Holiday Entertaining Tips

1. Fake it. “A party just needs to hold up for a night,” says Linnea Johansson, author of Perfect Parties: Tips and Advice from a New York Party Planner, who suggests avoiding a pre-party cleaning frenzy. Stash bills and laundry piles. Create clean surfaces and give them a polish, but don’t worry about the dust bunnies under your couch. “This is true for all rooms except the bathroom, where almost all your guests will go,” says Johansson, who advises giving it a good scrub, then adding some candles and a nice hand lotion.

2. Decorate simply. “Flower arrangements can be a total rip-off,”

Johansson says. Instead, buy one kind of flower, in one color, in bulk. “Make your own multiple arrangements,” she says. “And don’t forget one for the bathroom.” Alternately, cluster candles into groups. Whatever you use (flowers, candles, etc.), consider height, especially for dinner parties. “The decorations should be low so that guests can see each other over them,” Johansson says.

3. Involve your guests. “If you’re the host and you’re in one room cooking while everyone else is in another room, then it’s just not working out right,” says Brian Yarvin, author of A World of Dumplings: Filled Dumplings, Pockets and Little Pies from Around the Globe. For smaller gatherings, he suggests including guests in the meal’s preparation. Make your own dumplings, samosas or individual pizzas, decorate cookies, or try something adventurous, like a “stone soup” party, where each person brings an ingredient for a soup or stew without telling the others what it is. “If you have motivated friends, it will be less work for the host,” he says. “If your friends don’t like to cook, this isn’t a good idea.”

4. Plan an uncomplicated menu. If a make-your-own party doesn’t suit your pals, keep the menu simple. Make things ahead of time. Mix ready-made food with homemade. Use tried-and-true recipes; you can serve your famous chocolate cake at a dinner party, or cut it into pieces and serve it on skewers with fruit for a cocktail party. For cocktail parties, Johansson suggests her two-and-a-half tray method, in which you prep two full trays and then have a third only half-full with food. When the first tray is half-empty, replace it with the next full tray, and add the leftovers from the first tray to the third half-full tray.

5. Figure out when and where each item will cook. “I’m always thinking about when to make what, where,” says Lucinda Scala Quinn, editorial director of food and entertaining at Martha Stewart Living. “Where can I store it? Will it be on the stovetop? In the oven? On the grill? Bear in mind that three items on the menu shouldn’t have to be different temperatures in the same oven. Identify your set of circumstances, and coordinate them with your heat and refrigeration sources.”

6. Make your grocery lists. “There’s a whole strategy to the grocery store,” says Lori Powell, food director of Real Simple magazine. “For the shopping, break up the list. Buy dry goods and shelf-stable stuff [such as canned items and flour] up to three weeks or a month before. Two to three days before the meal, you will only have to shop for perishable items.” This keeps your fridge from getting too full too soon — and you can spread the cost over a few paychecks.

7. Shop for your groceries with a strategy. “Before you go to the store, organize your list according to the store’s layout,” Powell says. “Compose your list aisle by aisle. Baking items together. Jarred items together.”

8. Prep as much as you can in advance. When making turkey, “I prepare all the ingredients for stuffing the day before and assemble it and put it in a baking dish” for outside the bird, says Powell, who can just throw it into the oven the next day. “You could also assemble a stuffing to go inside the bird, but don’t put it in the turkey until right before you put it all in the oven.” Likewise, Powell says, you can use the day before to wash, trim and chop all veggies. Then, when it comes time to cook them, just pop them into the pan.

9. Splurge on rentals. “If you’re going to splurge, rent glasses and dishes,” Johansson says. “They look nice, match and save you the hassle of doing dishes the next day. When you rent dishes from a company that supplies them for parties, you don’t have to wash them before returning them.”

10. Forget a full bar. “Unless you are hiring a bartender, skip the hassle and expense of a full bar,” Johansson says. “It just gets sloppy.” Instead, prepare two signature cocktails beforehand. Put them in a pitcher and add ice right before guests arrive. For an added splash, pour into cocktail glasses and serve on trays. “It looks great, and it’s more fun to drink specialty cocktails anyway,” says Johansson, whose favorite holiday cocktail is a sorbet bellini: Put a scoop of sorbet in the bottom of a glass, then fill it with sparkling wine. Try a fun flavor, such as pomegranate sorbet.

Article: USA Today Weekend  November 11, 2007

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