Many are afraid of losing the Twinkie to history. But the word HOSTESS brings on fear of a kind unrelated to chemically enchanced spongecake. Let me be clear: there is no reason to fear having guests. At it’s most basic, entertaining is simple. Order take-out, and be entertaining.
Guests today are not like those of the 19th century. They do not come to your home in white-tie expecting to be served a seven course dinner by your Butler. In fact, if you are clear when you make the invitation, they may not expect to be fed at all. Recently we had friends over and I invited them for drinks and dessert. They plainly knew this was not a dinner party, and were delighted with a special winter cocktail, and freshly baked cookies. But were you neither baker nor drink maker, there are goodies at supermarkets that are delicious, and flavored holiday concoctions that are very celebratory spiked or non! And truthfully, if there is enough food and booze at a party – everyone has a good time.
As for being entertaining, you don’t need your own stand-up comedy routine. There are many easy games that take the pressure off you running the gamut from old fashioned charades, to a full on session of “Dance Dance Revolution,” or if you’ve got a more academic crowd, a rowdy game of Scrabble will do the trick.
So forget making everything perfect! Do you ever hear people say they went to a “perfect” party last weekend? No. Aim for Great! Aim for Fun! Chinese food on paper plates might be the best party you ever had. Take that Martha Stewart.
Live well, and love well.
-Dinah
