Last minute party- Tips & Planning Guides

Have you ever been in a situation, where without much warning, you are hosting 20 people for dinner? Sometimes it may be your kids friends all stop over just before dinner time? Or maybe your husband calls from the golf course with a group of friends and their wives coming for dinner. Well that is exactly what happens at my sisters house.

Do any of you know a person that when you are with them, they make you feel like you are the only person in the room? I do, and it’s my sister. I adore her and love to spend time with her. And, so does everyone else! That’s why they always have people visiting them, whether it’s their kid’s friends or their friends!

There have been many times when her husband, Russ, will come home from an errand and say something along the lines of… “I ran into Bob today. He and Barb have plans to go boating this evening with the Millers, so I invited them for dinner beforehand. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” My sister will reply, “well then we should have the Park’s and the Jones’s as well.” Before you know it, there are 25 people coming for dinner in 4 hours!

Ok so how do you throw a dinner party for 25 people in 4 hours? You need to ask yourself some super quick questions about your audience, time frame and planned activities. Fill in the Party Planner sheet that is shown below. This will help you focus in on the logistics of having the party.

This planner will help you to focus on what is missing from the meal and what to ask for when people the happy question….

“What can I bring?

This always makes me anxious, because I feel like a heel when I invite people to a party and then say Oh, BTW can you please bring dinner! The reality is, if it is a casual last minute party, people are just thrilled to have a place to gather and want to contribute to the event. Always have a general idea of what you are planning to serve and what you HATE to make, that way you can guide your guests towards the right contribution.

When someone asks, “What can I bring?” try to be clear with what you already have planned. For example, “We plan on providing the hamburgers and hotdogs, appetizer and a salad. Do you have any sides that would go well with the burgers? Or could you bring a dessert?” That way you aren’t in a situation where you have to say “No, we already have that covered.”

Here are some other ways that you can handle the question, “What can I bring?”

Request someone’s specialty –

“We are having hamburgers and hot dogs. Jim’s baked beans are the best in the county, would he have time to cook those up or something else in that warm side dish category?”

Or . . .

“I know that you are the best baker in the county, do you have time to make a dessert?”

Or . . .

“I know that you have trouble with gluten. Could you bring a side dish that is gluten free?”

If you know that someone has to work, right up to the event–

“Hey, would you be able to swing by the convenience store and grab a bag of ice/soda/chips etc. on your way over?”

Someone who has financial hardship:

Try to come up with something free that they could bring to the party. Maybe they have a beautiful garden full of flowers, ask them to bring a vase of flowers. Or, perhaps you could ask them to borrow a platter or wine glasses.

I also ask people to bring special drinks:

I try to tell people, what drinks we are serving at the party, like: We have beer, wine and assorted sodas here and plan on mixing up Mojito’s. If there is anything special that you would like to have, can you also bring that with you?

Or if you know that your friend ONLY drinks some special soda, ask them to bring that if they would like to have that. You certainly DO NOT want to go out and purchase a bunch of drinks that you will never use!

When beginning the food planning process you need to think about a few things. It is a great idea to write them down on the above sheet.

Step one: Special Food Needs

You need to quickly ascertain who is coming and are there any know allergies? Any special dietary constraints such as vegetarian, lactose intolerance, white meat only, etc.

Step two: Foods that you already have on hand

Is there anything in your freezer that you would like to use up? Lets say, you have three pork tenderloins or 10 pounds of frozen chicken breast. Or now is a great time to use op that wheel of brie that you picked up at Costco last week!

Step three: Activities/Special Events that you need to take into account

Is it Aunt Sally’s Birthday in three days, so you should have some candles on hand? You will be golfing for three hours just before dinner and will not have a lot of hands-on time to cook dinner.

Step four: Do you need a theme for the party

Is it Kentucky Derby and should be serving Mint Juleps? Is it Cinco de Mayo? Does your spouse just love theme parties?

Step five: Selecting recipes

Now that you have all of the questions answered, its time for the fun part of selecting recipes. Begin with what you have on hand. Is there something that you want to use up? Think of ways that you can use it up. Search the internet for recipes if you don’t have any ideas.

Some things to consider when selecting your recipes. If you only have one oven, you don’t want to choose four recipes that all need the oven. Or, because my grill is fairly small, I know that I can only fit a main dish or side dish at one time. Maybe you’re stove only has two burners, you definitely don’t want to plan on all four dishes needing stove top time. When I write down a recipe on my possibility sheet, I try to write down cooking method, cooking time and whether it is make ahead.