5 Elements That Make The Best Dinner Parties — besides the food.
What’s the difference between a forgettable and an unforgettable dinner party? Of course, you’ve got to have delicious food, but a memorable dinner party is about so much more than the food. The best dinner parties that I’ve ever given or attended all had some of these elements in common.
1. Calm, relaxed hosts.
Hosting a dinner party takes a lot of work; so it’s best to a partner up. Find someone to co-host if you’re single. If you’re married, get on the same page with your partner about the division of labor. If your partner isn’t into helping out with the time and effort involved in hosting a dinner party, don’t bother. Meet your friends at a restaurant. Enough said.
Hosting should be fun, whether it’s at your place or a restaurant, it doesn’t matter.
2. Guests and hosts all really like each other.
I don’t have people over my house who I don’t already have fun with and enjoy in the first place. This sounds intuitive, but it can be tempting to invite friends of friends just because they invited you previously or are friends or your friends. I’ve found that it just stresses me out to have people over that I don’t connect with or know very well.
Hosting a dinner party is a lot of work, but that’s easy to do when you’re doing it for people you love.
3. Feeling taken care of:
Have you considered hosting a really special dinner for friends instead of a more casual get-together? I have nothing against casual get-togethers, but hosting a dinner with a killer menu; lighting the candles, and using the china really makes for a memorable evening. We are all so busy these days that catering to dear friends with an elegant sit-down dinner (maybe a few courses?) followed by coffee and dessert is a wonderful way to make friends feel truly special. And really, why do we have these amazing kitchens & homes anyway?
Friends might forget what you cooked for them, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
4. Use Seating Rules:
I learned this trick from my girlfriend, Ann, who uses a tradition of seating her guests alternately boy, girl. Also, she insists that you can’t sit next to your own spouse. Of course, you could just use name cards if you want to be more passive about it, but I found that when she told us the rules she let Captain & I know that there was an expectation that the men wouldn’t just be talking to the men; and vice versa for us girls. Who isn’t guilty of that? It’s easy to get caught up just discussing the same tired topics with your girlfriend when you hardly ever get to know her spouse.
That’s the sweet spot of the dinner party – creating a conversation dynamic that involves everyone.
5. Bring some fun to the table:
Help your party shift into second gear by introducing an element of fun.I recall a fun birthday dinner with girlfriends where everyone had to pick a conversation starter card and give an answer. These particular ones were from a company called Table Topics® (not-affiliate). We went around the table with our answers. It brought an element of fun to the table and got everyone beyond the small talk. These cards also make a great hostess gift. If you prefer to play a game I like CatchPhrase (Amazon link). It’s an electronic device that gives you a catchphrase you try to get your partner to guess within a short period of time. You can choose between several topics like news, geography, travel, entertainment or sports. It’s simple to play. I like to play after dinner’s over while having coffee, but again it’s more fun to NOT have couples team up, but play against each other. It’s such fun. Making a conscious effort to bring some fun to your get-together makes your dinner party memorable.
Do you have a special element that you incorporate to make your get-togethers memorable?
