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Dinner parties are designed to be fun, but they can also be a source of stress and dissatisfaction for the cook. The way to get round this is thru careful planning.

obviously you’ll give careful thought to your visitors, their likes, dislikes and even any allergies they might have. But it’s’s of similar importance to think about your own wishes what you want to cook and what you are good at.

It’s better by miles to make dishes you are acquainted with than to try something new as you hope to galvanize. The trick is to make everything look simple, and the way to do that is to use differences on recipes you already know backwards.

On the other hand, if that implies no improvement on spaghetti Bolognaise, another approach could be called for and a bit more planning may be required. Select your recipes with care.

Decide terribly early on how many courses you plan to serve. It is in no fashion vital to serve three courses plus cheese simply because that is the standard. But if you do make a decision to follow that convention there are few things it would be helpful to consider.

Avoid, for instance, using the same main component in more than one dish. I.e. Don’t serve a quiche followed by something else in pastry, or add a powerful flavour like chili to more than one dish.

Plan, also, how you intend to deal with both preparing and serving the food. If your menu means that you’re going to need to spend longer in the kitchen than you do with your guests, you need to re-think

Design your courses so that as much as humanly possible can be prepared ahead. A straightforward way to do that’s to serve only one hot dish, maybe the main course, one course at room temperature and one right from the refrigerator. The cheese can take care of itself.

talking of which, here is something that you might like to think about. In Australia and the UK, cheese is served at the end of the meal. In France it is served before the dessert. I would recommend the second course.

The reason for that is because it puts the timing firmly in your hands as to when the meal is over and it’s time for the guests to go back home.

Let them linger over the cheese till you are ready to bring the evening to a close. Then serve the dessert with only one bottle of good pudding wine, having cleared all the other dishes, including the cheese board.

You do this by bringing 2 dishes to the table, and taking one or two dishes away as if to make room for more. With a bit of practice you’ll become very adroit at this and the table will clear as if by magic.

Once the pudding is finished, select your time to supply coffee and a final nightcap of port or brandy, if that’s what you would normally do. Most guests will understand that the coffee signifies the end of the evening and won’t even be aware that you have manipulated the timing in this way. And even if they are they’ll potentially admire you for it and adopt the same system themselves.

Above all, remember that everything you serve has turned out just as it was supposed to. Never come up with excuses or apologize for your food.

Create it with conviction, serve it with panache.You can read more about dinner party planning here: http://www.partyplanninghelp-mark.com/dinner-party-planning/