When you decide to host a New Year’s Eve party on the spur of the moment, the first reaction is excitement. The second, inevitably, would be panic. There’s a lot involved in putting together a dinner party including finalising the appetisers and mains to planning signature cocktails. There’s little time to make copious lists or go shopping for pantry staples. Everything has to happen quickly, but without chaos. Some easy party organisation tips make this spontaneous burst of home hosting activity easier and well-planne
Build A Menu Around One Dish
The first step in planning a last-minute party is curating a menu that is equal parts delicious and easy-to-make. Instead of going for multiple dishes and small bites that will take forever to conjure up, build a menu around one hero recipe, which becomes the main part of the dinner. Think baked pasta or lasagna, chicken biryani or roast chicken and veggies as hearty dinner options. Now, these can be suitably paired with one or two quick accompaniments which support the flavour notes of the main dish. The lasagna can be paired with lightly tossed salad and garlic bread, the biryani with raita and chicken tikka and the roast chicken with a delicious sauce and wild rice.
Grazing-Style Starter Table
To keep room for such a sumptuous dinner, it is imperative that the appetiser game is delicious but proportioned. The best idea that can be executed at the last-minute is a grazing board or grazing-style table that is filled-up with warm pita, hummus, assorted cheeses, crackers, olives, some fresh winter veggies like carrots and radishes and assorted breadsticks. Arrange all of this aesthetically on multiple boards, and the presentation will win you quite a few brownie points.
Use Store Bought, Made Better Desserts
Instead of baking sponge cakes, pies or pastries from scratch, a last-minute party necessitates that you pick out store-bought desserts. Find a good bakery near you and source a delicious fruit cake, a plum cake or some brownies. Accentuate these desserts with your own flourishes. Adorn the cake with a homemade berry compote, serve the brownies with ice cream and drizzle butterscotch or chocolate sauce over the pastries. These little flourishes will level-up sweet treats to lend them a more cosy, homely yet elegant nuance.
Keep The Table Layout Simple But Intentional
One of the most essential elements at a dinner party is the aesthetics of the table where guests will sit down to dine. The best way to prep the dining table at short notice is to go for simple decor options that are nonetheless intentional, artistic and mindful set-ups. Candles resting in tall candelabras, cloth napkins folded into swans, a bowl of bright citruses as the centrepiece and eclectic, colourful cutlery can be some of the decorations which adorn the last-minute dinner table.
Curate A Signature Drink
What can well become the highlight of your last-minute gathering is a signature drink which reflects the mood of the event. Spontaneous parties seldom have to mean drinks clumsily put together. Rather, you can curate simple mocktails like a lime and mint sparkler or a mulled citrus juice laced with spices that raise the tone of the evening. Cocktail options abound too, such that mojitos with fruity infusions and old fashioneds with an orange twist garnish become signature drinks at the new year’s dinner. Label the batch cocktails and mocktails, for a quirky touch which guests will surely adore.