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By Short Courses Team

5 Easy Dinner Party Ideas That Will Please Any Guest

14 Aug 2018

Don't stress, it's normal to feel this way; it's a lot of pressure entertaining a large group of people! To help ease your nerves, we've come up with five easy dinner party ideas that will please even the toughest crowd.

Hosting a dinner party can be a little daunting as you want to ensure you impress your family and friends. It's not just about having people over for dinner; it's about so much more than that. It's about entertaining and offering your guests a great time that they will remember.

First things first, you need to consider a handful of important questions before you get started. We've listed (in random order) a few to get your thinking:

  • Is it a stand-up or sit down dinner?
  • What's the main focus of the evening? Mingling or an orchestrated event?
  • Do you want to serve finger food, a three-course dinner or is it just social drinks?
  • What time are you planning to host the dinner and on what day?
  • Will guests need to BYO?

With all these things considered, we're ready to help you plan your soiree so you can get on with enjoying the night. Here are our five easy dinner party ideas to cater for absolutely anything.


1. Grazing platter; great for the stand-up, mingling parties. You can essentially put anything you like on a grazing platter. The point is that your guests will share and interact with each other, and your platter will be so big and magnificent that your guests will be wowed and have their bellies filled. Try a savoury platter and a sweet platter or a little bit of both. Just make sure you have fun with it.

2. Murder Mystery dinner party. This one is best suited to a sit down dinner party. It may take a bit of planning too, so check out: www.nightofmystery.com. They offer stacks of game ideas and tips to get you prepped for the main event. To make this style of party even more fun, have your guests dress up and be in character for the party. Your night will be filled with laughter and action.

3. Mexican fiesta.Who doesn’t love Mexican and cocktails? You can host this evening in a sit down or standup dinner party - it’s up to you. It’s all about the music, food and fun for the evening. Serve chips and salsa, burritos, nachos, tacos and your guests will be dancing up a storm by the end. You can even have a cocktail bar where guests can make their own margaritas. Throw colourful decorations everywhere and make room for a dance floor because this night will get a little spicy!

4. Questions dinner party. This party will suit either a sit down or stand-up dinner arrangement. This event requires a little pre-party preparation; but it’ll be worth it. Check out 101 interesting questions for some inspiration. Upon arrival, have your guests pull a random question out of a jar with the instruction to ask three people during the evening the question. By the end of the night, everyone must report back and whoever has the wackiest answers wins. Not only is this idea great to get to know everyone, but it’s a fun and creative challenge.

5. Dessert heaven dinner party; for the stand-up, mingling parties. Indulge with a sweet treats table but ask your guests to bring something delicious along with them. Enjoy an evening full of sugary goodness while you sip champagne and swap stories.


Do you have any easy dinner party idea to add? Contact us.

Now that's sorted you can get onto enjoying yourself. Have fun!

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