Adulting 101: Host the perfect dinner party!

Hosting your first dinner party is a badge of honour needed in the pursuit of “adulthood.” But the question of “where do I even start?” could be too daunting of a thought and deter bright-eyed people like you and I from inviting some friends over and having a good time. I recently threw a dinner party, and using the same process my mom has been following for years I am glad to report it was a success!

1-2 weeks in advance

Invite your guests! It won’t be much of a dinner party if no one shows up. Things to consider when building a guestlist: How many chairs or plates do you have? Do you have enough wine glasses? Can you possibly prepare food for this many people? Consider holding the festivities outdoors if the weather permits, or ask your guests to bring chairs!

1 week in advance

Check with your guests for any allergies or dietary restrictions then you should start to build your menu. Make sure to include a variety of things that can be prepared ahead, and not too many things that you will need to cook while you’re entertaining. Consider serving a themed menu, one where there are common tastes but not much overlap!

2-3 days in advance

Time to hit up the grocery store! Bring along your menu list (which should be as detailed as possible), and make sure to pick up any non-food items you need (for me this included wine glasses, and a tablecloth!) with all the ingredients you’ll need to put together dinner!

 1 day in advance

Make dessert, cut blocks of cheese, prep the veggies for the tray, pass the vacuum, and run and empty the dishwasher! These are all things that you can do in advance that will save you on the night of from spending all your time away from your guests.

Day of the dinner

Always anticipate that your guests will show up before the predetermined time. That being said, as soon as you can get home from work, start setting up! Turn on the radio, begin putting together the apps, organize the process for your main, and uncork the wine!

 From there, all you have to do is wait for your guests to show up and for your food to cook! Realistically, don’t stress too much about the prep, if you have good friends all you really need is a jar of salsa and a bag of nachos to have a good time.

Keep an eye out for some sample menus that will be posted soon in our Recipes section!