Following the dinner party from hell thread........

No. Like you I haven’t done one for years and years. We meet up and eat out. I’m a rotten cook anyway.?

I have not been to a dinner party in years. In our younger days we used to have progressive dinner parties which were fun. A starter at one house, the main at another and desserts at a third. Nowadays it is deemed as so much hassle to entertain and most people that I know prefer to eat out.

Never liked dinner parties. There seemed to always be one member of the group who was competitive
and it spoiled the atmosphere.
Thank goodness they're a thing of the past.

Pre the little problem we’ve had for the past year ?, yes, we did. I’m not the cook but OH loves cooking for other people.
Although we like eating out we prefer to entertain at home.
I think the reason being we are a pretty loud group when we’re all talking and laughing ?

We had many dinner parties in the 1970s but this changed when the children came along in the 1980s and we've never gone back to them. But I think there are so many more eating places now, and people just find it easier to eat out instead of slaving over the stove. Unless you were very well organised and had each dish ready to serve at the right time it was rather stressful being the hostess.

What is the difference between having a dinner party and giving people round for a meal?
Thinking about what I say, I have probably always said 'asking people for dinner' which falls somewhere between the 2

Sorry - this posted as I was trying to correct to 'having people round for a meal'!

Barbecues have long been the new dinner parties for us. In warmer months of course.

Never been to or held a dinner party. I've always thought of them as 'posh'. We've had people around for meals and been to theirs many times obviously but they've never been referred to as dinner parties.

No, not as in a more formal thing when I’d spend ages faffing with fancy starters and puds.
People now just come round to eat, or rather they did pre COVID.

I used to do quite a lot of dinner parties when we lived abroad, ditto big parties, but that was when I had someone to help/do the clearing up. After a big party (always before dh’s sole day off) the chap we had to help would bring a friend and they’d do it all - we’d go to the beach and come back to find everything spotless. Spoilt rotten, wasn’t I - but there were negatives to that life, too.
Should add that the blokes were perfectly happy to do it, especially in air conditioning, which they didn’t have in their own accommodation, and were glad of the extra cash.

We used to have dinner parties quite often but I haven't done one since DH died - can't remember the last time I sat at the dining room table as I always eat in the kitchen!

If I had time I would. I love the whole process. Planning the menu, premaking as much as possible. I even made the chocolates to go with the coffee at the last one we gave.

A particular success was a huge glass bowl of raspberries and cherries for dessert. Quite unexpectedly, they were on sale and were an easy choice. They looked amazing.

Happy days.

Abigail’s Party was the kiss of death for dinner parties.

Nope. Been there, done that. It was a ‘biggie’ in the mid to late 80’s I recall.

Now I’m older, can’t be fussed.

We love meeting friends for drinks in a wine bar or a meal in a gastro pub or restaurant but no faffing with shopping, chopping, cooking etc. Oh the freedom just to pick up a menu again! Or sat and have a catch up and laughter round a pub table with dear friends.

Soon, I hope ... soon.

Loved it grumppa. We knew people like all of them. In fact, we recently went to see it on Stage in Derby.

Not now. I got my baptism of dinner party fire when DH was in the Army, but in civilian life, up to around the millennium we were on a sort of “circuit” of six couples but only four of us took turns to host - the others didn’t have the space and no-one minded that. They would regularly provide the wines. It wouldn’t have been the same if they hadn't been included. They were very jolly affairs and very long evenings - couldn’t do it now! A chance to push the culinary boat out and dress the table properly (one friend used to regularly say to me “will you put in your will that I can have your dinner service when you die?”. Problem is that people start to drop off their perches and the heart goes out of it. I can hardly manage to put a family Sunday lunch together these days without forgetting something or getting into a flap!

I'm with GagaJo on this, I loved the whole thing. Planning the menu so that you had something delicious and different but that didn't cost a fortune (I seem to recall that Delia Smith's venison sausages braised in red wine was a favourite), setting the table, giving your friends and family a treat - lord knows how I did it when I was working, but now I'm retired it is (or was!) one of my most enjoyable things. I'm looking forward to being able to do it again soon!

The only dinners I have hosted recently (pre covid) were family ones.

We used to host and attend these regularly when the children were young. Totally on an economic basis as none of us could afford either babysitters or eating out. Great fun at the time I seem to recall but not a patch on the total freedom of nowadays when we all go out and are waited upon without a care in the world. Love it and can't wait for it to be up and running again. Socialising is definitely my favourite pastime.

Not dinner parties as such but yes we entertain a lot.
It’s supper now, often in the kitchen or garden rarely do we have a formal dining room dinner or lunch.

I too love the planning and prep.
I’m not a pudding eater so it’s usually a light pudding or no pudding after a big cheeseboard!

I make my own chutneys and have made my own sourdough crackers but they are a fiddle!

We’re not posh enough to have or be invited to dinner parties.

We have friends round for meals quite a lot but I wouldn't call them dinner parties

ExD that’s a shame. I don’t remember anyone being competitive. Everyone seemed to do what they were good at - not always something fancy, but always something with decent ingredients. One couple were older than the rest of us and she was up front about the fact that she “didn’t do fancy cooking”. She always served a large roast rib of beef that would melt in your mouth. You can’t fail with rib of beef if it’s a decent sized piece. We all looked forward to that! But, as someone said, it was always more about the company than the food.

We are a group of 5 friends from our working years with the NHS and one friend in particular loves doing the entertaining and produces some lovely food. The rest of us more or less let her get on with it.

Can't wait for us all to meet up again as this friend has moved so will be more than willing to show off her new abode. She's the only one out of us who still has her husband as 4 of us have lost ours. They're a lovely welcoming couple.