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Organizing Dinner with Friends – Part 1

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If your family is like ours, then you enjoy entertaining friends for dinner. My children often beg to have their friends over to play. To accommodate their desire to play and our wish for an enjoyable evening, we invite friends with children over for dinner. To save me time, energy, and money, I follow a six-step checklist that helps me in planning our evenings of entertainment. Here are the first 2 steps in my 6-step checklist:

STEP 1:  Choose a date that works with my schedule.

Since our children stay up late and are so wound up after spending 2-3 hours with their friends, we usually entertain on Friday evening. They can then stay up past their bedtime to settle down, and they can sleep later on Saturday morning. Also, our house is often in disarray due to all the toys getting rearranged. We need Saturday morning to get our house back in order.

STEP 2:  Choose my menu.

I tend to choose the menu before inviting our friends. Almost always, our friends ask what they can bring to help with the meal. By already having the menu planned, I can suggest one of the side items. If I did not have my menu planned, then I would need to spend time and energy calling or e-mailing to get that information to them. To simplify the process, I choose to plan the menu before sending invitations. Here is a sample menu:

  • Baked ham
  • Mashed potatoes and gravy or scalloped potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Corn
  • Applesauce
  • Bread
  • Chocolate cupcakes with icing

Entertaining can be lots of fun. By having a list to execute, I have found excitement in planning while avoiding the anxiety of possibly forgetting something. Next Tuesday I will continue this explanation with steps 3 and 4 of my entertainment checklist.

Event Planning 101

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Did someone say party? I love attending a well-organized event where structure and order are balanced with spontaneity and free time.  When I was in high school, I remember attending a rehearsal dinner that was so structured that I felt like I needed to ask permission to sit down. The event was very organized but lacked free time.

On the other hand, I attended a friend’s birthday party that was entirely spontaneous. The food was out, gifts scattered around, and attendees milling about visiting with each other. The hostess enjoyed socializing and failed to execute any order to the event’s schedule. About half an hour into the party, I was ready to go, but the food had not been eaten nor gifts opened by the recipient. This party was extremely spontaneous but lacked structure.

Having attended and planned a number of gatherings, I will share on Tuesdays how I attempt to implement structure and fun into a well-organized event. Stay tuned for next week’s topic: Hosting a dinner party.