Food

5 Tips for Planning a Dinner Party

Planning the perfect dinner party is harder than people think because it requires a lot of different skills. You need to be a good cook, of course, but you also need to host guests and staying organised at the same time. If you are thinking about inviting some friends over for a dinner party in the near future and you want to make sure it all goes perfectly, here are some simple tips to help you plan. 

Start Planning Early 

If you want to throw the perfect dinner party, you need to put plenty of thought into it. There are menus to plan, table decorations to design, and guest lists to work out. There is also the beverage menu to plan – alcoholic or non-alcoholic, or a bit of both? For the wine lovers, you could consider signing up to a wine club that provides excellent seasonal wines for all your needs. So whether it’s for the dinner party, or just a night in by yourself, you’ll always be stocked up. Planning all of this beforehand could be the ideal way to do it. The earlier you get started, the easier it will be to stay on top of things. But if you leave it all to the last minute, you’ll be in a mad panic and your dinner party won’t go the way that you hoped. So, set yourself lots of small deadlines and tick things off your list gradually. It all seems more manageable when you break it up into small chunks. 

Establish A Theme

Before you start thinking about details, you need to establish an overall theme. This will determine the menu that you choose, the invitations, and the table decorations. You might decide to theme your dinner party based on a certain cuisine, like Mexican or French, for example. But you don’t have to go for a cuisine-based theme if you don’t want to, so get creative. 

Put Thought Into Your Seating Plan 

The seating plan can make or break your dinner party, so make sure you put plenty of thought into it. If you have guests that don’t know one another well, think about who would get on and seat them together. Giving your guests the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends will make the evening a lot more successful. So, craft the perfect seating plan and get some decorative place name cards for everybody’s seat. If you have guests that don’t particularly like one another, make sure that you seat them at opposite ends of the table or they’ll both have a miserable night. 

Keep The Menu Simple 

People often make the mistake of going for an elaborate menu to impress their guests. But when the big night rolls around, they’re incredibly stressed because they have a thousand things to do in the kitchen. If you take on too much, you will spend the whole night cooking and hardly any time with your guests. So, go for something that is delicious but simple to prepare, so you can focus on spending time with your guests. 

Create A Welcome Cocktail 

If you want to kick the evening off in style and show your guests that they are in for a great night, you should create a welcome cocktail. Having a cocktail and giving people the chance to introduce themselves is especially good if you have guests that haven’t met before. You can theme your cocktail to the menu or just go for one of your favourites instead. 

Follow these 5 simple tips and you can plan and host the perfect dinner party that your guests won’t stop talking about.