Hosting a dinner party

warby68

Not done much entertaining for a while but for ages my winter standbys were lamb shanks and Nigella's easy potato gratin and her easy sticky toffee pudding with either pouring cream or good ice cream.

Not for those with bird-like appetites lol but guaranteed to have your home smelling fantastic when people arrive and very kind timing and quantity wise. They will all hang around happily if you get chatting or are running late. All prepared in advance to just bung in the oven. Not cheap as such but not expensive by any means either. It is more kitchen supper/comfort food though rather than formal dinner fare.

Drink can actually be your main cost so plan that quite well if you don't have large stores already.

Main problems would be over-complicating your meal, not having large enough quantities - an abundance is much less nerve wracking for host and guests alike wondering who will have 3 potatoes when you've only done 2 each. It creates a generous atmosphere even if the food items themselves aren't costly - and not being forewarned of any diet preferences so do ask the question including active dislikes. And don't try things you've never made before - far too stressy.

If you have serious doubts you have done enough, have a cheese board on standby but only things that won't go to waste if you don't need it.

Good luck

buildersdaughter

All of the above.
Actually got folk coming over this evening, haven't go time for a great breakdown, but;
Smoked salmon trimmings were £3 reduced and put in freezer, whiz up with Lidl's cream /herb cheese to make 'pate'.
1kg. shin of beef £9, with 1/2 bottle of wine (£2.50), mushrooms & shallots will do 4 of us well and leave enough for at least 1 meal next week.
Bread & salad
Baked apples (stored) with the first of this year's mincemeat. Will buy some cream.

I often do this for 'afters': fruit, cheese and some squares of nice chocolate. However, we have cut down a bit on the cheese eating and I don't have any by me. Didn't want to buy any in especially.

MandM90

I always pre-make two courses. So I may make an apple tart the night before and put it in the fridge, then all I need to do is cook/warm and serve with ice cream. Then starter will be a soup, or perhaps a dip with some homemade bread, again made in advance. I always serve some nibbles in case my timings go awry.

On the day, I find it less stressful if I pre-make a timings plan. E.g. if they're arriving at 7pm:

8am - food shopping
9am - unpack shopping, put wine in fridge, hoover, dust, tidy
11am - prep starter and pudding
1pm - lunch and relax
2pm - prep main as much as possible - whether that be chopping and getting ingredients weighed, or bunging a casserole in the slow cooker
3pm - clean kitchen thoroughly
5.30pm - bath and get ready
6.30 - get music on, light smelly candles, put out nibbles get fire started, pour self glass of wine

then I have notes for the evening like:
Heat soup and bread - parsley garnish
rice, boil greens - get oven heated up for pudding, take out ice cream

...I tick as I go. This is for a 'proper' dinner party. If it's just people coming for supper and more casual I'll put something in the slow cooker before work, pick up some lovely bakery bread and a bottle of wine at my lunch break and do a quick whizz round with the hoover when I'm home!!

Working_Mum

I used to do a lot of dinner parties. I would always strive to prep as much the day before so that you are not stressed about timings on the night and you can actually enjoy yourself.

I tend to buy the non-perishable things in the weeks leading up to the dinner party or supper so I am not overloading my budget. I shop from home first and foremost, building my menu from there.

Food-wise, you've had some great suggestion (i would always advocate making more and then it may save you cooking the next day!). Slow cooked casseroles/stews etc make your house smell gorgeous as your guests arrive.

I tend to serve crisps, dips, olives etc as my guests arrive. Remove the stress if someone is hungry and my timings are shot!

Starter - something I have prepped earlier - soup, baked Camembert, pate etc - lovely basket of bread set on the table.

Main - something easy like a casserole, stew served with mash (easy to heat up) and roasted or steamed veggies (easy on the night).

Pudding - again something prepared earlier and served or popped in the oven during the main and served with cream or custard.

Cheese courses go down well, I tend to pop 2 or 3 nice cheeses on a board and serve with the crusty bread from earlier, along with grapes or dried dates or apricots.

Coffee and chocolates - don't forget to offer a decaf option! I do "make your own Revels" so set bowls on the table with maltesers, chocolate peanuts, raisins, galaxy counters on the table and people munch their way through their favourites! I confess I serve After Eights and these get demolished and people start those daft games with them!

I love a nicely laid table - so I set that up the night before. I got married in 1995 and will use my dinner service and crystal which I received as a wedding present!! Nice linen napkins are lovely but you can get good quality paper ones (I prefer washable cotton or linen ones I have picked up over the years as you can't recycle paper napkins).

I love candles on a table and will decorate my table - sprinkle of glitter shapes down the centre of the table to add a bit of character - you can get Christmas or Easter ones!! I re-use these all the time! If I have greenery/holly or flowers available in my garden I will lop those too and place down the table.

I have fairy lights and candles around my dining room for ambient lighting.

I serve a nice cocktail , G&T for my guests as they arrive and then have a couple of bottles per course for wine - I have friends ho turn up and say "this is for you" or "this is for tonight" so I know whether I should pop on the table or not!!

Don't forget to get ice for your wine bucket!

At the end of the night I wrap up everything I can and pop in the fridge anything which needs to go on there. I tend to clean up as I go but always prefer having a good night over washing up too much as I go!! I make sure my dishwasher is empty and ready to be filled.

Having just re-read this post I realise I am a little old fashioned but my mates always say how much they love the effort I go to! My kitchen suppers are much less formal with stemless glasses etc but are still hail and hearty evenings.

I think you'll be fine, anyone turning up at your home for a meal will be grateful for the effort and thought you've gone to I am sure.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

Soundgirlrocks

I've got 6 tonight for dinner (including myself) and spend is about £30 as its pre Christmas I'm being a bit more frugal. I try and keep to a theme so tonight its Alpine

Very roughly:

No starters but nibbles and olives - lidl £2.50
Main - Tartiflette with Toulouse sausages (from Sainsburys £2.50 x3 packs) with a green salad and vinaigrette (1kg potatoes, 200g pancetta, 500g brie one large onion, last couple of inches of a bottle of white wine in the fridge and 200ml cream £4.50)
Desert - Home made Profiteroles (2 eggs, 50g butter, 25g sugar, 75g flour, 300ml cream and 25g dark chocolate I make that roughly £1.50 but most is store cupboard)

Drinks I have a bottle of red £6.99, diet coke £1.50, fresh orange £1.35 and Lidl pink gin and grape fruit pre mix (yummy and only 89p a can!) I know my guest really well and they will all bring a bottle of something they like to drink so these are just optional extras!


There will probably be a lot of left overs which will be used up in the week, I've not used all the brie or cream. And I will probably have more booze than when I started!


And yes ambulance is on stand by for the heart attacks!