Stress-Free Holiday Entertaining -

Home
>
Holiday
>
Stress-Free Holiday Entertaining

Stress-Free Holiday Entertaining

The holiday season is upon us! It is a time when family and friends gather together. Some people love to entertain and enjoy bringing people together. Others feel stressed with these obligations. Whether it is a large gala for everyone you know, hosting the family holiday dinner or just having a few close friends over for a meal, planning and organization can make the difference between feeling stressed and being able to enjoy your event. The following simple tips can help you prepare your house, prepare the food and handle the final details.

Preparing the House

So how organized is your house right now? So often people become overwhelmed with the idea of entertaining; they get stuck as to where to start. Think about how your house will be used. Will this be a sit down meal in your dining room? Will groups separate into different rooms to talk or watch TV? Will your guests be staying overnight? Start early enough and focus first on the rooms that will really be used. Don't worry about the ones that you think someone may wander into if they get lost on the way to the bathroom. Go through each room, one at a time. If there is a room that hasn't been de-cluttered in awhile, sort through everything by dividing items into toss, donate and keep piles. This is a great time to make your donations and get that tax deduction in before the end of the year. Throw out items no longer needed and put away the items to be kept in their appropriate place.

Think about who is coming to your house. If you have items that are breakable or valuable, consider simplifying the items in the main gathering room so you and your guests (and their children) don't have to worry about accidents that could put a damper on the evening. These items can be put up or wrapped up and stored in a plastic bin, which can be hidden in a basement or bedroom during the party and brought out easily the next day.

Depending on whatever else is going on in your life and if the budget allows it, treat yourself to a cleaning service before your event. If funds won't stretch that far, get the whole family involved and divide the tasks up. Another option is to trade blocks of time with a good friend. Also make sure you have enough supplies on hand (toilet paper, disposable hand towels for the powder room, paper towels in the kitchen, etc.) and that they are easily accessible if needed during the time your guests are in your home.

If you give yourself enough lead-time and work at picking up and cleaning in manageable increments, you won't get burned out and will only need to do a quick tidy the day of your event.

Preparing the Food

Now that your house is ready for guests, it's time to focus on the food. Many people dread the food preparation that goes along with entertaining. Whether it is because they are uncertain of their cooking skills or they just don't have the time to devote to it, the solution is the same.

- Select menu items that can be prepared in advance

- Simplify wherever possible

- Clean up after yourself as you go along

Don't spend the hours before your event (or worse yet the hours of your event) racing madly around the kitchen. Many dishes can be partially or completely prepared in advance ? take advantage of that!

Simplify your task list wherever possible. You can pick up some wonderful side dishes from the deli section of your grocery store or local specialty shop. Serve them in your own bowl or platter ? no one needs to know. This way you can focus on making one or two impressive items and wow everyone without stressing yourself out.

Determine which serving pieces you'll be using and get everything ready to go. Rinse pieces that may not have been used in a while. Make sure you have all your glassware (or for informal events - plastic ware!) ready. If you must use silver, allow enough time to give it a polish. If it is a sit-down dinner, iron the tablecloth, get out place settings and, if possible, set the table. Note: if you have pets that might jump up and investigate, throw an extra tablecloth over the table until shortly before your guests arrive. When selecting these items, try to balance putting on a great presentation with the amount of work it will take to set up and clean up.

It is so disheartening to spend hours preparing great food for your guests, only to be faced with a kitchen that is a disaster area. Clean up after yourself each step of the way. Wipe down counters, rinse your prep items and put them straight into the dishwasher, throw away any packaging. Try to have the dishwasher empty at the start of your party so as dishes are finished being used they can be immediately put in the dishwasher or easily at the end of the night, reducing the amount of time you need to spend cleaning up.

Handling the Final Details

As mentioned before, go around and tidy anything up that may have gotten messy since your big cleanup. Consider setting up a drink area where guests can help themselves to refills on drinks. Rearrange any furniture to encourage conversation among guests.

