Dinner Parties

First decide your budget for food and drink.

Then decide your menu according to your budget.

I would do the following.

Fizz on arrival

Cold starter

Main something that can be prepared beforehand and preferably go into oven (this gives you more than meveith guests)

Desert - my go to ones are poached pears - cheesecake - pavlovas.

Cheeseboard.

Depending on budget you could have a desert wine and port with the cheese board.

Work out a menu which can be prepared as much as possible in advance so that you are not totally exhausted.

Is this a wind-up? How long is a piece of string?

To answer your queries in order:
1. It depends what you plan to serve and how many courses. Obviously, if you are preparing and cooking several elaborate courses from scratch, it will take much longer than if you buy in ready made food from M&S (other good stores are available!) and re-heat it.

2. See my answer to 1, above

3. You need to check if your intended guests have any food allergies before you start buying/preparing your menu. Nothing spoils an evening so much as seeing a dear friend carried off in an ambulance.

Do your guests already know each other? If not, are you certain they'll get along harmoniously?

Try not to let anyone get drunk or aggressively argumentative and make sure everyone knows where to find the loo!

never been to , nor hosted a Dinner Party !

A friend of mine who only entertained by dinner party always served bought pate and brown bread, Roast pork and a delicious bought dessert, then cheese and lots of red wine.

She could have served hamburgers and chips and no one would have noticed, it was the company and the conversation that we went for, even if we could remember very little of it the following morning, just the memory of a having had a really lovely time.

Prepare all vegetables the day before. Main course that doesn't need careful timing eg stroganoff, duck legs or venison in red wine. A bowl of soft fruit with an easy cold dessert that can be made before, eg tiramisu or a cake. The best dinner parties we have regularly with old friends are arranged so that hosts do the main course and others bring a starter or dessert. Everyone brings wine. Pretty painless!

Take them to the pub!!

I was also going to say 'how long is a piece of string?'

OP you need to give us some more information! How old are you that you've never hosted a dinner party?

Dreadful things anyway .... it's kitchen suppers these days.

A dinner party is only friends round for a meal, but with a tidy house and paper napkins.

Preparation is key here, do as much as you can the day before. Don't try anything you have not cooked before. Dishes where timing is not critical as Saxifrage says, cheese and fruit for afters. Plenty of wine and conversation and the deal is done.
No idea why I am pontificating about this as my husband is a chef and does all the cooking.

Depends on the occasion - how well you know the guests- it may be different if you are entertaining the boss and his wife or a couple of close friends. How formal or informal you wish it to be. We often have friends round for dinner but if you'd call it a "party" I'm not sure.

I agree Riverwalk, dreadful things, we used to do them once, not anymore. We'd have them on a Saturday, so there was a cleaning of the house frenzy on the part of my husband, whilst I did the food prep, having spent most of the previous day buying the damn ingredients, by the time the guests arrived, we were both frazzled, we really wanted to open the door and tell them to s*d off, but that's just rude although honest!

Ours usually started at 8pm and finished sometimes as late as 2 am, and we had young children at the time so we'd go downstairs in the morning, hungover, to a dining room table strewn with every plate and glass we owned and spend the morning clearing up. I hasten to add that usually these affairs were reciprocal, so I felt obliged to hold them from time to time, usually a good year or so after we'd been to theirs and we couldn't put if off any longer. I can't be arsed with any of it anymore, although I do prefer doing it the summer so food can be barbecued and hopefully you can sit outside. Thank God most people I know feel the same about dinner parties. We still entertain family and very close friends, some who live a distance, so they come and stay a few days but it's all very informal and after we've fed them on the first day, we either go out or all muck in.

However going back to the original post, some people enjoy dinner parties and don't have my bad attitude you may well be one of those OP My advice is make your deserts in advance, Pavlova's good because meringue keeps well and then just pile on cream and fresh fruit and the last minute. Some cold antipasto to start with, Parma ham, olives, rustic bread and Balsamic vinegar, or make some soup. Find out whether your guests like fish or meat. Dress accompanying vegetables with fresh herbs such as chives, basil they enhance them imo. If you don't fancy doing a desert get a good selection of cheese and add some figs and black grapes and serve some Amaretto biscuits with the coffee. Ply them with plenty of so if you do muck anything up they won't care. Enjoy

We have 8 neighbours coming in tomorrow night for a meal. I don't necessarily call it a dinner party. It will be relaxed and friendly. We invite them all just before Christmas each year. Keep menus straightforward. They are coming to have a fun evening so relax and enjoy.

Do as they do in Oz-----BYO.

A friend who is older than me therefore far more experienced told me to stick to the KISS principle:
Keep It Simple, Stupid

We all meet up in the pub nowadays - for lunch, not evening meals.

I thought dinner parties were a bit passé?

1 -How long does it take to prepare?
2 -Average cost?
3^-Any problem you face^

1 as long as it takes depending on menu
2 as much as you wish to spend -- ditto --
3 cleaning the house first then mopping up the red wine that has been spilt

Don’t invite Abigail!

Squiffy

I love dinner parties,cooking s my favourite pastime.Like my table set with waterford chrystal,linen napkins ,fresh flowers and candles .I do agree with the cold starter ,a nice home made pate can be made a couple of days in advance and an onion jam to go with it can be in the fridge for up to a week before.
Same with puddings,a gateau or cheescake with fresh berries or even a good ice cream with home made toffee sauce and honeycomb is always well received ,sometimes I do a trio of desserts
.Find out what your guests wont/cant eat as theres nothing worse than putting food down in front of someone that they cant eat .Keep the mains simple ,steaks with salads /veg .Roasted falling off the bone lamb with red wine an d redcurrant gravy or a chicken dish and seasonal veg .Above all ENJOY it ,its not a punishment exercise .Ours tend to last for hours sitting round the table with cheese and wines until the early hours.Great way to spend a Saturday .

Love having friends round and going to theirs. Sometimes we have a theme going - curry evening, Greek night , Spanish etc it wouldn’t qualify as a formal dinner but who cares?

Monica - paper napkins, surely not!!! We use them in the kitchen (sometimes) but absolutely never in the dining room????

Nothing wrong with paper napkins in my opinion. When I invite friends around I hope we will all have a good time with a pleasant meal and some wine, convivial conversation and a bit of a laugh. I am not trying to impress anyone.