July 20, 2023
Alexandra Kinias

It is always fun to have friends over for dinner, but after a long week at work, no one really wants to spend the weekend in the kitchen cooking, or worse, cleaning after. The time, expenses, and the effort that goes into the details of shopping for food, preparing, and cooking dinner can be both mentally stressful and physically exhausting. And while the hostess looks forward for the guests to relax, have fun and enjoy her food, probably she’s the one who least enjoys her own party. That would leave her reluctant to entertain more often.

For special occasions, you can spend days preparing gourmet seated dinners where you use your fine china, crystal glasses and expensive silverware. But you should not limit your entertainment to such formal settings. The rest of the time, go casual. And such casual gatherings with friends should be relaxing and fun with no worries about staining expensive table cloths or breaking a crystal glass.   

The most important rule when having friends over for a casual dinner is to keep it simple. And here are some tips on how to do just that: 

1- Instead of cooking dinner, why not just prepare a salad and order Pizza or sandwiches.  And suggest to your friends to bring drinks or desert. Friends like to hang out together not for the sake of food, but to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. 

2- Pot luck party is a great idea when you have a big crowd. And while you prepare the main dish, suggest to your guests to bring appetizers, salad, drinks or desert. This will save your time and energy to enjoy yourself and your guests. 

3- Engaging the guests in an activity brings more fun to the gathering and opens up light discussions that add value to the evening. Depending on the interests of your friends, you can choose the theme accordingly. Here are three ideas that you may consider next time you have friends over:

a- Movie Night: Everyone enjoys a good movie, so why not plan dinner on a day when an interesting movie is played on television. For TV dinners you can serve appetizers, sandwiches and a simple desert. You can prepare the sandwiches and the desert and ask each of your guests to bring an appetizer of their choice. 

b- Let’s Play Games: Dominos, monopoly, cards, scrabble or charades are engaging, relaxing and fun games to play. And no matter how old you are, a little present will always cheer up the winners. 

c- Book Club: Once a month, organize a book discussion meeting for your bookworm friends. Each takes turn in suggesting a book to read each month, and then the group discusses it over a light dinner prepared by everyone. 

Depending on your friends’ interests, you can include other themes, ideas or games that can add fun to your gatherings. So when it is your turn to organize a gathering for your friends, don’t panic. Just remember to keep it simple. It is not about the food, but about enjoying some quality time with them. 

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