Scene
Sometimes, it’s all in the details. Add elegance with finishing touches such as a fresh floral display, scented candles, or find the right size tablecloth for your dining table to create the aura of a grand dining experience. If candle light isn’t enough, try stringing the likes of fairy lights across the room, or dim other lights to create a relaxing ambience. Don’t forget the music – create a designated playlist filled with songs that you and your guests can dance to, and invite them to add songs too! If you’re not someone to make playlists, many music streaming platforms luckily have a variety of pre-made dinner party playlists that you and your guests can choose from.
And, Relax…
You’re hosting a get together, so you should be having fun too. Remember, not everything will be perfect. Go with the flow and try not to sweat the small stuff: even if something goes wrong, like a slightly cold pudding or slightly overcooked main course, don’t apologize! Nobody has ever left a dinner party wishing that someone should have apologised for such meticulous details. Your guests will be grateful that you have invited them over, and after such a successful occasion on your behalf, the chances are that they’ll be more than happy to invite you over for their next dinner party, too.
