For most of us, Easter is a time of family, friends, food and celebration of the most important holiday of the year (if you are a Christian that is, otherwise it’s just a fun holiday filled with hard-boiled eggs, the Easter Bunny and lots of candy).
I almost always invite as many people as I can to share Easter dinner with us. This year was no exception. We’ll be 17 in all and since at least half of Sunday morning is taken up with church, I’m going to do most of my cooking and party prep in advance.
Here are 5 things I always do to make the party a breeze and not a drag.
Menu Plans
1. Plan your menu in advance. Print out the recipes for each of the dishes. Five days before the big day, list what you need to do each day and what dishes you need to prepare each day to stay on track. Plus, if you know exactly what you’re serving, you can ask someone to bring a specific dish or category (appetizers or desert) if they offer!
2. Plan your table a day or two ahead of time. Dishes, utensils, serving utensils, napkins, candles etc. Print or write out place cards and start thinking of who should sit by whom. Put shy people by outgoing ones who will draw them out. If you have two tables, the host and hostess should be separated, to avoid the “A” table syndrome.
Place Cards for Easter
3. Plan to put bottles of water in a big tub or bucket which you can fill with ice a couple of hours before party time. I’ve found that water is the most popular beverage at a party and especially if people will be drinking. Most guests will start drinking a bottle as soon as they arrive and will be able to re-hydrate frequently.
Lots of Water
4. Plan the traffic flow. Have the appetizers in one area, dinner in another and, sometimes, desert someplace else. This gets people up and moving and enables them to easily talk to other people, besides their tablemates, pre and post dinner.
5. Plan your music in advance. I just use either Pandora or iTunes for a selection. If you can, start with something peppy and a little louder when people first arrive and are having drinks & appetizers. During dinner, switch to something softer and more soothing so people can converse while they eat.
Following these five tips will help you plan for and hold a wonderful, do-ahead Easter Dinner Party.
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