entertaining tips
Here are some great tips for hosting a memorable and successful cocktail or dinner party:
- Organisation is the key. You will not have a good time, and neither will your guests if you are disorganised and stressed out! Remember - the whole idea for holding a party is for everyone to have a good time, including the host!
- Organisation starts with the most basic of items - a list! Start by noting down what you have to do, and develop a timeline working back from the event to ensure you allow plenty of time to prepare for the party.
- Think of what equipment you will need -glasses, tables on which to present food and drinks, ice, cutlery, and dinnerware. It is important to ensure that you have enough glassware to cater for everyone - if you are serving champagne cocktails you will need enough champagne flutes for everyone who is attending. Each new cocktail or drink should also be served in a new glass, so you will need 2-3 of each glass type for each person. Arrange the hiring of any glassware for the party at least one week in advance.
- An item that is important for successful entertaining, which is often overlooked is ice - make sure that you have plenty of ice in the freezer to cater for the duration of the evening. Ice is definitely something that you do not want to run short of.
- Always have plenty of Ocean Spray® juice drinks and other non-alcoholic drinks on ice.
- If you are not serving a meal, be sure to provide enough food. An easy guide is to allow for 12 appetisers per person for a cocktail party (if you are not serving a meal). If you are following cocktails with a meal - six appetisers for each person should be adequate. Craisins® sweetened dried cranberries served with nuts is a great standby when drinks are first served.
- Be sure to provide enough seating for everyone - you may want to set up your outdoor furniture on the patio to allow more space.
- If you intend to host a more formal dinner party, set your table before guests arrive, so everything that you require for the meal is already on the table.
- Finally - remember to relax and have a great time!
