Parties Made Easy

Parties Made Easy are an absolute must if you want to enjoy your own party. With all the comings and goings, we schedule our lives to the limit, that sometimes meals are merely an afterthought. Or, we’re so busy we don’t have time to prepare a meal at home, so we go out, or bring foods in.

For a change of pace, call your friends together in this order:


  • Choose a date.

  • Send out invitations.

  • Put a menu together.

  • Buy any non-perishable items a week or more ahead.

  • Only buy perishable items a day or two before, but certainly do not shop on the day of the party.

  • Try also to prepare as many dishes ahead as you can.

  • Make your dessert a week or two ahead and freeze it.

  • Even your salad. That can only be done the day of your party. But you can clean your lettuce and have it in a bowl, along with the other ingredients you will add to it. All it will need at the time of dinner is the dressing.

  • For parties made easy, you will need to choose dishes that are easily made ahead and can either be frozen or refrigerated and then baked. Try not to choose dishes that need to be cooked on top of the stove.

  • Wash dishes as you use them, so you don’t have a mess in the sink when your guests arrive.

  • Set your table the night before.

    In addition to the food, make it special by immersing yourself in the particulars: fresh flowers, lots of candles, soft, dim lighting, background music, ribbons around the glass stems, and favors for your guests.

    Note: If you want to have parties made easy instead of making yourself crazy, you’ll need to properly balance: the getting ready for it between the enjoying it.....else it won’t be fun. Enjoy the doing of it from start to finish.

    The trick is planning well ahead. Go ahead. Read that again. The trick is planning well ahead.


    I guarantee if you do as much as you can ahead of time, you will have parties made easy and will surely enjoy your own party. Do as much as you possibly can ahead of time, so you’re not still working when your guests arrive.

    Say your guests are due to arrive at 6:00. Plan to finish all you need to do by 4:00, so you can have an hour to rest before they arrive and another 45 minutes to an hour to get yourself showered and dressed.

    When the doorbell rings, you will be ready and looking forward to your party. If you don’t get that rest in, you will be too tired to enjoy the party and you might even be ready for bed, by the time your guests arrive. So, do make time for a rest.

    If you can, enlist the aid of a high schooler on the day of your dinner to help you attend to all the last minute details. While you and your guests are enjoying coffee and dessert, your helper can clear the table, start the dishwasher and tidy up.

    Things to do ahead:

  • Even such things as filling your coffee basket with coffee.

  • Have the sugar out and the filled creamer in the refrigerator. When you sit down to dinner, all you have to do is turn the coffee pot on and by the time you finish dinner, the coffee will be ready.

    If you think you’ll be making more than one pot of coffee, have your filter baskets pre-measured with coffee. When you run out of coffee, all you have to do is fill the pot with water and place the filter in your coffee pot without having to measure from scratch.

  • Arrange the dessert plates and forks in an easily accessible place instead of rummaging for them in your cupboard.

  • Set out the beverage glasses.

  • Prepare the ice container.

  • Have all the appetizer plates and napkins out along with a dish of nuts or snacks.

  • Also, have a pitcher of ice water in the refrigerator and pull it out just before dinner.

  • Have the dinner water glasses out and ready for ice before your guests arrive.

    Here is a great example of parties made easy: Serving a messy meal? Do as one hostess did when she served us a shrimp meal. She covered her dining room table with lots of newspapers. We guests peeled and ate shrimp (that was before I changed my way of eating) and deposited our peelings right there on the newspaper.

    When finished, she rolled up all the mess and tossed it in the trash.

    Then, she plucked the centerpiece from the buffet and set it in the center of the table.

    Next came coffee and dessert on a clear, glass table. It was really a very simply prepared meal.

    Ingredients for a Lovely Dinner

  • A good choice of music.

  • Great food.

  • Candlelight.

  • Fresh flowers.

  • Fun people.

  • Good conversation.

  • Laughter.

  • A Colorful table.

  • Endearing family or friends or both.

  • And a fair bit of Love!

    I know I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but it is so absolutely necessary. The secret for parties made easy is to do as much ahead of time as you possibly can.

    But the very most important is to have a good time and enjoy your company!

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    Thoughts to Ponder

    “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” Ayn Rand


    DISCLAIMER: Though the information on this website is researched, it is a reference for educational purposes only. The information is not intended to prescribe treatment or cure conditions. The reader should be made aware that this information is not intended as medical advice and not intended to be used in place of medical treatment. It is merely the sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the author.

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