It’s no secret that I like to put on a bit of a shin dig at home every now and again. I go in fairly hard when it comes to birthdays, putting together party tables like the Macaron and Milk one at Sophie’s 9th birthday or the Pink, Black and Gold party table for my own birthday back in March. At first glance they look quite OTT and tricky to put together, but honestly, they’re really easy to do once you know how.
Milk and Macaron Party Table Not as complicated to put together as it looks.
Something I don’t do very often however, is host dinner parties. So on Friday night, just for something different, I invited my girlfriends over for dinner and thought I’d share my How To Host A Dinner Party At Home tips and tricks with you.
1. Make the meal a day ahead
Winter is the perfect excuse to whack on the slow cooker and make a mouth watering casserole for your fiends to enjoy. And everybody knows that casseroles taste better the next day (I think its got something to do with all the flavours infusing, but I’m no chef, so feel free to correct me on that!) so on Thursday I made a very tasty Beef & Chorizo Ragout from this month’s Taste magazine. On Friday, at around 6pm I reheated the ragout on the stove top, made some Potato Stacks , threw some broccoli and sliced carrot into a pot of boiling water and viola! Dinner was ready.
Dessert was a delicious Toblerone Mousse, which I also made the day ahead.
2. Keep the table setting simple
I’m not really into fancy table settings, so a couple of hours before my girlfriends were due to arrive, I threw a tablecloth on the table, put a cute bunch of flowers in a jar, lit a couple of colourful tea light candles, put my gorgeous new light box in the middle of table and I was done. Too easy!
3. Put on a bit of booze
When I asked my girlfriends to come over for dinner, the first they all said was, “Sounds good. What can we bring?” I told them to bring whatever they wanted to drink, mostly because we’re all booze hounds and I don’t have the funds to support 5 lovers of all things fizzy. But I did have a couple of bottles of gin in the cupboard, so I put together a little DIY G&T Mixing Station for the girls to help themselves to once they’d done with their champers.
4. Invite fun people
I’ve known these gorgeous girls since high school. When we get together, it’s several hours of non stop talking and laughing. On Friday night, we chatted about everything from boyfriends we had in high school to how clever our kids are. We laughed hard about everything from defrosting lamb chops (long story) to avoiding pork swords (Mum, don’t ask!) and when they all left just after midnight, it hit me that no matter who comes and goes in your life, no friendship quite compares to the long lasting ones you make in your teenage years.
5. Be prepared to feel a little dusty the next day
It’s fair to say that the next day I nailed the dusty factor. I solved it by inhaling a meat pie and spending several hours slothing it on the couch in my very comfy Katies Ultimate Slim Fit Seam Jeans.
Meat pie thanks to a very thoughtful husband.
Jeans from Katies, boots from Jo Mercer (last year)
Not in picture: 2 nurofen and a frosty fruit chaser
And that’s my idea of how to host a dinner party at home. Basically it involves good food, a cheap and cheerful table setting, plenty of booze, great friends and one hell of a hangover the following day!
Ever hosted a dinner party at home? Did it require a bulk purchase of nurofen the next day?
Leave a Reply