A dinner party is one of the best ways to celebrate birthdays, and festive occasions, spend quality time with your family and friends, and more. It does not matter if you are hosting a dinner party for the first or hundredth time; there is always a way to be better than the last time.
There is no denying the fact that dinner parties can be lovely. However, it is not easy to forget about a bad one for a long time. In this blog, I’ll bring some fundamental tips and tricks you can use to make your dinner party and your after-dinner conversations and time more awesome.
1) Select the Seats According to the Guests’ Personalities
You might not find it that important, but it is a crucial decision to make your dinner party even more special. You can avoid situations of awkward silence, too much energy or conversations, or more that not everybody will enjoy.
Several experts believe you should try your best to place the guests according to their personalities. Several people prefer to seat their guests according to mutual interests or because they do not know enough about others or are unlikely to cross paths in other parts of their lives.
According to the experts, usually, there are seven or eight types of pairs or personalities. These are
- The Fascinator: A fascinator will be a guest with an intriguing personal hobby, occupation, or personal story that almost everybody will love to know,
- The Charmer: A charmer will be a guest who can talk to almost anyone about any topic,
- The Opinionator: An opinionator will be a guest who loves to take part in or initiate a healthy and lively debate,
- The Introvert: This one is common. An introvert will be a guest who is not much comfortable with socializing, especially in groups,
- The Extrovert: An extrovert will be a guest who can set a vibe and create energy,
- The Mystery Guest: This guest can be a mystery in several ways. For instance, he might be unknown to all other guests, or nobody will know when this guest will come, etc.
- The Party Hostess/Host: The person who will host the party.
You can try to pair guests according to their personality types. You might not notice the difference instantly, but later, you will find it the best way to seat guests.
You can ask The charmer to take a seat with introverts as they will be good at talking about anything. Try to seat The opinionator with the host or charmers. Avoid asking them to sit with introverts.
2) After Dinner Games
After-dinner games have been a great way to make dinners more special for a long time. You can play board games, word games, dumb charades, truth or dare, and other games after dinner to make the event more memorable.
For instance, you can play games like Scrabble in pairs of two or four. Scrabble will be a good game and brain activity for several people. You can also use cheats using online tools, which helps to end the games quickly so everyone will get a chance to play and finish the game.
These tools let you find and create words using several filters like two, three, five, nine, twelve-letter words, words without vowels, words with specific characters, etc. You can enter or rearrange letters to make words and end the game more quickly.
You can allow all participants to use these tools to find new words more quickly and to make the game fairer. You can use these tools to improve your vocabulary and as a reference tool.
You can play some classic board games or if you’re feeling nostalgic, a classic game of Cribbage can bring you back to the sweet memory of being a kid.
3) Plan the Perfect Menu
Cooking is not the trickiest part about dinner parties, but planning is. I always go with the dishes I can cook effortlessly and have a lot of experience cooking.
People become ambitious or enthusiastic about preparing new recipes but do not practice them. I do not think a dinner party or any event is an ideal place for experiments. You can try preparing that recipe at least once or twice before the party.
Several recipes sound and look delicious but taste a little off after you make them, which happens because of less practice. Do not go after positive reviews about the recipes or chefs. Try to go after more attempts and substitute the ingredients or quantity according to your taste.
Try to make a balanced menu for your dinner party. Sweet, spicy, and savoury notes of your food are fundamentals of an ultimate dining experience. You can also try balancing out healthy and not-so-healthy foods – for example, all kinds of nuts and cakes. If you don’t have cream, then don’t worry – you can benefit from the cream charger delivery service.
For instance, cooked chicken with or without gravy can be your decadent fry option, and serving it with garden salad can lighten the complete dish. You can find some healthy dinner party recipes.
Do not try to go wild with the dishes or side dishes. You might only want to cook as many different recipes as you can handle with ease. There is no point in serving 8-9 dishes if none of them are delicious. You can also take the pressure off by adding more pre-cooked items to the menu.
Why not try some Maltese party food?
4) Create a Decent Party Playlist
Your guests might do a lot of chatting at the start or the end, but meal time is generally quiet time. Nobody will like to hear other people’s chewing sounds. You can start your playlist at that time to make everyone enjoy the food.
You can play the piano, soft jazz, or guitar instruments if it is a formal party. However, you do not need to think so much if it is a casual party. Play whatever hits or trending songs are on the radio. Music can change moods quickly, so try to play the music that matches the kind of party you are planning.
Keeping the volume at a perfect level also matters significantly. Your guests should be able to listen to the music and other people. Music should not be too loud that it will overpower your guest’s voices. Platforms like Spotify and Pandora have curated playlists for dinner and other events to make things easier for everyone. Try to buy a membership or a free trial to enjoy the ad-free music.
5) Meal Prepping as Much as Possible
Meal prepping is one of the best strategies if you have to cook a large amount of food. Several recipes and dishes are available today that you can prepare weeks or months in advance and store in your freezer to use later.
You can also be extra crafty by cooking starters, desserts, or appetizers long before your party. Heat them at the time of the dinner and garnish them with some fresh garnishes.
However, avoid making an entire menu of cooked or frozen food. Similarly, avoid making the complete menu at the time of the dinner. Find a middle ground for the best results.
For instance, you can avoid freezing cooked meatballs and using them after several days. You can make meatballs the night before the dinner party and fry them at the main event. It will give you crisp, juicy, tasty, and fresh meatballs that your guests will love.
6) Get Ready with Conversation Starters
This step becomes majorly necessary if you invite friends or colleagues from different backgrounds. You should be ready to initiate a conversation because it will be difficult for your guests if they do not know each other well.
However, do not try to direct or speak in between every conversation. Give everybody an equal chance to participate. You can ask about people’s pets, vacations, families, or whatever you can sense they are comfortable talking about in front of others.
Do not try to ask questions about the topics they are uncomfortable with because it ruins everybody’s mood, and it is not a decent way to treat anybody. Try avoiding too many questions related to jobs or work.
7) Consider Letting Guests Serve Themselves
You would probably think that I am going to do everything to make everyone feel special, but I think serving food should be out of that list. You can tell guests to help themselves with serving to make them feel more at home.
It makes everybody feel like they are a family and also relieves some pressure from the person hosting the party. There will be less pressure regarding the presentation, serving sizes, etc.
It also makes the environment more relaxed because guests get familiar with the kitchen and your home. Everybody can also eat according to their appetites and taste and go home with a happy heart and full belly.
8) An Appetizer and Refreshment Table is Great
The host should always try to serve dinner at least half an hour after the time you told your guests to arrive. It will also give enough time for latecomers to catch up.
Not everybody will be late for dinner. Some people might also come early, and then they have to wait for others. It will be a great idea if you put some drinks and snacks to curb their hunger. Decent appetizers are always crowd pleasers, and people love them.
Wrapping Up
Try to make your dinner party simple and happy. Do not take too many risks, and make everybody feel at home.