Holiday Hosting Tips for First-Timers

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Holiday Hosting Tips for First-Timers


Written By: Jaymi Naciri
Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Donrsquo;t try to do everything yourself

The key to successful hosting is knowing when to say ldquo;when,rdquo; and accepting help when its offered. Remember this when you start to worry about delegating too much: just because yoursquo;re hosting doesnrsquo;t mean you shouldnrsquo;t get to have fun, too. Plus, if you spend the whole time in the kitchen, your guests wonrsquo;t get to see youmdash;and that defeats the purpose of them coming over in the first place.

Do what you can ahead of time

If everything yoursquo;re serving needs to be made at the last minute, yoursquo;ll likely be a stress ball standing over the stove and cursing the sauce that wonrsquo;t thicken up while your guests are having fun in the other room. When yoursquo;re doing the menu planning, pay attention to items that allow you to do the cooking, or at least the prep, a day or two before. Itrsquo;ll save you timemdash;and save your sanitymdash;on the day of the shindig.

Donrsquo;t try to be Martha Stewart

Nobody expects you to be the perfect hostess and chef and interior designer. Your friends and loved ones just want something to eat and drink among good company. If your lack of fancy dishesmdash;or even matching dishesmdash;is giving you a pre-party eye twitch, keep this in mind. ldquo;Use what you already have Say you have a mixture of odd platesmdash;scatter them and try to have a common thread,rdquo; said Domino. ldquo;For example, if the plates are all different, have the same matching napkins. If you have mismatched glassware, try alternating matching ones at each setting. Try to be mindful when yoursquo;re setting a table to find a balance visually for your guests, but things donrsquo;t have to be perfect.rdquo;

Donrsquo;t be overly ambitious

Itrsquo;s natural that yoursquo;d want to show off your cooking skills or try something new to impress your guests. But that might not be the best tactic for your first time hosting.

ldquo;When yoursquo;re hosting at your home, itrsquo;s smart to scale back and stick to what you know,rdquo; Kathleen Schaffer, creative director and culinary chef at Schaffer as well as a celebrity caterer to clients including Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and George Clooney, told The Knot. ldquo;In other words, this isnrsquo;t the time to attempt the fancy sous-vide or souffleacute; recipe you saw on Facebook. Set yourself up for success by playing to your strengths, and most importantly, planning and preparing in advance.rdquo;

But keep the food coming

You never want your guests to start getting grumpy because they arrived hungry and dinner is delayed. Having a spread of appetizers everyone can nosh on buys you time to get the main dishes together and keeps them satiated. This ldquo;cream-cheesy salsa of fresh cranberries, cilantro and a little jalapeno kickrdquo; is one of our favorite holiday apps, and not just because itrsquo;s incredibly easy to make. You can find more ideas here.

Remember that you can never have too much toilet paper

This is the kind of thing you might overlook while yoursquo;re shopping, and you definitely donrsquo;t want to have to run out in the middle of your gatheringmdash;or, even worse, bring in the dreaded roll of paper towels. While yoursquo;re buying plenty of TP, do the same with napkins, plastic cups and silverware, and bottled water.

Donrsquo;t sweat the small stuff

Someone is going to spill something. Or drop all the crackers on the floor. Or break a chair. Or all of the above. Keep your sense of humor closeby and yoursquo;ll get through it with stories to tell later on. If that fails, consider downing another glass of wine.



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