5 Tips for Planning a Winter Dinner Party
January 28, 2016
Well. January just happened. If you’re anything like us, you’re more than ready to banish the blahs that went with it. A great way to do that? A mood-lifting, winter warming dinner party. We’ve put together a few top tips to help you pull it together. January blahs be gone!
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EMBRACE THE COLD
Baby it’s cold outside. But that’s just it: it is cold outside. There’s no fighting it. So pull up your big girl (winter) socks and embrace it. A few ways to make the chill factor a winning element of your dinner party:
- Plan a seasonal activity such as sledding, snowshoeing or ice skating before you all head back indoors for a bowl of something comforting and delicious and a glass of something guaranteed to warm you from head to toe - Gluhwein we’re looking at you.
- Channel the gals from Frozen and turn your venue - albeit just your own dining room - into a winter wonderland. Decorate with sheer fabrics and baubles in white, silver and ice blue. Bonus: we know you haven’t packed all your Christmas decorations away yet and now you have an excuse to trot out - you were saving them to use as winter wonderland dinner party decor. #ingenious. We’ve pinned a bunch of inspiration for you over here.
- Set up a marquee tent in your garden, then furnish it with outdoor heaters, comfy couches, plenty of cozy blankets and throws, apple pie scented candles, and fairy lights, then let nature provide the rest of the decor. No need for DIY snowflake decorations. (Because we all have time for those, of course.)
STEAMY THEME
Really just can’t bring yourself to embrace the cold? Ignore it and throw a Luau. Set up a floored tent in the snow, put together a beachy playlist, blend up some pina coladas, give every guest a Lei, and throw on your most garish Hawaiian shirt and/or boardshorts. Or you can go much simpler and throw an ugly sweater party. Much less effort, probably warmer, and even more hilarious than the sight of your skinny winter-pale legs in shorts.
COCKTAILS. ‘NUFF SAID
Mulled wine. Hot (spiked) apple cider. Kahlua hot chocolate. Winter citrus used in the best possible way…. So many ways to warm you up from the inside out. Prize goes to the guest who comes up with the most creative cocktail.
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COMFORT FOOD CENTRAL
A friend of ours recently held a chili cook-off in a quest to find the perfect recipe. Five kinds of chili, all kinds of happy. Nothing warms like a pot of homemade chili. Or hearty beef stew. Or creamy shepherd’s pie. Stick-to-your-ribs comfort foods. Make it a team effort and turn it into a pot luck. Half the effort, twice the comfort. Can’t be bothered? Sit by the fire and let one of our catering partners do the work. None of the effort, all the comfort.
CHOCOLATE… ALL OF THE CHOCOLATE
Speaking of comfort food, can anything beat chocolate when it comes to making people smile? Hire a chocolate fountain and host a chocolate fondue dinner party. Blahs definitively banished. The end.