Decorating your tabletop or buffet can be as simple as moving some of your existing home décor to the party table or main room of the gathering. If your holiday decorations are out, use your extras or purchase some inexpensive evergreens. Candles of all sizes make a great filler. Use containers you already own, take it to your florist and let them do their thing.

Your house is clean, the food is prepared and there is time to spare! You have done all the prep work. You can relax now and enjoy your event. Who knew entertaining could be so simple?

About the author: Bridget Messino is a Professional Organizer, speaker and co-owner of Clutter Free Living, Inc. Her work frequently appears on many Internet sites, on her own organizing site Clutter Free Living (http://www.clutterfreeliving.com), as well as in her monthly Home Organizing Newsletter How to Be Clutter Free. Subscribe to the FREE monthly e-newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to mailto:cflnews-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.nbc40.net/view_story.php%3Fid%3D7160cid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNGRAxQEEcQaZ6p_JdDfZ5D_8VozzAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=DA6bNTNyL5EJimgurl=www.nbc40.net/images/layout/header_left.jpg width=74 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2WMGM/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20081015_N_J__would_halve_sales_tax_for_holidays_under_GOP_plan.htmlcid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNESDJ_DGXHNQqloyXqOQWAP_9C_TANJ would halve sales tax for bholidays/b under GOP plan/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fPhiladelphia Inquirer,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobr13 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Jonathan Tamari bHoliday/b shopping in New Jersey would get a bit less expensive under a Republican plan unveiled yesterday. Saying their proposal would b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp%3FaID%3D76284cid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNHLoL8Ol7jZO7fjmiUpaEWd1FamMQRepublicans Want Sales Tax Slashed for bHolidays/b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrNJBIZ/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.politickernj.com/bguhl/24454/assembly-republicans-propose-temporary-sales-tax-reduction-spur-economic-activitycid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNHbbBnGG0eoFmM_jQjj9DPsmwryVAASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS PROPOSE TEMPORARY SALES TAX REDUCTION TO SPUR b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrPolitickerNJ/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601103%26sid%3Dan6MlZx1mJTI%26refer%3Duscid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNHv3qkuhSPxmj10LZHghkcrVjObCwNew Jersey Republicans Propose Five-Week Sales-Tax bHoliday/b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBloomberg/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/285575.htmlcid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNGxYqG7Js9zuPt3dJhwNw8qCfLWsgnobrPress of Atlantic City/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.1010wins.com/N-J--GOP-Proposes-Sales-Tax-Holiday/3135582cid=1257761916ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNE66kwf4Fgl_IREeHdpuN0H5crp3wnobr1010 Wins/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257761916hl=ennobrall 54 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-budgetoct15,0,6825171.storycid=1257740038ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNFirgGl1nOtzidlf46Ce5FCryVxZwMayor Richard Daley to halt city services for 3 days during bholidays/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fChicago Tribune,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr13 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1bHoliday/b weeks may be a good time to close city offices that wouldn#39;t be busy anyway, but it#39;s a bad time to send home garbage collection crews because the b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/10/to-cut-costs-ch.htmlcid=1257740038ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNHJHGq7gWAPT5hX9yx4Np9PGog2GATo cut costs, Chicago to shutter city services for 6 days during b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrUSA Today/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/daley.city.budget.2.840738.htmlcid=1257740038ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNEZ1w2j_jP42Zw9LrEg6VH3ZrDPDAMayor Daley To Unveil Budget In Midst Of Crunch/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCBS2 Chicago/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx%3FaudioID%3D29520cid=1257740038ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNFvHrSKFYfha6X0-bu4BC_Y9F7U0ADaley Proposes Partial Government Shutdown to Balance Budget/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrChicago Public Radio/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story%3Fsection%3Dnews/local%26id%3D6448784cid=1257740038ei=7Fj2SOX0Hpf-6gPZhLmSCQusg=AFQjCNHREEOXvPML0gwqLRNl0AnomX6bKwnobrABC7Chicago.com/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257740038hl=ennobrall 31 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

holidays - Google News