Photo: Toby Simkin / Flickr

As we grow more mature, the allure of being out at all hours of the night fades in favour of understated affairs with great company and fantastic meals take preference. That’s why lunch dates become so common, and more importantly, why throwing the perfect dinner party has become essential. Below are tips on making your gathering a great success.

Who you invite matters

While a dinner party naturally pivots around what you cook, the make up of your guests is very important. You need to make sure that you have a gathering of very intelligent or engaging people, who all also get along well with each other. This may seem a trivial detail, but if there is any in-fighting within your circle of friends or guests at your gathering, it will throw a spanner in the works of your perfect dinner party.

Cook what you’re very proficient at

If you have a specialty, cook that. It is very important you do not experiment with meal types, unless you consider yourself a great cook or chef. Remember, when entertaining, it’s likely your friends are fond of your specialty, and could actually be looking forward to it. This way you’re guaranteed the meal will be perfect, which is a critical component in throwing a perfect dinner party.

Pull out your best cutlery

Many people purchase cutlery intended for special occasions that they never end up using. This is silly. Dinner parties are the perfect occasion to pull out your best cutlery, since one can assure you, too few big deal ‘cutlery worthy’ occasions come around in a lifetime.

Play soft mood music

Music has the uncanny ability of setting the mood. The perfect dinner party will always have soft tunes playing in the background that both augments the mood and encourages and supports conversation.

Sweating the small details is the difference maker if you want your dinner parties to be better than the rest.

Tags: family, friends, music, party