Club Entertaining: Party Planning For Your Entertaining Needs

occasions

Make Your List (and Check It Twice)

Enter the stress-free party zone: hosting a holiday party is a cinch when you follow a checklist.

Easy party recipes for holiday entertaining

One month before the party
Choose a date and send "save the date" emails to guests. December is a busy month, so you want people to get your event on their calendars early. Send official invitations shortly afterwards (use a free online service like evite.com or mail or hand out hard copies).
Two weeks before the party
Plan menus, drinks, and decorations. Easy-to-prepare appetizers combined with already-prepared snacks are perfect for holiday parties where people are standing up, mingling and chatting. Your decorations should be a cinch; if you're already putting up a tree and the usual holiday décor, it's easy to augment those with a pretty table centerpiece and strategically-placed candles.

Write out a complete shopping list for the food, drinks, and anything else you'll need. Save the fresh food list for later (you'll want to get those supplies the day before the party), but go shopping at the party store for tablecloths, tableware, and decorations, and to the club warehouse for frozen foods and nonperishable items. If you can't find something on your list, you still have to time to shop around at this point.
One week before the party
Choose music (create a playlist on your iPod, make a stack of CDs and appoint a DJ, or find a good holiday music channel on your satellite station). Now is also a good time to make foods that can be frozen, like cookies.
One or two days before the party
Send a reminder email or evite to guests. Give the house (or wherever you're hosting your party) a thorough cleaning. You never know whether a guest searching for the bathroom will accidentally open the closet where you stashed all the junk from the family room. Don't forget to clean out the fridge so there's room for the food you're making. Shop for the rest of your food now, and do some prep. Decide which dishes and platters you'll use for which foods, find your serving spoons, and think about a general layout of the food table, traffic flow, and where you'll stash coats. Don't forget to pick out your own party outfit-do this early in case you need to do some hemming or washing.
Day of the party
It's D Day! Don't stress out–you're fabulous and your party will be as well. Make your recipes, slice cheese, cut fruits and veggies, put up your final decorations, and do last-minute house cleanup. Make sure you are fully ready, in your party clothes, at least half an hour before people are supposed to arrive. Inevitably, someone will get the time wrong or just show up early, and you'll be scrambling out of your sweatpants trying to get out to play hostess. It's far better to be fully dressed and gorgeous but not have your veggie tray ready (you can do that while you chat with the early bird).