Home Sweet Harlem: Planning a Dinner Party

Hors D'oeuvres

So you want to throw a dinner party, huh?

No but I wrote this post because I did? Ok!

Throwing a dinner party is exciting! As someone with three notebooks dedicated purely to list making, the thought of writing out a guest list, playlist, and grocery list brings me to my happy place. On top of that, and (arguably) more importantly, a dinner party is the perfect opportunity to do something nice (read: slave over a hot stove) for your friends and have the perfect candle-lit evening of fun that you can't have with your non-existent boyfriend.

The Salad Selection

It takes a village to slice a tomato

So where do you start? There are the logistics - planning for a date that works with everyone's work schedule, finding a location with enough seating, noting everyone's diets - but the once the details are out of the way the real fun starts with your menu.

Equipped with minimal cooking skills, my co-hosts and I kept the menu simple. The hors d'oeuvres included prosciutto wrapped breadsticks, a cheese platter, dips, and assorted crackers (meaning the most complicated step in preparation was turning on the blender to make an artichoke dip). By starting with hors d'oeuvres served at the counter we could finish the entrees while conversing with our lovely guests.

Dessert

Once the pasta was in the pot, we started the sit-down dinner with appetizers like caprese salad and bruschetta. Our mains were penne alla vodka and chicken francese. The star of the show was supposed to be a coconut panna cotta with berry compote but when that went south the Thursday night before the party we rallied with a peach crisp served with bowls of berries.

My two pro-tips (i.e. lessons learned from 1.5 days of cooking experience) for the menu and food preparation? One, make your menu coherent, whether that means sticking to a cuisine like Italian or going for something thematic. Two, start prep the day before so that there's time to re-adjust when things don't go as planned.

Pants - Topshop, Shirt - Brandy Melville, Earrings - Urban Outfitters

Beyond the menu you're going to want a good playlist, something that sets the mood without distracting from conversation. And of course, the people make the party so make sure to plan out who you're going to invite. Include a mix of people, thinking about who will make the party fun and who will stay around afterwards to help you clean because they know it's the right thing to do (ideally most of your friends fit both categories of people).

And then there's always the question of what to wear. While the white dress perfect for late summer nights is my go-to, I ended up opting for new striped pants from Topshop. With patterned pants as the center of my look I kept the top simple with a gray tank.

Candle Lit Dinner and Friends 

A dinner party was the perfect start to the weekend and as I look back on it this Monday morning from my cubicle in my scary-silent office I can't help but dream of giving the coconut panna cotta another shot sometime soon...

Wishing wonderful weeks to all of you!

Post by Naima Drecker-Waxman