Entertaining: At The Drop Of A Hat

Just last week, a friend of ours threw a last minute get-together. The evening of friends and food went off without a hitch and it got us thinking--entertaining at the drop of a hat is so enjoyable. Wanting to perfect the art, we rounded up a handful of ways to make impromptu gatherings stress-free...

If you'd like to throw a last minute celebration or you just want an excuse to have friends over last minute--here are some foolproof ideas for making the event seamless.

So you've just invited everyone over for dinner and drinks (and they'll be arriving in a few short hours). We like to start multi-tasking immediately. Mix up dessert and bake ahead of time or start a casserole to cook while you clean. That way, the house will smell amazing when guests arrive and you'll have a big head start on dinner.
If there's no time to cook, order take-out from your favorite neighborhood restaurant. You can always arrange the meal on your own serving platters if you'd like to fool guests. And if you can manage it, throw some pre-made cookies in the oven or put some cinnamon sticks and orange peels in a pot of water and simmer. The extra effort will add a wonderful aroma to your evening.
Make a quick playlist on the iPod and set it up where your guests will be hanging out. You'll have music to listen to while you cook and clean and the mood will be set and ready to go once the doorbell rings.
If you don't clean anything else, clean the bathroom. Quickly wipe down countertops, toilet and sweep the floor. A quick shake of the bathroom mat outside and you're good to go. Plus--it's probably the smallest room in the house so it won't take long at all to tidy up.
If the house happens to be cluttered, give yourself a good fifteen to twenty minutes to put items in their proper home. After that, you're allowed to stash items in a closet to be addressed the next day.
Take out the garbage. The last thing you want is an overflowing trash can or recycling bin. While you're taking the trash out, spend a minute outside gathering greenery to bring indoors.
Last minute entertaining leaves little room for a fancy centerpiece (which is fine by us). Grab your favorite potted plant or place your fresh picked greenery in a vase. Or, if you've got fresh fruit or seasonal items like miniature pumpkins--use those instead.
Lighting candles will make the evening even more special and give each room a warm glow. Don't forget to add a candle or two to the restroom--and if you have extra, place a few in your home's entryway. The added touches will make it seem like you've had a week to plan.
If you don't want to worry about all mixers and ice, serve red wine. It will be easier on you to serve beverages if all you have to do is pop a cork and pour.
An added plus of throwing anything together last minute--no extra time to fret over making the right decision. No cards to send, no time spent wondering if you should have gone with a chocolate torte or a pie. Getting ready for the party will go by so fast that all you have to do is enjoy the company of friends once they arrive.

Comments (16)

The way to make gatherings stress-free is not to stress.

When I go to a friend's house, I don't care if the place is immaculate, or whether there's a centerpiece, or whether the dessert is homemade. I just want to hang out with my friend. Your friends probably feel the same.

Trying to build up a playlist on an ipod is the kind of thing that, for me, can eat up a big chunk of time. If you are the same way, use the genius playlist feature on itunes or (my favorite) check out something like pandora.com.

Pandora allows you to hand it a song or artist and it will theme a radio station around that. Start it up in the background while you clean or cook, and as songs come up that you feel strongly about you can run over and vote them up or down - giving you a bit of time to "train" your station. A rare advertisement and an occasional nudge to let it know you want it to continue is the most trouble you'll have from it.

I listen to it almost constantly now, giving me the advantage of having several "stations" set up. I can shift around to different stations as the mood of the evening changes.

@kimberv--thanks for the reminder! When I was brainstorming about this post, Pandora came to mind (I forgot to include:)

Never used pandora that way great idea.

Yep, Pandora, a few candles, clean hand towel in the bathroom, and a breeze-through of the house collecting clutter and tossing the comforter/pillows in place on the bed are my last-minute entertaining plans. That and get out the wine glasses, uncork a white and a red and open the front door! :)

Pandora is great, but I'm a HUGE audiophile so my iPod lists are already organized by mood and/or type of gathering

All that's needed for a memorable gathering is a good group of people, some tasty food (homemade or not) and great music. If I feel my home needs to be immaculate, or have fresh cut flowers, or (especially), a centerpiece on the table then they probably aren't my 'real' friends anyway :)

great post! it helps if you keep a couple of bottles of wine handy, anyway. and for a quick meal for a group, i like the simplest cinnamon lamb stew recipe from the kitchn. it's so easy but impressive!

I am with kimberv with genius on itunes... the best thing ever... and not just for parties.

Also, that is a gorgeous little photo.
I would be so happy to come home from a day of work to that table.

I love that photo too- I am going to use it as my colour inspiration this year!

All this talk about pandora is making me sad. A while ago they shut it down to Canadians, well anyone outside of US, due to 'copyright issues'. Dont take it for granted!

I tend to do most of my entertaining on short notice, and typically with friends I feel comfortable about having over with little prep time - the food might still be cooking when they arrive or I might excuse myself to carry the trash to the bin. It's real life, and I don't mind them seeing it.

The entertaining that I plan gets much more thought, but this is still a great checklist of the day of - some things apply no matter what.

I always use Pandora for entertaining. My favorite these days is a Bobby Darin station. One tip - stations need some "training" to consistently deliver the music you like, so turn it on while you're cooking and tidying up and click the "like" and "don't like" buttons then, that way once you're friends show up, you'll have Pandora playing the right mix of tunes.

The one touch I find hardest to procure on short notice is fresh flowers, but thanks to doing the AT Cure this fall, I've had fresh flowers at home every day. AND my apartment is looking fantastic, so I'm more likely to invite folks over. It all works together!

I'm amused by all these "fall entertaining" posts; my biggest entertaining night of the year was Halloween, so I'm all done with the high stress parties.

My impromptu get togethers usually involve a few friends, a movie or a game (Fluxx, Settlers of Catan, and Apples to Apples are fantastic party games, Flux and Apples are easy to learn, and can expand for large groups, but are still fun in smaller ones), and we're good to go. I lived with most of the people I would invite over on short notice; they know I'm a crappy housekeeper, and they don't care.

I do clean the bathroom, though, and put out fresh towels.

eliciamelanie: check out Magnatune.com It doesn't create mixes for you, but there is a whole lot of fantastic music that you can stream free of charge.

This article has some great suggestions. And Pandora is awesome.

My problem with my family entertaining (esp. for the holidays) is that my mother and sister are always SO STRESSED out by it all. It defeats the purpose of inviting people over to have a good time. It's not a relaxed atmosphere and it's not at all what I consider "gracious entertaining".

I always think to myself, 'Why do they bother if they hate it so??'

Whenever I entertain, I never want to make my guests feel uncomfortable or like they're a pain to me. I always want them relaxed, satiated, and, more importantly, I want them to want to come back again because it seemed so effortless.

I mostly hear this Everything But The Girl lyric in my head while I'm getting ready, "All the effort that it took to get here in the first place and all the effort not to let the effort show."

Kicking myself for never having thought of Pandora. Spluh. We usually take turns getting up to play another album on the iPod, polling the guests quickly for requests.

I have a knack for keeping a running inventory of the fridge and pantry in my mind, so I can usually whip something up for dinner, grab some pre-dinner cheese on the way home, and ask the guests to stop for wine on the way (thereby giving me 10 more precious minutes to shove small piles of junk into the bedroom).

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