I remember hosting my very first dinner party.
I was frantic and frazzled, and my guests kept telling me to sit down and relax. (Which was not going to happen if they wanted dinner anytime that night.) Afterward, I just sat down and cried from sheer nervous exhaustion!
You’d think that would have been my one and only dinner party hosting experience. But I had grown up with my mother’s wonderful parties, and I really, really wanted to be a fun, elegant, confident hostess.
Mom had taught me how to set tables when I was a child, but there’s more to hosting than just setting the table, as you know.
So I started out by asking my mom how to do the rest of it too! She told me some of her strategies, and that opened the floodgates! I went on to do more experimenting and learning, and eventually developed my own process, which I’ve refined over many many years of dinner parties, weddings, events, and celebrations of all kinds.
(My 30+ years as a corporate event planner helps too.)
Mantel and Table is the result! Thanks so much for joining me. Let’s get entertaining!
haha, you have certainly come a long way!! I remember once I invited a couple over for dinner that were patients of my husbands {he was a doctor} and I set a formal table in the dining room. My husband was grilling steaks for dinner, but the grill was too hot and he burned them to a point of being inedible! The couple was very gracious and said bring out the cheese and crackers! It was beyond embarrassing!
Haha! I know – stuff like that still happens on occasion, though fortunately not as often or as drastically! 🤣 Isn’t it fun to look back from a distance though? Here’s to learning from experience! 💛
Barbara, that is such a sweet story and so glad that M & T came out of it! So sorry for all the tears but look at you now. Go girl! For the record I think everyone’s first dinner party is an emotional disaster, mine certainly was lol. Thanks for sharing your story and happy Tuesday to you my friend!
Hi! You’re right – I wouldn’t be surprised if everybody had a tough first dinner party. Maybe even a tough second one! But now that our first and second dinner parties are over, I’m sure our next ones will be great! 🤣 Thanks so much for stopping by, as always! Love to see you here! 💛
I think it really helps when successful people tell others about their mishaps or failures. It helps people like us that try and have a problem see that we are not the only ones that are frazzled.
I remember I finally got a gorgeous brand new apartment that had all the bells & whistles. I bought a cookbook from a co-worker who was selling them for her son’s school. Aha I am going to do a great dinner including dessert. I had a nice eat-in kitchen and I set my table and I started cooking. My little sister used to stay over for the weekend when I didn’t work. Dad had come over and Mom was going to come over after work. I was doing up the turkey my Dad had received from his work and I went to put it in the roasting pan with the help of my Dad. Well that turkey decided to fly for the last time – right out of my hands and on my clean floor. Dad very calmly picked it up and wet some paper towels, cleaned it off, and said “got to eat a peck of dirt before you die” and “don’t tell your Mom for goodness sake!”
Oh my gosh Pam – what a great story!! Your dad sounds fabulous! I’m going to use his quote – that’s totally perfect! 🤣 I can just imagine you in your beautiful new apartment, serving a lovely dinner – dirt not withstanding! Hope this year’s turkey stays in the pan! 💛