The perfect dinner party
Invitations
Send out Invitations early to give your guests a week to RSVP and also give a date to RSVP by. This will give you time to finalize the menu and seating arrangements. But, don’t send out the invitations too early otherwise your guests may forget about your event by the time it takes place. A good solution to this could be a quick email or phone call to remind them
Decoration
Keep decoration tasteful, one colour and white always works well and make sure everything matches. A flowery old tablecloth is not the best answer to dinner party decoration. Try to have matching cutlery and plates. The quality is not as important as long as it matches it tends to look ok. If you lack matching cutlery you could try a theme of mismatched items and possibly try something mismatched with the menu like an unusual combination.
Dining Table
Try to ensure that the dining table is of an adequate size as overcrowded guests may be unhappy guests and the dining table needs room for serving, if space is an issue you could make use of a sideboard as a desserts table. Alternatively consider investing in an extendable dining table which can be used for family dining day to day and extended for dinner party use.
Menu
The best advice is to keep it simple, there’s nothing worse than a host fussing over food and leaving the guests to fend for themselves. Prepare a desert and starter if possible earlier in the day and leave only a few things to do once the guest arrives. It is usually expected that the main course will require some cooking but again ensuring you have prepared as much as possible leaves you free to spend more time with guests.
Seating
Ensure you have enough dining chairs to seat all your guests. Sitting on the stool from the kitchen is not fun. Plus the unfortunate guest ends up appearing taller than ever. Consider a seating plan to avoid a talkative and quiet end of the table, encourage new people to talk to each other; an interesting centrepiece could be an icebreaker for communication.
If you have run through this quick checklist and discovered an extendable table is the answer to your dinner party needs or you are looking for a new dining set then have a quick look at http://www.furniturestore247.co.uk/Default.aspx with a great range of furniture options.
