Interior Design

How to Throw a Fabulous Dinner Party

Woman Flowers Dinner Table

You’re coming to a point in your career and your social life that you feel comfortable enough to start hosting more events and get-togethers at your home. That’s right — you’ve become the dinner party type.

This is great and your desires and motivations are applauded. But if you want to throw a killer party, there are a few things you have to consider. As well, you will need to be a bit detail-oriented, reasonably particular, and well-learned to be able to make these considerations count for something when it’s showtime.

Ready The House!

Obviously, a dinner party requires a proper venue. A “proper venue” in this case means your house needs to be up to par for hosting multiple people. There are two sides of the coin to a “proper venue” however. The first is thematics and the second is preparations and renovations.

On the thematic side of the coin, we must take into account the word fabulous. Fabulous dinner parties, as opposed to typical dinner parties should be designed around a theme. Now, don’t overthink this. A “theme” is a broad term in this case and won’t require too much goofiness. Some of the best simply cater to the time of year. For instance, currently it is autumn. Fall colors,(fake) leaves around the center of the table, designer plates with pumpkin patch art on them, candles that smell like apple cider — those are all part of a theme. Choose the occasion, and run with it.

On the other side of the coin, you will need to prepare your home by means of dusting, vacuuming, and other deep cleaning. And in doing so you create an opportune time to consider home renovations as well. You should only do this if you plan on staying in your home for a long time or retiring there, however. Otherwise you’re wasting money and resources on something that won’t last, and you may have a hard time selling the house for a price justifiable with these renovations.

Bring The Entertainment

When we use the word “entertainment,” this doesn’t mean you need to have U2 play your backyard or even hire a teppanyaki chef. A fabulous dinner party does not necessarily have to break your bank in and of itself. People’s most epic experiences, believe it or not, revolve around great times with friends and don’t always require extravagance to be extraordinary.

Some of the best nights people have revolve around games — board games, drinking games, outdoor games, or even video games even if you’re the type. Some revolve around awesome conversation and choosing your guests carefully.

Here are some cool ideas to get creative with which are unique but not too expensive:

  • Celebrate friendship with a specific cake for it
  • Build an outdoor theater and watch Movies
  • Build a backyard campfire

While we talk about not spending too much, it makes complete sense to go a little more out of your way for holidays and extra special occasions. Especially if you’re throwing such an event as an employer, you’ll need to watch your budgets and take special care with the details. For instance, if you’re throwing a company holiday party, you might hire a catering service or a brewery as long as your company spending budget allows for it, and you won’t want to waste your money on things you don’t need. You could even have it at your own house to avoid the cost of a venue, though this requires some discretion. If a guest gets injured on your property, things can get really hairy if the proper procedures aren’t followed.

Make Them Feel At Home

Ultimately you want people to stay comfortable. There is nothing worse than being at a party where you don’t feel like you belong. Of course it’s impossible for even the best host to control whether or not their guests feel loved and appreciated; according to relationship expert Dr. Barbara De Angelis, that’s up to each and every individual to determine for themselves. What a good host can do, though, is eliminate things that directly threaten comfort, such as steering clear of alienating topics and activities. There are also indirect things you can do to make your home more welcoming.

Directly, consider the conversations and activities that all of the people you invited specifically will enjoy and feel comfortable in. This can often be drinking, but it can also be a movie you know everyone likes, a dish you know they’ll all enjoy, a close group of friends that already know each other, etc.

The indirect aspect comes down to things we already covered, like vacuuming and dusting, candles and scents, proper space to move around and be comfortable, and natural light if you can get it at the time of year. These are things that positively influence people’s moods and they go so much farther than you may guess. This helps for a great experience because it sets a positive stage — but, no pun intended, it goes right under the nose of your guests!

So a combination of the more direct thoughtfulness and the indirect is essential and will help your home be prime for a killer party.

How have you tweaked your dinner parties to extraordinize them (yes, I made that word up and I am proud of it). Let me know in the comments below!

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Brooke Faulkner is a writer, professional ponderer, and proud momma of two from the Pacific Northwest. When she's not at her desk, she's likely to be found zipping around on her old ATV. You can follow her on LinkedIn.

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