The lengthening Colorado summer nights provide the perfect chance to host a dinner party for friends and family. Often, hosting a dinner party can feel more like a chore than a good time. To save yourself time and energy on preparation, cooking, and clean-up, here are a few stress-free ways to both host and enjoy your dinner party.
Sure, dinner parties may be a fun excuse to try an intricate, new recipe, but attempting an in-depth, complex dish while guests are arriving can spell disaster. Pick menu items that are less forgiving and easy to prepare before-hand.
The grill and oven are your best friends for dinner parties. Make kabobs, marinate meat, and chop vegetables before-hand. When guests arrive, you can cook everything easily without much additional prep work. Everyone can take turns watching the grill, leaving you time to socialize and relax, out of the kitchen.
Don’t be afraid to ask your guests to refill the ice bucket, set up a backyard game, or flip the burgers. Your friends and family are there to spend time with each other and don’t need to be waited on hand and foot. Delegate a DJ to make sure the tunes are cranked, enlist the help of the kids to get games going, and send your relative around with a tray of hors d’ oeuvres.
You can also ask friends to bring outdoor games, desserts, or appetizers. When clean-up rolls around, don’t be shy when your friends offer to help clean up. Many hands make light work and the quicker the dishes get done, the quicker everyone gets to resume the party.
We often avoid hosting people in our homes because we fear our spaces are too messy, disorganized, or unwelcoming. Just remember, your friends and family don’t expect your home to be perfect and neither should you. Pick up enough to make your home feel welcoming, but don’t sterilize your day to day life right out of the picture.
In all likelihood, a glass may get broken or a chicken wing may get burned, but try not to sweat the small stuff and your guests won’t, either. They’ll appreciate the signature cocktails, home-cooked meal, and great conversation that comes along with the dinner party. Chances are, at the end of the night, guests will reminisce over the shared laughs rather than the meal.
Hosting a dinner party is the perfect way to show folks your new home. VerraWest’s luxury apartments in Longmont provide a variety of amenities to ensure a stress-free, lively dinner party. Our clubhouse, outdoor firepit, playground, and pavilion offer plenty of space to set up games, comfortable seating, and something for the kids to do. If you want to become a resident of our luxury community, contact a leasing agent today.