Dinner parties - not anymore

givememoney

We have some very good friends who over the years have been many times to our house and we have been to theirs, again many times.

In our youth we just had them over for drinks and we'd serve up maybe some cheese and biscuits during the evening.

Anyway how it happened I don't really know, but over the years this sort of developed into a 3-course meal and so it has gone on. Of course when it is your turn to visit them it is lovely and you can enjoy the labours of their hard work.

As we are past 60 now (which probably has something to do with it) we have reached an agreement to go back to the old days of drinks and a snack.

This has lifted a huge burden off of us women at least.

When having a dinner party you have to

a) Plan
b) Purchase food and of course pay for it. True when it is their turn they pay but party food always costs more than bog standard food so in the long run we all save.
c) Prepare and cook the food
d) Spend time darting up and down between courses
e) One of the worst of course, clear up after.

Although you love to see your friends knowing all this has take place before, during and after you have seen them does slightly put you off making that invitation.

For anyone else out there who feels slightly trapped by this senario why not suggest you also downsize.

meritaten

or make things REALLY easy on yourselves and have a 'theme' takeaway night! why not all chip in a few quid and order various dishes up to that value? or order their set menu? then put on an appropriate dvd!
lets see - for chinese night - a takeaway meal for X persons, a Jackie Chan DVD and give everyone chopsticks.
Italian night could be Pizza - and The Italian Job on DVD!
Indian - Balti and a Bollywood movie!
could be fun!

sophistica

i Know what you mean. Now I have a half way solution to dinner parties. I cook the same thing...parma ham (lidl) with melon, easy every day chicken (jamie Oliver) just put chicken, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, herbs in the casserole and put in the oven for a couple of hours and an easy bread and butter pudding. The prep takes about 15 minutes and as the main course is a one pot there is not too much getting up and down from the table.

Patchwork_Quilt

If anyone has read the More with Less series, they advocated virtually the same thing; have a casserole, bread and a big green salad when people come, with fruit afterwards. After all, people are coming to see you. It's not a restaurant.

Another thing we have found helpful is doing high tea - sandwiches, then lots of cakes. It can be prepared beforehand and served in the afternoon. Our oldies like to get home by dark. Yet another idea is meeting for coffee and dessert only.

But I agree. All these things make life a little easier and less expensive, whilst still being a means of sharing with friends.

beedeedee

As we get older, DH and I find that we just cannot eat a 3 course dinner in the evenings anymore. Well we can eat it - but by golly, do we suffer after it. Restless, or sleepness night, indigestion - you name it, we get it....
Light lunches, even just a bowl of soup are the way to go for us nowadays - and more and more of our friends seem to enjoy these too.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

beedeedee wrote: »

As we get older, DH and I find that we just cannot eat a 3 course dinner in the evenings anymore. Well we can eat it - but by golly, do we suffer after it. Restless, or sleepness night, indigestion - you name it, we get it....
Light lunches, even just a bowl of soup are the way to go for us nowadays - and more and more of our friends seem to enjoy these too.

I know what you mean,I'd be up all night if I tried to eat a meal anytime after 7.30pm and god only knows what it would do for my figure :rotfl:.
Don't mind a few nibbles of an evening but I like to be fed early on so I can at least digest my food before I go to bed.

Oliver14

givememoney wrote: »

This has lifted a huge burden off of us women at least.

You do know that men can do things also?

sock-knitter

me and my friends meet up for coffee and cake only

PipneyJane

My idea of "dinner party hell" is to make something fiddly that needs last minute attention. What's the point of inviting people for a meal if you spend your entire time in the kitchen while they're in the lounge (and most British kitchens are too small to entertain your guests while you cook)? If you come round to my house for dinner, you'll probably get a soup (made earlier and reheated), some sort of curry or stew (made earlier in the day and left to simmer for hours) and a simple desert. Virtually everything gets prepared earlier so that I can spend time with my guests.

A pet annoyance of mine are the people who disappear for hours to wash up between courses. Can't it wait for later? I've lived with tiny kitchens and still managed to find somewhere for the dirty dishes to sit while I'm entertaining. I understand that not everyone has massive amounts of crockery or cutlery, but if that's the problem then don't cook a meal that needs you to re-use the bowls/plates/whatever. Pudding can be served in glasses (chocolate mouse works well that way). Your guests are there to see you, not sit staring glumly at the closed kitchen door while you wash up.

givememoney

PipneyJane wrote: »

My idea of "dinner party hell" is to make something fiddly that needs last minute attention. What's the point of inviting people for a meal if you spend your entire time in the kitchen while they're in the lounge (and most British kitchens are too small to entertain your guests while you cook)?

I quite agree, I have actually served up a 3-course dinner before that was prepared by me a week or so ealier and consigned to the freezer before reheating. However, after 40 or so years of entertaining coming up with something new most of the time (although I do of course do repeats) can be wearing.

Re. cooking in front of your guests.....nooooo!! I like them out of the way in the sitting room so I can crash on without interuption. Us group of friends made a pact some years ago, we don't want help (by the time you have delegated you could do yourself), we don't want help with clearing up. We see it as when `you come to mine you relax`the same when the invite is returned.

givememoney

Oliver14 wrote: »

You do know that men can do things also?

Yes sorry Oliver, of course you can.

In my case though and a couple of friends of mine, the women do the cooking. My husband does tons of other things for me, but cooking isn't one of them. Apart from the bread he makes...yum! and the blackberry wine...mmmm!

The one man I do recall, my BIL, who used to help my SIL with all the food, was having an affair with the cub mistress, was it a guilty conscience?