Food, drink, friends, good conversation — a dinner party is, in the end, a simple and enduring combination of ingredients, made unique by what hosts and guests infuse the evening with. To help you achieve a more flawless and fun-filled gathering, here are a set of guidelines with everything you need to know about throwing your best dinner party.
First, Make a Timeline. Advance planning will ultimately make a dinner party that much easier to pull off. Making accurate lists and giving yourself plenty of time for each task will minimize chaos and help you tackle the inevitable glitches that arise. n invitation lets your guests know you’re planning something special for them, and helps mark the difference between a regular dinner and a dinner party. Yours should reflect the aesthetic of your evening and the level of formality you wish to communicate. If you’re picturing a more formal dinner, send a printed or handwritten invitation. For more casual events, an email or e-vite can work. Send the invitations as soon as possible — the more notice you give your guests, the more likely they’ll be able to come. Ask guests to R.S.V.P. and follow up to be sure they received the invitation.
Choose Your Dinner Party Atmosphere. In order to create the atmosphere, you’d like for your evening, first think about the details of dinners you’ve been to where you enjoyed yourself, and then think about the kind of night you hope this will be — formal or relaxed? Calm or boisterous? Intimate or packed with new acquaintances? This is very much about who you are and what you want your guests to experience. Everything from the look of your table to the décor to the music playing during the evening will impact that experience, so be sure that you are able to describe the atmosphere you want in a few words, and then apply the theme to all of these areas.
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Creating a Dinner Party Menu. While you may think that a dinner party requires extraordinary feats of cooking to impress your guests, the most important aspect of your menu is that it can be prepared almost entirely before any guests arrive, freeing you up to host. If you’re making more than one dish, serve them as separate courses. This will make the dinner last longer and highlight the individual dishes you’ve prepared. “The flavors of different courses should never mix — it’s a rule of the Italian kitchen,” says the Umbrian cashmere magnate. It’s a good rule for dinner parties as well, even it leads to a tall pile of plates to wash at the end of the night. At more casual affairs, disposable tableware, especially palm-leaf plates and bamboo utensils, can stand in, says Fornasetti.
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Be a Good Host. As host, your job is to help guests get acquainted and comfortable with each other. Get them chatting by including a tidbit about each person when you introduce them, and if two guests share a common interest, be sure to add that on as well. Otherwise, an engaging detail about one of the guests — a recent trip, an exciting new job or any significant life event — will start the conversation. Beyond that, the best gift you can give your guests is to set the tone yourself by being relaxed and convivial, regardless of whatever disasters might have befallen you in the kitchen.
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