There’s nothing more delighting than organizing a dinner party at your home. Plus, it allows you to showcase your homemaking skills, charm, and hosting skills. Yet, it’s not as easy to organize a great dinner party as you’d think.

If you plan on hosting a dinner party, here are eight super tips for becoming a great dinner party host that you should do.

Create a well-thought guest list

The first thing that you should be conscious of when it comes to being a great dinner party host is sending out the invitations.

You have to be aware and careful with the guests you plan on inviting to your dinner party. It would be best if you found a balance between inviting guests that know each other to those that don’t.

You have to break the ice if people at your dinner party don’t know each other. You may want to organize a few icebreakers to make it fun for everyone.

It isn’t enough to expect everyone else to make conversation. You should also share your stories and anecdotes and encourage discussion after you tell your story.

Prepare in advance

There’s nothing worse than rushing to finish the preparations a couple of hours before the guests come. Thus, it would help if you made it a habit to prepare in advance.

Make a list of all the things you need to finish days before the dinner party. That way, if you find that you’re missing supplies, you still can find alternatives.

You don’t want to be greeting guests while looking frazzled and running around fixing things up at the very last minute.

Also, ensure that if you have pets, you keep them away if some guests aren’t comfortable with pets running up to them.

Set the ambiance

For a dinner party, you want people to feel relaxed and mellow. Thus, you want to be able to set the mood once they come in.

The key to that would be to arrange for the right lighting and other things that will help you build up that scene for you and your guests.

You might want to get candles and mood lighting all over the house. Setting up the ambiance can get your guests in the right mood as soon as they step into your home.

Consider your guests’ preferences

Your guests might have specific food preferences that you need to know. For example, they might be allergic to some things, or other people might be vegetarian or vegan.

As a host, it is your responsibility to be responsible for the food you serve to guests with these specific preferences.

Serve appetizers and dessert

Serving appetizers and dessert will level up your dinner party, so serve them as much as possible. You don’t even need to go too complicated with it if you don’t want to.

There are plenty of suitable appetizers and desserts that you can serve. You can’t go wrong when you pair wine and cheese together and serve it to your guests.

You can look up the best wine to go with which cheeses to nail it. There are even online services that will deliver it to you as well. Don’t forget to get some sliced meat and crackers to go with the wine and cheese.

For dessert, you can serve ice cream and sauce on top of it. It’s a simple but reliable crowd-pleaser for your dinner party. Add a variety of choices that your guests can choose.

You might want to serve higher-end ice cream if you’re going to add that extra touch.

Focus on comfort

You can’t consider it a great dinner party if your guests aren’t comfortable. Thus, it would help if you prepared for everything that will make your guests comfortable.

For example, make sure that you prepare enough bathroom toiletries that your guests are probably going to need while they’re with you.

It would help if you also had enough casual seating choices for everyone you’ve invited, especially seats for when it’s time for dinner.

You don’t want guests who have to be far away from the rest of the group to be able to find a place to sit. It will make them feel excluded and alone. Thus, it would help to prepare enough space and seating for your guests.

Be flexible

Sometimes, your guests might end up inviting other people with them that you didn’t expect. Thus, you should have enough supplies to serve unexpected guests if possible.

If you ever have leftovers, you can have food for a couple of days after the dinner party or give it away. 

PRO TIP: Prepare food containers that you can give to your guests!

Encourage face-to-face conversations

Dinner parties should be time for people to have face-to-face conversations. If you don’t want people glued to their phones, you should also set that example and try not to look at your phone as much as possible.

Even if you’re dealing with late guests through your phone, you should try and focus more on guests who are already in your home.

By applying the tips listed above, you can host a dinner party that your guests will discuss for a long time. Try out the next time you want to host a dinner party and remember to prepare before your party!