Many people love to entertain guests but don’t feel like they have the space to do it in. This keeps them from enjoying their home and being the good host they desire. Fortunately, you do not need an expansive home to host a small dinner party. No matter what size of home or apartment you have, there are plenty of ways for you to host a dinner party in a small space.
Invite A Handful of People at a Time
The most obvious thing you can do is to only have small gatherings each time you host your dinner parties. If you have a large group of friends, make sure they know there will be a rotation so that everyone can have a turn enjoying your home-cooked meals and hospitality. While having a plus one would be nice, make sure your guests know if there will be room for one more or not. Communicate clearly that due to space restrictions, you can only have a handful of people over at once.
Move Excess Furniture Out of the Way
If you want to expand your space, you can move things like side tables or coffee tables out of the way to create more room for people. Your dinner parties can have guests standing or sitting on couches and loveseats more easily if you open up the floor space. By creating spots for people to mingle and enjoy their food, you’ll have a successful dinner party.
Prep Everything in Advance
Tiny kitchens make it almost impossible to cater a multiple-course meal. However, preparing everything in advance and then simply reheating can provide you with the solution you need for having several courses for your dinner party. Put the first course of snacks on the table in serving bowls, and as your guests arrive, invite them to enjoy something while you prep the first course.
Place the main meal into the oven to heat up while everyone sits down to enjoy a salad or other second-course dish. Once everyone is done with that course and the main dish is heated, you can then serve everyone and sit down with them to enjoy it yourself. Serving dessert as a final course can be as simple as cutting into a cake or pie you made earlier in the week.
Keep it Simple
You may have dreams of hosting a large dinner party one day, but if your home can’t accommodate more than 5-6 people, it’s okay to keep it simple. Use high-quality disposable plates and dinnerware to keep your kitchen from getting crowded with dishes. Add some fresh flowers or another simple décor to make everything look and feel more elegant. With such a small group, you probably don’t need to bother with place cards the way you would for a large dinner party.
Have Cocktails Delivered the Day of
Storing the ingredients to make drinks might prove to be a challenge in a small space. Fortunately, you can purchase premade whiskey drinks, bourbon drinks, and other cocktails and have them delivered to your door in some locations. This can help you free up space and gives you the ability to order just the right amount for the number of guests who will be arriving.
You might think of formal dinner parties with bartenders and servers helping your guests, but in a small space, it’s not practical to have these extra people. Cocktail delivery is like having your own personal bartender make drinks for your party without taking up so much space.
Play Music on One of Your Devices
While a strings’ quartet sounds like a cool addition to a formal dinner party, where are you going to put them? Fortunately, technology allows us to find great music at the push of a button. Create a dinner party playlist with music your guests will love and then play it through a Bluetooth speaker or even on your Alexa or another device.
If the music seems to be boring your guests, you can easily switch gears to play something else. Ask your friends in advance what kind of music they would prefer to hear, so you can be sure to have something they enjoy playing in the background. The simplicity of this option requires no extra space for a DJ or live band.