Hosting a house party with style

How often have you thought of hosting a party ……and run out of ideas, especially if you party often. You want to do something different, and in the process you find yourself at a loose end, utterly confused as to how to go about it. You certainly don’t want to plan an elaborate menu, with a long list of guest ending up as bundle of nerves on the day of the party. Times have changed. Home entertaining is about personal bonding, unwinding, connectivity, and catching up on lost time. With a little bit of planning you can have a great time with your guests in a relaxed and enjoyable manner.

Plan the guest list.

Be clear about the people you want to call. Make sure that they mingle well with each other. Send attractive invitations with an appealing text or courier them hand made invites. If you call them up on phone then make sure to remind them on the day of the party. Invite well in advance and request and RSVP to enable you to plan your menu.

Planning the menu

Plan a simple menu. Make dishes you are comfortable with. Choose ones you have successfully tried out instead of experimenting at the last moment. Be innovative. Choose a theme for your party and make sure the food matches the selected theme. If you choose an Indian menu, then you could choose, two starters like (mini fried idlis with chutney or kebabs and biscuits or toast with cheese/olive/ toppings with a tomato or cheese dip. For the main menu, include rice and chapatti, salad, two vegetables, curd or raita, a dal.and a non–veg item.

For desserts, you could serve ice-cream with gulab jamoon, custard with fruits, hot jilebis or even a malpua.

If planning a continental or Chinese menu, then you could serve corn fritters, steamed dim sums or spring rolls. Add a steamy soup and for the main course you could make vegetable pasta with béchamel sauce or tomato sauce. Include garlic bread with a dip if you wish. For desserts you could make brownies or home made bread pudding or a tiramisu or may be an apple pie. These desserts could be made the pervious day itself.

Setting up your home

The occasion or theme will decide the décor. Play suitable music to enhance the mood. If possible use the appropriate utensils too to serve your dishes. An Indian theme would not be a problem but if you choose a continental theme then bring out appropriate objects d’art to arrange them in your house. You could get ideas online too. If you are creative, then you could even make a few decorations with paper or fabric at home a few days before the party.

Serving Liquor

Having a good variety of wines, spirits and beverages speak volumes of the host’s taste. As a welcome drink you could serve a chilled wine like champagne. These days one can get a wide variety of Indian and excellent imported wines form across the world. Serve sweet dessert wine or liqueur after the dessert.

A thoughtful gesture would be to gift each guest a small gift innovatively packed when they leave your house.