The Proper Preparation for a Perfect Dinner Party

A dinner party can be glamorous, fun, exciting, but also a big nightmare!

As we start to dive deeper into the fall season, we also find ourselves more immersed in the world of entertaining family and friends for all sorts of occasions, from tailgates to holiday dinners. We thought, as a good warm up for what’s to come, we’d confront one of the most strenuous, but often most rewarding, friends and family functions: the dinner party.

Let’s picture it.

It’s been a nightmare. You prepared for a lovely soiree and even put out the good china. You planned an exciting new dish you found in the latest Good Housekeeping and you even splurged on a more expensive bottle of wine. But what resulted was the bottle of wine spilling all over your perfectly white table cloth as your best friends’ children ran through the dining room during your “grown-up’s only” gathering. As you cleaned up the dark red spill, your main course burnt in the oven, a guest nearly choked to death as they discovered your hors d’oeuvres  was affecting their peanut allergy and your new magazine-inspired crème brulee became less of a cream and more of a curdled goo. And now, as you sit alone with all the guests gone, you wonder to yourself:

How could this traumatic experience have been avoided?

Easy. Here are three of the most common dinner party issues, and how to make sure you stay far away from the drama. (Or check out this page for more dinner party disaster stories…)

Problem: Uninvited guests destroy the carefully crafted mood.
Prevention: When the invitations go out, be very specific about who can and cannot come. Don’t be afraid to tell people they can’t bring guests, especially one’s you’ve never met; you’re the one throwing the party, after all. This is also a great time tospecify if children are welcome or if your guests should be hiring a babysitter for the evening. Speaking of unwanted guests, make sure your pets are put in a separate location of the house. You never know who has allergies or how the dog will react to food out on the table!

Problem: Food got burnt or didn’t turn out properly.
Prevention: A good rule of thumb when throwing a dinner party: don’t try out a dish you’ve never made before. There’s a lot of pressure when you have people you care about all sitting down to a meal; even more so when you aren’t sure how it was really supposed to go. Stick to dishes that have been tried and true and that everyone will like. Another good habit to get into is throwing a back-up plan in the freezer in case something does go wrong. Having something like frozen veggies or chicken fingers, and a bag of rice is a great way to make sure you’re prepared in case anything was to happen.

Problem: A guest has an allergic reaction to the food.
Prevention: The best way to prevent this is to ask far ahead of time. When you send your invites, request that all guests let you know of allergies when they RSVP. If they failed to inform you and something still goes wrong, have a bedroom or spare room cleaned up ahead of time so they have somewhere to rest and recover if it’s not too serious. Of course, having emergency numbers by the phone is a must for any sort of gathering.

We all love our homes and what’s more fun than sharing them with the people you care about. If you take these tips and apply them to all your celebrations, you’ll be surprised how smoothly things go! (For more do’s and don’ts, check out this great list!)

Have you had a dinner party disaster? Share with us your macabre meal-time!