It’s the holiday Season. The Hallmark channel is already a few weeks into count down to Christmas! Yes, I do love a good ole cheesy made for T.V. flick! That means it is also officially party season. Ok, so obviously, I LOVE to entertain and host. I love the entire process from start to finish. Something about seeing your plan and vision being executed with your friends and family enjoying the fruits of your labor! However, I know some people find the idea or task of hosting daunting and too much work. Well I am here to tell you it doesn’t have to be. Here I will go through my process for hosting, simplified and how you can take these easy tips and steps to host a successful bash!
First things first. There has to be event on the calendar! So get one! I like to start planning my events at least a month out. So for this series make sure your event will be far enough in advance to be able to prepare properly. My next series, I will go over pulling off a last minute soiree and making it look like you have planned for months! But one thing at a time, proper planning for this one!
As I mentioned, plan, plan and more planning! You are going to have to think of the theme or if it is for a special occasion. This goes into your planning process. So you are going to want to create a menu based on your event. Is this a formal sit-down dinner, cocktail party, wine and cheese, shower…etc.? Once we know what we are up against we can start the nitty gritty.
How many guests
Dietary restrictions or accommodations (my nephew has a nut allergy)
Decorations/presentation
Rentals if needed
Menu
Grocery list
Timetable of execution of menu – Make ahead/day of/oven times and temps
For this, I will go over an event I hosted for my family. Since we are only a couple weeks away from Thanksgiving, I’ll share what I did last year. I wanted to switch it up. In the past I have hosted the traditional formal sit-down dinner with all the traditional fixins. Even though I was switching things up, I still wanted those memorable flavors and what those evoke in us. My sister pointed out one year that we always go all out and pile up on the appetizers, so that by the time my beautiful turkey is ready to be carved, we already have distended stomachs and don’t enjoy the yummy goodness of the actual meal. Soooo, that got me thinking. I too love a good app, dare I say more than the Turkey?? I planned a Thanksgiving cocktail party! Viola, party theme set!
Now that we have our theme, T-day cocktail party, it’s time to think about how many guests you will be serving. In this case, only 10 ( we have a small family). Ok look at this, easy peasy, we have a theme and we have the number of guests. Remember, we are at least a month out. I may or may not have been thinking about this for a little a longer! But hey, I thrive on the planning phase! You shouldn’t need longer than a month.
Let’s move on to the decorations/set-up. I live in a smaller one-bedroom condo so planning your space is imperative. Since it’s a cocktail party, it’s easier for space. There is no formal sit down and worrying how I am going to fit 10 people. I set up a display table near the windows in my living room where there is space. I used a table cloth and folding table last year. That was before I bought my big girl dining room table. The color theme I went with was serving platters with a lot of gold accents. They also paired nicely with my white serve ware and more rustic wood tones. Not everything has to be matchy match, just as long as everything goes together. I also wanted little labels to tell everyone what they are enjoying. I used those cute little chalk boards. I always like to have different height levels of the food display. It adds dimension and showcases the dishes well. With a cocktail party, I also like to have nibbles all over, the kitchen Island, the coffee table, the sideboard and the main food table. This keeps people moving and mingling. I didn’t have to worry about any chair rentals either last year because no sit down. Great! But if you are hosting a sit down and you don’t own enough chairs, renting them is a very inexpensive great solution. Most towns have a party store you can rent from. You can rent anything these days.
Now that we have our color theme and presentation down, time to create the menu. I was doing a cocktail party with appetizers. However, I wanted to have all the traditional Thanksgiving flavors. Below were some of my menu items.
Turkey and Brie Sliders
Stuffing balls
Caramelized onion mashed potato cups
Sweet potato puffs
Mini caramel pumpkin cheesecake
Eggnog fudge
Chocolate truffles
Beet dip
Next create your shopping list. You do need one, you will forget things otherwise. Plus, it helps to have everything down on paper. We are almost there, so easy! You have your menu and shopping list, now it’s time to get your schedule down. Having a schedule really cuts down on stress and allows you to time everything on the day of so you are not running around like a mad woman. Ok, you will still be running around like a mad woman, but a well-prepared mad woman!
I write out everything that can be done the weekend before, down to days before. I prep almost everything before the big day. Then you are going to create an oven schedule for the day of, so everything gets completed on-time before your guests arrive. Lastly, I also provide a favor for my guests. Something for them to take home to remember the night. This is nothing elaborate, usually a cute favor bag of goodies, typically something I make specifically for my guests.
We made it, that’s it! With just a little time, planning and prep you will be the hostess with the mostess in no time!
Oh, one last thing. Guest etiquette. If you are showing up to the party, DON’T show up empty handed! This doesn’t have to be anything crazy or elaborate. Bring a nice bottle of wine. When I say nice, I don’t mean a 50 buck bottle or even 20 bucks. Just don’t go below $10. That’s nothing! Or some flowers, candy, etc. It lets your host know that you appreciate all the hard work that goes into hosting a party. Also, NEVER show up early. Remember I mentioned the crazy mad-woman phase. The host doesn’t want you to see that or an un-done space. I need to have my place completely set up and presentable and looking beautiful before the first guest walks into the door. So, remember that. In fact, giving your host a 15-minute buffer is ideal. So, if the party has a start time of 7pm, show up at 7:15. Fine line though, don’t show up at 7:45! That’s it, being a guest is the easy part. Just be mindful, show your appreciation and have fun!!
Happy hosting y’all!
Diane
Lindsey says
This is very helpful for hosting an upcoming brunch! I am looking for a creative yet simple fall brunch menu. I look forward to hearing your recommendations and next blog post. Thank you in advance for your help!
Diane says
Thanks! I would do a combination of savory and sweet for brunch. For example, a root vegetable quiche, like roasted beets, sweet potatoes, onion. You can add sausage or prosciutto if you wanted or keep it vegetarian, so many options there. Some goat cheese would go nice too. What’s super simple is you could the quiche without the crust and bake in a pie pan. More like a frittata. You could even do cute single serve portions by using a cupcake tin to bake them in. On the sweet side, which can be prepared the night before, so you just have to pop in the oven the day off, I would do a pumpkin French toast bake. Like a bread pudding and very easy. Or scones are fairly quick and easy to make. You could do a pumpkin scone or go with a basic vanilla scone topped with a maple and bacon glaze. A nice cheese board or even a baked brie with a pomegranate relish is always good. For the drink, you could stick with pomegranate and do a take on a mimosa only with pomegranate juice and champagne, garnished with the seeds. Hope that is helpful and gives you some ideas!
Jan says
You are wonderful! I love to cook too. You have inspired me to start entering again. Can’t wait to try some of your fabulous ideas and recipes
Diane says
Thanks! I love to hear that! Share photos!