In just a few days, November will be here which means it’s officially time to celebrate the holiday season! Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, Christmas Dinner, weekend brunches…so many opportunities to come together with friends and family. And I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited. Maybe it’s the new house or maybe it’s the fact that my priorities are changing as I get older – but I can’t wait to have people over and just be together with the people we love!
As excited as I am to decorate and play hostess, let’s be real, entertaining can get super stressful. I shared some of my go-to tips a few weeks ago for the best way to prep for entertaining. But what about the day of?
Setting Up for the Perfect Dinner Party…
Step 1: Make a to do list. I can’t stress this enough – a list is the only way I know how to stay organized. I use the To Do List feature on the Family Hub refrigerator to outline all of the tasks I need to get done to prep for a party. Things like buying autumnal decor to creating the ultimate playlist – if I don’t write it down, I’ll forget or wait until the last minute! And let’s be real, nothing feels better than crossing a to-do off the list!
Step 2: Make a playlist. Naturally, you gotta set the mood. Brandon is usually the DJ because if it were up to me, we’d play nothing but Whitney Houston, Beyonce and Sam Smith…which honestly aren’t bad picks. But I typically leave it up to Brandon to create something that everyone will like. We can easily sync our Spotify playlists to the Family Hub and play music directly from there. The speakers are so great and I love that we can play music in the kitchen so you can hear it whether you’re in the dining room or grabbing a cocktail at the bar cart in the living room.
Step 3: Meal prep. The day before (or early morning the day of) a party, I prep a lot of my menu items. I’ll assemble my veggie platter and meet + cheese boards and then stick them in the special deli drawer in our Family Hub. I’ll also pre-cook whatever I can so as it gets closer to the dinner time, I can just make the last few items to finish off the menu. I also love using the warming eye and warming drawer on our FlexDuo Range to reheat things that I prepared earlier in the day. That way everything is warm and ready to go when folks arrive.
What do you guys do to get ready for a dinner party? Are you planning any fun gatherings this holiday season? Comment below!!
This post was written in collaboration with Samsung. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
