Outdoor dinner parties are a popular choice for hosting stylish home gatherings, offering the freedom to make them as casual or as elegant as you like. While it’s tempting to head straight to Pinterest and assume we can easily recreate elaborate floral centrepieces, twinkling string lights draped through the trees, and perfectly matched chairs, there’s a lot more to consider.
Ideally, the perfect dinner party is one that’s elegant in every way, yet feels totally effortless. The operative word is feels — because make no mistake, the hosts planned it carefully, from accounting for shade and wind to ensuring the food stays at the right temperature.
To understand what makes for memorable and stress-free dinner parties, we spoke to two professionals with first-hand experience.
When it comes to planning your party, the first piece of advice, according to Sheldon Fingler, CEO of Infinite Event Services, is to overplan — for everything. There are endless things to consider when it comes to dinner parties: bugs, rain, heat, accessible seating, outdoor space. Oh and the food, of course.
With the unpredictability of Alberta weather, things can change in a second. Fingler says it’s important to have a backup plan. “Whether that’s cleaning out the garage and adding some curtains around some pipe and draping to make it pretty, be ready to entertain your guests in another way,” he says.
Though there may be the temptation to buy high-end cutlery, plates and napkins, Fingler suggests mix-and-matching the utensils you already have in your drawer.
“Mixed supplies are totally in right now, so you could have three different kinds of cutlery and it still looks good,” says Fingler. “And if you need more cutlery, or you want more down the road, go buy some at Value Village or something. Mix it up, keep it fun.”
Simple methods of using what you already have for a dinner party is easy to start with. But what really elevates it, according to Fingler, is the food presentation. Having things like a three-tiered serving stand or displaying the food in different sized plates and containers help to make the lineup look like a statement piece.
Thinking about the way food is served is an aspect of dinner parties that sometimes gets overlooked. There’s finger foods, buffet-style, or plated dishes. However, if that’s overwhelming, you can always leave some of it to the experts — whether that’s for food or decorations.
Speaking of food, the most helpful thing you can do for yourself (and eventually your guests) is to prepare as much as you can in advance. Pat L’Hirondelle, a personal chef with over 42 years of experience, says things like peeling potatoes, marinating meat and precutting vegetables for salads the day before are some ways you can save yourself some time and stress.
Hosting your own dinner party doesn’t need to be high-stakes. Whether you’re pulling out all the stops with florals and plating, or keeping it casual with thrifted cutlery and backyard barbecue, the goal doesn’t have to be perfection. It’s about creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for your guests — and maybe become inspiration for someone else’s Pinterest board.
