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By Laura Carson Miller

Hosting a dinner party is an art—one that requires careful planning, attention to detail, and a touch of creativity. While most people know the basics, there are a few lesser-known tips that can elevate your gathering from good to unforgettable. Here’s how to impress your guests and make your dinner party a seamless success.

1. Create a Sensory Experience

A great dinner party isn’t just about the food; it’s about engaging the senses. Consider:

• Music (or NOT) : Personally I don’t tend to have music playing at our dinner partiers. Music is very personal and some songs may remind people of sad or bad times. If you insist on playing music I’d go with instrumentals only – classical or jazz with no words! 
• Lighting: Soft, warm lighting (candles, dimmable lights) creates an intimate atmosphere. I love a nice room spray or scented candle when G and I are hanging out at home but again, just like music, scent is very personal and you don’t know who might be coming to dinner that loathes the smell of whatever scent you love. Or who might be allergic to certain scents! So just don’t risk turning anyone off. Candles are wonderful – unscented only at dinner parties  – and the battery operated faux flame options are the very best. Trust me, when people enter your space and smell whatever is cooking in the kitchen for dinner, you want that to be the focus. And if that means they will all smell the pizza when it gets delivered, as you carry it from the front door  to the kitchen, all the better! Don’t ever think you must actually cook in your own kitchen to host a fabulous dinner party! 
• Textures: Mix different fabrics and materials for table settings— I like to choose two completely different napkin patterns that have a color in common and I sometimes also mix the placemats colors and textures. This adds a creative fair to table and is a great conversation starter.  Using greenery from our yard such as variegate ivy and whatever flowers may be blooming at the time, such as azaleas or peonies, I make petite bouquets I place in small vases or sometimes I use glasses such as stemless wine glasses for vintage juice glasses, and place them in a row down the middle of the table. I also use seasonal items like small pumpkins or holly berries or pine cones.

2.  Always Have Non-alcoholic Beverages Available

• You never know who might not be a fan of alcohol or may just be taking a night off from ‘adult beverages’ – plus we must always hold the utmost respect for the designated drivers. So make sure you have iced tea or soft drinks or flavored water for your guests.

3. Plan for the Unexpected

Even the best-laid plans can go awry. Keep these backups ready:

• An extra place setting in case of a surprise guest. Let’s be real: it’s fun when you get to squeeze in another person at your table! I personally love it when someone brings a friend at the last minute or a neighbor joins the fun. 
• A simple but delicious backup dish if something goes wrong in the kitchen. This can be the multiple Stouffer’s Lasagnas ready and waiting in the freezer or your fast fingers ordering up triple the Thai food delivery you get at least once a week. But do have plan B incase plan A burns or is for whatever reason not eatable. You never know. You will be the hostess with the most-est when you don’t miss a beat because you thought ahead!
•  Extra ice, because you’ll almost always need it! Ice, ice, baby!!

4. Think Beyond the Meal
A memorable dinner party extends beyond the food. Surprise your guests with a post-dinner activity:

*A mini dessert tasting with different small treats. We are so fortunate to have great local bakery here in our neighborhood and I love to get various cookies, small pecan tarts, mini brownies and the like to serve on a large platter in the middle of the table or in our sunroom after dinner. 
*There are some great food related websites out there, including Goldbelly’s, where you can order special cakes, pies and other fun sweets you can serve up as your dinner party dessert.  One of Ina Garten’s cakes or a perhaps a ‘New York Strong’ box with black and white cookies, brownies and cupcakes is an extra special way to cap off a delicious dinner. Back when I hosted my monthly LCM Lifestyle Lunch networking lunch, one month I held it at our house. I made chicken salad and Hawaiian salmon and bought a few side dishes from Whole Foods. For dessert I served Moon Pies and we had iced coffee. The Moon Pies were such a hit and were nostalgic for many of the women. I bought a bunch so people could take a few to-go. People mentioned to me years later how much they enjoyed the camaraderie, the food and how stoked they were over the Moon Pies!

*I like to create a small food gift for guests to take home.  Package up cheese straws, mini chocolate chip cookies, your favorite nut mix or anything that strikes your fancy. And these items don’t need to be homemade unless you just want to make them yourself. Believe me, your guests don’t care, kinda like I said with the pizza delivery for your dinner party meal. They are happy to have been invited over and your company is the very best dish on your menu. When they are craving a midnight snack and remember your little to-go gift, you will ascend even higher in their graces, if that is even possible!

5. Set a Beginning and End Time 
Guests appreciate a hostess who lets them know exactly when to show up and more impertinently, exactly when to say good night. Especially if you have guests you don’t know well and vice versa, they may not know you go to bed every night like clockwork at 11pm, dinner party or otherwise. So this means you want everyone gone by 10pm so you can do a bit of tidying up and watch at least one Seinfeld episode on Netflix before you slide into slumber. Some people, and this happens with absolutely lovely people, will be having so much fun they won’t want to go home. And they will stay as long as you let them. No one wants to bring out the awkward, ‘well it’s been such a fun evening!..’ line with their beloved guests. If you set an end time and people overstay their welcome, you can say something knowing, while it’s still awkward, that you were clear in your desire for the party to end a specific time.

6. Embrace Imperfection

Guests appreciate a hostess who is relaxed and enjoying the night rather than one who is stressed about perfection. If something doesn’t go as planned, laugh it off—your attitude sets the tone for the evening. Also, IMHO, just about nothing is more boring than perfection. I mean, seriously, blah. Just do your thing. Be you. 

If you need a dinner party checklist, by all means create one! I did this when I first starting having people over and just like for packing for a trip, if you are looking at what needs to be done in writing you have a better handle on things, no question!

With these tips, your dinner parties will leave guests raving long after the night ends. Cheers to hostessing with style, grace, and a always a lot of fun!

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