Tips for Hosting a Dinner Party

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Here are our best tips for hosting a dinner party! If you need ideas on how to host your first dinner party, check out this blog post.

So you’re hosting your first dinner party? Or maybe it’s your first time hosting a group of friends since the pandemic and you are feeling a little rusty. Don’t worry, we have you covered with some simple tips and ideas to make sure your dinner party goes off without a hitch.

Tips for Hosting a Dinner Party:

First you need to decide on the who, what, when, where and why. Think about the purpose of the party, is it a celebration or just a get together to catch up? Where is the party locale, your house, someone else’s house, or maybe a restaurant? Those two questions will most likely dictate the date and time of the party.

Now you are ready to write out a guest list. Most likely the party will be at your home, so think about how much space and seating you have as well as how many bathrooms to figure out how many people you can accommodate comfortably. Now send out those invites, the sooner the better to give people time to make arrangements for child care and to block the time off on their calendar. I use a free template in Canva to quickly design party invitations.

Now that you have the basics of the party figured out, you can plan the menu. Do you plan to have it catered or prep all of the food yourself? You can supplement some of the food with party platters from Sam’s Club or Costco to make your life easier. This is the time to also figure out if you have a strict budget for the party. Cooking and prepping all of the food yourself can definitely save you a lot of money. And don’t feel that you have to go all out like it’s Thanksgiving 2.0. Keep it simple and prep as much of the party food a day in advance as possible.

When planning out your menu and looking at your party budget, don’t forget about beverages. I usually have our bar stocked with some of my guests’ favorite drinks and extra bottled water, beer and wine. As long as you have an assortment, your guests will be just fine. I also like to have the bar set up in a separate area so guests can help themselves and not be in the way of anyone else.

I usually like to deep clean the house a couple days before the party- or at least the rooms where party guests will be hanging out- depending on how much time I have to clean. Then on the day of the party, I clean again, you know, dogs and all, but it doesn’t take nearly as much time.

If I need any decorations or a centerpiece for the table, I also like to get this done the weekend before the dinner party.

On the day of the party, I don’t want to feel rushed and I want to enjoy the time with my guests. So my best advice is to plan ahead, be organized and check off as many to-do’s as you can before the day of the party.

Now go get started! I hope your dinner party is a huge success!

What are your best dinner party tips and ideas? When is the last time you hosted a party at your house? Has the pandemic affected your ability to host or attend parties? Leave your answers in a comment below.