Rhoihessewoi (Photo credit: Jay Vice)
Spring is the perfect time to throw a dinner party. As the weather warms up, it’s such a treat to gather family and friends outside onto your deck, rooftop or terrace for a nice meal. But we all know, party planning requires more than just sending out the invitations. Between the cooking and cleaning, entertaining can be a nightmare.
However, planning ahead will change your life. With a few preparation tricks, you’ll enjoy your time and be the hostess with the mostest.
1. Check your cupboards first. Make sure that you have the right amount of serving dishes, wine glasses, etc, so that you’re not rushing around the day of the event. If you don’t have wine glasses, you might want to look online for stemless wine glasses or more traditional wine glasses.
2. Start ahead of time. Nothing creates more stress than having a million things to do all at once. Rather than leave things until the last minute, start your cooking, cleaning, and planning in advance so you’re not left doing everything just hours before the party starts. Set the table the night before to leave time for any last-minute party preparations. I also like to make a list of all my to-dos for the days leading up to the party. That way everything is mapped out ahead of time so I can just grab my list and spring into action.
3. Go with what you know. Cooking under pressure can always be stressful, especially when you’re on a time frame and budget. Stick with the recipes that you know so you can spend the least amount of time in the kitchen to focus on other preparations.
4. Have everyone bring their own dish. Cooking can be a big ordeal, especially when you’re preparing for a large amount of people. If you ask each guest to bring a little something, it will take the stress off of you and allow guests to feel like part of the party planning.
5. Choose a signature drink. Buying large amounts of alcohol isn’t always the cost effective. Plus, who wants to play bartender, mixing all different drinks, all night long? I like to prepare a pitcher of sangria (or your drink of choice) in order to save time and money.
6. Clean as you go. It might seem like a pain in the moment, but it’s a relief when you don’t have a scary pile of dishes at the end of the night! After each course, move the plates inside the dishwasher, rather than just piling them up outside of the sink. You’ll thank yourself in the morning.
What are your tips for an efficient dinner party?
We live in a society where quicker is better and right now is best. With the popularity of services like Amazon, Netflix and iTunes, having things brought to us in a snap is becoming more and more common. To satisfy our need for “instant gratification” there are some apps that will bring you what you want, when you want it! Most are start ups, and designed for people who work long hours and don’t have the time or energy to check things off their to-do lists themselves.
Wun Wun – This app allows you to place an order from restaurants, groceries, and liquor stores and they will deliver it to you in under an hour for free. I recently used it when I was craving some Shake Shack, but I didn’t want to have to trek the 22 blocks to get it. I timed it and the delivery guy arrived in 50 minutes, and the food was great. The other delivery services in NYC like Seamless and Delivery.com don’t service this restaurant, so it was the perfect solution for my burger craving. Just a heads up – their messengers’ work for tips. So be generous with your tipping. 
