Tips for hosting your first dinner party

hosting your first dinner party

In theory, having your friends and family round to your place for a meal should be a great excuse to relax and enjoy yourself, as well as show off your culinary skills. However, if you’ve never hosted a dinner party before, nerves might start to creep in. To help you avoid any kitchen calamities and hosting hitches, take a look at these top tips.

Get your kitchen in order

Firstly, take the opportunity of staging your first dinner soiree to get your kitchen in order. If you’re to cook up a storm at the stove, you’ll need all the relevant equipment and a good workspace. Plenty of storage is a must in these rooms too. You can buy all the wood cabinets you need online from firms such as Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets. If you’re lacking in square footage, invest in full-height cabinets. They will let you squeeze more into your kitchen without taking up extra floor space.

You’ll also need a good worktop for all your slicing and dicing. It’s worth investing in some nifty kitchen equipment too to save you time and hassle when you’re preparing meals. Items like blenders, potato ricers, mandolin’s and meat tenderisers needn’t cost you much money and they can make cooking much easier. Also, as long as you take good care of them, they can last you for years.

Plan your menu in advance

Another key to dinner party success is to plan your menu well in advance. This will give you plenty of time to buy your ingredients. It also means you’ll be able to practise your dishes.

Make sure you do your food shopping in plenty of time too. The last thing you want is to discover at the last minute that you can’t buy all the ingredients you need.

Avoid the temptation to overcomplicate

When you’re trying to wow friends and family, it’s tempting to plan elaborate edible concoctions. However, resist the temptation to overcomplicate. If you want to be able to relax, spend time with your guests and be an attentive host, it’s better to opt for simple but tasty dishes.

Also, try to opt for culinary creations that allow you to do lots of the preparation in advance. Ideally, you want to do as little as possible cooking-wise when your guests arrive. Dishes like casseroles are ideal for evening soirees. You can leave them to bubble away in the oven while you’re relaxing with your dining companions. Also, chilled desserts that you can make in the morning or even the day before are perfect dinner party fodder.

Make those all-important finishing touches

As well as focussing on your food, make sure your home is up-to-scratch before your guests arrive. Your staging area should be spic and span and free of household clutter. It’s also worth going to the effort of buying some simple table decorations. Candles can make a great addition to your dining area and they will help you to create the ideal ambiance for your meal. Flowers also look superb as a centrepiece. However, if you do opt to include blooms on your table, make sure they don’t obscure your diners’ views of one another.

Before your doorbell rings in the evening, make sure you set aside enough time to grab a shower and beautify yourself too. This will help to put you in the right frame of mind for the evening ahead.

Keep calm

No matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk that something will go wrong during your dinner party. If it does, whether you spill the soup, burn the burritos or trample on the tart, make sure you keep calm and carry on. As long as your guests have full glasses and a smile on their faces, you can rest assured your dinner party will be a success.

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