Entertaining friends and family members can be a hugely enjoyable and rewarding experience, but there’s no doubt it can also be stressful. Juggling multiple balls, satisfying several palates and trying to be a calm, collected host isn’t easy. If you’re eager to please and put on a 5-star feast for your guests, this guide is packed with tips to help you elevate your entertaining skills.
Plan Your Menu in Advance
Planning ahead is crucial whether you’re organizing a dinner party, a barbeque, a celebratory lunch or a sumptuous Sunday brunch. When you’re conjuring up ideas for your menu, consider your budget, the size of the party, the occasion and the needs and preferences of your guests. If people have dietary requirements, for example, you’ll need to choose dishes you can adjust to cater to them or plan a meal everyone can enjoy. Research recipes, get ideas from books, TV cooking shows and social media and don’t be afraid to play to your strengths. If you love hearty home cooking, don’t feel pressure to recreate Michelin-starred dishes you’d find at a fine dining restaurant. If you love starters, canapes and buffet favorites, opt for sharing boards, grazing platters and small plates. Putting a menu together in advance will enable you to sort your timeline, calculate rough costs and think about how you’re going to present and serve each course or dish. If you want to, it’ll also give you time to practice.
Elevate Crowd-Pleasers
There’s a reason many of us gravitate towards certain dishes, recipes or meals when we go out for dinner, raid the buffet at an event or head out for a customary lazy weekend brunch date. Crowd-pleasers are a surefire hit for any gathering, but if you’re aiming for something a little bit more special, there are many ways to elevate cult classics. Adding indulgent sides, experimenting with different sauces, honing your presentation skills and exploring new flavor combinations can help you put your spin on traditional recipes. Look for ways to enhance flavor, create visually enticing plates and introduce different ingredients. You might want to inject some fancy restaurant-style touches to a plate of fish and chips, sprinkle some magic on a Friday night curry, or create a barbeque worthy of an Instagram or Pinterest post by putting on a spectacular spread of sides. Examples include vibrant pasta and rice salads, vegetable kebabs, spicy pickle chips, sweet potato fries, grilled halloumi and feta and watermelon salad. The Internet is a fantastic resource for inspiration for new recipes, fusion food and next-level presentation ideas.
Create a Beautiful Table Setting
Aesthetics play a key role in setting the tone, channeling themes and creating a sense of magic for guests. Table scaping is an increasingly popular trend, which involves designing beautiful table settings using decorative items. Examples include colored or patterned tablecloths and napkins, ornate place names, candles, vases of fresh or dried flowers, centerpieces and crockery. It’s an excellent idea to start by choosing a theme for your table. You might want to embrace old-school Hollywood glamour or opt for a woodland, Boho or whimsical theme, for example. You may choose specific colorways, such as black and gold for a winter feast or pastels for a spring soiree, or you might be interested in themes such as travelling the world or music through the ages. Whatever your interests, create a cohesive mood board and start searching for items to add to your table. You don’t have to blow the budget. It’s a great idea to consider hiring items, use what you’ve got at home already or search for second-hand, vintage treasures. You can modify your design to suit any environment, from formal dining rooms to al fresco picnics.
Taste Your Dishes
We all want our food to look great when serving friends and relatives, but it also has to taste delicious. Taste your dishes as you cook and prepare the meal and do a trial run if you’re experimenting with new recipes. Often, we like to adapt and adjust other people’s recipes to suit our tastes. You might find that you want to try a different type of meat or fish, add more seasoning or swap the sauce for one you think would work better, for example. Give yourself time to explore different options. Once you’ve chosen your dish, don’t forget to taste it regularly when you’re cooking for your guests, even if you’ve tried it multiple times before.
Be Present
Hosting can be frantic, especially if you’ve got lots of prep work and cooking to do on the day. If you spend all your time in the kitchen, you’ll miss out on the social element of the gathering and you may struggle to relax, even after the final plate of dessert has been served. Try to be present and enjoy the occasion. Choose a menu that will allow you to prepare ahead of your guests’ arrival and plan a schedule so that you know what needs doing. It’s an excellent idea to opt for dishes you can make ahead of time and then refrigerate or freeze and practice your presentation to save time when the event comes around. It’s also helpful to have an extra pair of hands. If your partner or one of your friends offers to help, don’t turn them away whilst trying to tackle twenty jobs at once. Tidy up as you go to avoid ending up with a huge pile of washing up at the end of the night.
Create an Experience
Dinner parties, brunches, barbeques, afternoon teas and lunches are all about taste and flavor, but you can enhance the experience by stimulating all the senses. Think carefully about the vibe you want to create and use music, scents and different textures to deliver a multisensory experience. Make a playlist, choose lighting that reflects the mood, use diffusers, scented candles, flowers or room spray to add a pleasant aroma and make your guests feel comfortable using soft furnishings. If you’re planning an intimate evening picnic and you’re channeling an ethereal trend, for example, opt for fairy lights and LED candles, lay out rugs and blankets around a fire pit, play calming, serene music and burn incense sticks. Many of us enjoy entertaining, but it’s not always easy to deliver a 5-star experience for guests. If you’re keen to elevate your hosting skills, key areas to focus on include planning a brilliant menu, elevating crowd-pleasing dishes, allowing time to enjoy the occasion, creating a beautiful setting and designing a sensory experience.
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