![](\"http:\/\/www.mops.org\/images\/cms_images\/2014-11-06.seven-tips-for-hosting-a-dinner-party.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I love hosting and seeing friends gather around our table. It\u2019s cozy, creative and a great way to deepen friendships. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s always easy or simple: I\u2019ve had sick kids vomit on my couch and encountered dietary requirements that wiped out my entire menu. There\u2019s been a bit of stilted conversation and even an upset band of hornets. Believe me when I say I\u2019ve learned and relearned most of these tips the hard way. Still, I love channeling my inner Martha Stewart, and I hope these will inspire you to try as well.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re just starting out, go small and choose close friends who won\u2019t mind if the soup scorches. As you grow in confidence, 6-8 is an ideal size. Feel free to mix friends from different areas of your life, but try to make sure they all have something in common: fly-fishing, movies or being from Minnesota. Ask about dietary requirements early on.<\/p>\n
Want to try your hand at beef bourguignon (a great make-ahead dish)?
\nGo ahead and buy your bread, use a salad mix, and serve sorbet in pretty dishes. Your guests will be so impressed with your culinary skills they won\u2019t even notice you chose only one detailed dish.<\/p>\n
I love dishes I can put together in the morning or even the night before and just pop in the oven, slow cooker or grill. A side benefit to make-ahead dishes: if they go sideways \u2014 and sometimes they will \u2014 you have time to recover.<\/p>\n
A shared sitter is great if you can spring for it, toys in the back bedroom, a pack\u2019n\u2019play for the toddler, Frozen <\/i>cued up. Make sure you have food that accommodates them.<\/p>\n5.Set the ambiance<\/h3>\n
Cue up some dinner-friendly music, light a few unscented candles out of reach of little hands, and close the doors to rooms that didn\u2019t make the whirlwind cleaning cut.<\/p>\n
Opening the wine, dressing the salad, even cutting bread can incorporate them into the flow of the evening.<\/p>\n
Change out of the flour-spattered clothes and into something that makes you feel pretty. Relax: take a few deep breaths, sip a half-glass of wine, step outside for a minute. Remember you, as hostess, set the tone for the evening. Mindfully move from frazzled to gracious. Your kitchen might still be dirty, but at least you\u2019ll feel comfortable and confident.<\/p>\n
And finally, have fun!<\/p>\n
Alita Hermansen is an ex-academic, writer, and the wife of a currently deployed Army Reservist. She lives in sunny Boulder, Colorado, with her charming 10 month old son and a golden retriever who thinks shedding is a way of showing love.<\/i><\/p>\n I love hosting and seeing friends gather around our table. It\u2019s cozy, creative and a great way to deepen friendships. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s always easy or simple: I\u2019ve had sick kids vomit on my couch and encountered dietary requirements that wiped out my entire menu. There\u2019s been a bit of stilted conversation and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":12289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[27,218],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-fun","tag-gather"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Which of these tips will change the way you gather?<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"