There are always going to be those occasions in life that you want to be able to celebrate, but it’s not always easy to know exactly how to do that. Sometimes you’ll want to go on a trip, and other times you might want to go out for a special dinner – but they’re not your only options. If you love food and you want to do something a little more intimate, you could consider hosting at home! But how can you be sure that this will work out?
Now, sometimes the idea of actually cooking yourself or putting on a show for a larger number of guests can be intimidating. But it can also be such a special way to celebrate. The only thing you need in place to be able to pull this off in the way you wish to is to make sure that you have the right plan. In this blog post, we’re going to walk through everything you need to make sure that you’re able to plan the perfect dinner party. Let’s take a look.
Why Choose to Host at Home
Whether it’s a special wedding anniversary, a birthday party, or anything else in between, you may contemplate a range of options to mark the occasion. Choosing a private dining experience at a fancy restaurant can often be nice, but it may lack the level of intimacy that you’re looking for. But at home, you can be as casual and comfortable as you like and it can often feel a lot more special too. This could offer you the perfect balance of what you’re looking for.
11 Steps to Planning the Perfect Dinner Party
Now we’re going to take a look at exactly what you need to do to make this work. Because if you want it to be special, it needs to be more than just planning the menu and laying the table. Let’s dive into the key elements you might want to focus on.
1. Decide How You Want it To Go
First of all, you should have a rough idea in mind of how you want it to go. Do you want it to be chilled out, laid back, and intimate? Or would you rather it be formal, elaborate, and high-intensity? The good thing is, you get to choose exactly how you want it to go. So work this one out first and then you can pull everything else into place.
2. Choose Your Guest List
One of the first things you need to do is decide on your guest list. Now, this could be for four people, 12 people, or even 40 people – it’s entirely up to you. Choosing the perfect guest list comes down to the kind of feel you want. So if you decide on something intimate, you’ll want to keep it small. But if you want to go with something bigger, you can make it more of a group gathering.
3. Pick a Theme
Next up, it’s time to pick a theme. You might want to think about whether you want to tie in your decor or entertainment with this, or just your table dressing. It could also be that you want people to dress in a certain way – you may even want to create invitations. It’s entirely up to you how big or small you’d like to go with it.
4. Find the Right Date
You’ll also then want to start thinking about the right time to do it. Of course, this may be dictated by the special occasion in question – but if you’re looking at bringing in different vendors, you will have to consider their availability too. So it’s all about balancing it and getting it right.
5. Ideate the Menu
At this point, you’re also going to want to start thinking about your ideal menu for the evening as well. It’s likely that you’re going to know what kind of thing you’d like to serve – it may even be all of your favorite things. But as you’re creating your dinner party menu, it’s a good idea to make sure that the courses work well together. You may even want to do hors d’oeuvre, a tasting menu, or something exciting and elaborate like 7 courses in total!
6. Consider Hiring a Chef
If you know that you don’t want to spend the entire night cooking away, you might want to bring in a private chef. This can be a super fun option if you want to go all out and make it feel like a luxurious evening. It means you get to enjoy the intimacy of your home environment, and still feel like you’re dining at a fancy place!
7. And Bringing in Servers
To go alongside that, you might also want to consider hiring servers too. From passing out canapes to mixing drinks and serving the sit-down dinner, this could add a really nice touch to the evening. Again, it all comes down to whether you want a formal evening or something more casual.
8. Source the Food
Whether you’re working with a chef or you’re looking to do it yourself, you may also want to look at sourcing your ingredients too. Of course, you may find that if you hire in some help that they take care of most of this for you – but you can still have input. If you are doing it yourself, be sure to check out the best fresh options you can find. It might be that you want to go to your favorite organic store or consider leading online specialists, like Maine Lobster Now, to supply your fish, shellfish, and meat. It’s all about being able to have the best ingredients possible.
9. Plan the Tablescape
Next up is your tablescape. Make sure that you look for some inspiration online and see what you want to do. You can look to tie it in with your theme or go with something completely different. You may even want to get someone in to do it for you or purchase a pre-made tablescape kit.
10. Choose the Atmosphere
You’re also going to want to make sure that you’re thinking about the kind of ambiance you want to set for the occasion. Do you want it to be warm and inviting or lively and upbeat? Setting the mood for your party can be such a big thing. It will really steer everything in the direction you’d like it to go in and create the overall tone. So it’s important for you to get this right.
11. Consider the Entertainment
Lastly, you also have any entertainment you’d like to put on too. It could be that you just want to have music playing in the background for the entire evening. Or, maybe you want to have someone in playing an instrument or singing. Again, think about the style of evening you want to have and whether or not bringing in entertainment will work for it.
Final Thoughts: Pulling it All Together
It’s safe to say that there is such a wide range of elements that go into making this work. But you get to pick and choose which options you want to focus on. So make sure that you pick out the key elements and get to planning. As long as you make sure that you’re opting for everything that feels right for you and allowing yourself enough time to pull it all together, it will go off without a hitch. Good luck!