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Dinner Party: How-to Guide
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Planning a dinner party can be a daunting task, but dinner parties can allow for budget, time and even lack of cooking ability. The trick is to know your limits and, more importantly, take advantage of friends with skills. With this guide to planning — and maybe a few friends — hosting a dinner party will be a cinch.

 

THEME

• The theme you choose can be the reason you’re having the party, or it can be the style of party you want to have. If you wanted to invite friends over to watch an award show like the Academy Awards or the Grammies, you could use that as your party theme. Make up place settings for each guest with white sealed envelopes that have the dinner menu inside. Maybe you just want a simple, stylish dinner party — the theme could be elegance. Guests would be asked to dress in formal attire and you would present a sit-down dinner with candles and music playing.


GUEST LIST/INVITATIONS
• Invitations should be sent out three to four weeks ahead of time, so guests have time to plan. If this is your first dinner party, six to eight people is a nice number of guests. There will be plenty of conversation and you won’t be overwhelmed by cooking. With such a wide array of invitations available, you can find one to fit any dinner party theme. Make sure the invitation sets the mood since it will be your guest’s first impression of the party. Include theme, time, location, dress code and any items the guest should bring. Consider including when the party will be wrapping up on the invitation for guests’ convenience. If a guest has not responded to your invitation by a week before the party, call them. You will need an accurate count of how many people will be attending.

 

DECORATION
• Decoration is completely dependent on your theme. Fiesta parties or Hawaiian luaus are relatively easy and inexpensive decoration themes. Elegant dinner party themes like wine-tasting call for more elaborate decoration. Candles, vases and flowers can be found for reasonable prices and make charming favors for your guests. Favors can include anything from candy to candles and add the perfect finishing touch to your party’s theme


THE MENU
• If your party’s theme indicates a particular type of food, then your menu should correlate with the theme. For example, a fiesta would have Mexican food and a luau would have light, summer foods. More traditional parties have very little limitation on what can be served. You could choose to do a formal seven-course meal featuring prime rib or a buffet of around-the-world cuisine. If you love to cook, be creative but keep the guests’ tastes in mind. Also, never let the night of the party be the first time you cook a chosen menu item. Either have a practice run or use recipes you have tried before. If you don’t love to cook, enlist the help of friends or hire the help of caterers. Just because it’s a dinner party doesn’t necessarily mean the host has to cook dinner — you just have to provide it.

 

ENTERTAINMENT
• Dinner parties are traditionally meant to socialize and mingle. The entertainment is in the company of each other. But, a dinner party can be thrown in celebration of a movie that has been released or an awards show on television, which would be the entertainment. Board games are also great party entertainment. Guests can bring their favorite board game and after dinner, everyone can participate in a fun-filled evening of friendly competition. 

 

You are the host. Your style — whether classy and refined or eccentric and quirky — should be apparent in every aspect of your dinner party. A successful host stays true to his/her unique character.


by Shanna A. Zuelch