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Keep It Simple: Easy Entertaining

mmanhoff • Jul 03, 2013

Some people who host parties are like Martha Stewart—everything they touch turns into entertaining magic. Then there is everyone else, struggling over a sweaty oven with appetizers that won’t come out just right, decorations that look a little sad, and a headache that requires medication and a cold compress.

Even when maid services clean the house, the To Do list in preparation for any event is enough to overwhelm even the best of us!

If that sounds familiar, there’s a simple trick that’s going to turn you from an exhausted, frustrated party host into the kind everyone secretly admires.

The ultimate trick? Keep it simple!

What About Food?

The biggest thing you can do is play to your strengths. If you’re an incredible cook make incredible food.

If you aren’t an incredible cook, don’t try to make 9 different complicated appetizers—this will only lead to frustration. Instead, find one or two recipes you are great at making, and make those recipes absolutely shine.

Surround your awesome recipes with easier snacks: hummus, veggie trays, fruit trays, meat and cheese, nuts, and other mixes. You can have a full spread that tastes great but didn’t make you miserable to prepare!

Eat With Your Eyes

You can make a huge impression just with the way you present your food. Get creative and colorful—and use what you have. Instead of making a veggie tray with just carrots and celery, add colorful, more varied vegetables like red and yellow peppers, cucumbers, and red and yellow tomatoes.

Put your normal dishes away for the presentation and break out something more unique: the crystal bowl you got for your wedding, the decorative sugar dish you picked up at a yard sale, or the artsy tray you love from your favorite store.

Most of all, enjoy your party—it should be a joy to spend time with your favorite people, not a chore, and you deserve it! 

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