Keep the zest in your dinner parties with easy entertaining ideas.

Zip right to tips and techniques for easy entertaining. This one stop dinner party website is dedicated to making sure you enjoy your dinner parties right along with your guests.

Savvy Hosting Know How Tips

Stay organized and stress free with my tips and lists on Menu Planning

Take the mystery out of choosing wine. Master simple methods of arranging your table flowers in minutes.

How many people can a table seat comfortably? How do you set the table "properly"? Cherry-pick the info you need with table setting basics.

Eliminate etiquette anxieties. With my dinner party etiquette info there’s no more worrying about which fork goes where, what to do when a guest is really late, or whether it’s OK to let guests help.

Get the house sparkling easily with quickie house cleaning tips for covering the essentials. You’ll even find great tips borrowed from home staging pros to get your house sparkling without knocking yourself out.

Shop for the stuff you need

Stock up on kitchen staples - the food items that you can store like sauces, condiments, and some spices and herbs.

Find out kitchen cookware equipment essentials. You may be surprised to discover you don’t need a mountain of special kitchen equipment to host a great dinner party. Tips from professional chefs show you how to equip your kitchen with good serviceable basics for food preparation and cooking that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Serveware helps you get the food to your guests while it's still hot

Mood Setting

Discover the secrets of setting the mood you want.

Choose dinner music that creates atmosphere without taking over.

Capture the magic of candlelight. Get tips on using this easy and inexpensive mood-setter for more than just the dining room table.

Get easy centerpiece ideas that help you set the mood or the theme of your dinner party without spending a bundle.

Is it a casual summer barbecue on the patio? Maybe a simple flower centrepiece from the garden. Is it Valentine’s Day? Maybe an edible centrepiece of chocolate. Get lots of ideas for stunning centrepieces that match the mood you want.

That Special Dinner - seasonal, holiday, family event, theme dinner parties

Take advantage of tips that reduce the workload for those special event dinners. Get menu suggestions and plans for all the ritual holiday dinners that mark the cycle of the year - Easter Dinner, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and more.

Mark those family milestones, graduations, weddings, retirement.

Usher in the season with a menu that says spring, summer, fall or winter.

Have fun with a French bistro dinner, an Italian dinner and other theme dinner parties.

Theme dinner parties are fun, easy and inexpensive to host. No need to redecorate the dining room. Instead just suggest the theme with a recipe like steak frites or make-ahead coq au vin for your French bistro dinner, a red checkered tablecloth at your Italian dinner, a Mexican sombrero draped across the back of a chair on Mexican dinner night.

And theme dinner parties are great ice-breakers.

With fresh light menus you'll be ready for the joy of spring. Be one of the first to bring out the barbecue and invite company to welcome that first hot day of summer with you.

When the the cooler evenings come and the leaves turn to flame, and when the year falls to winter with its hush of snow on the northern streets, you'll be ready with your cooler season menus and recipes.

Create a repertoire of easy recipes

With the recipes you get on these pages, you can mix and match your menus for simple and more formal dinners.

And for me “easy” includes make-ahead appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts. The more I make ahead, the less I stress.

You’ll find plenty of make-ahead suggestions on the Easy Recipes pages.

"Easy" can also include “store-bought” too. Do you know anyone who objects to being invited for a spontaneous, casual Friday night dinner where you whip a salad together and serve it with a delicious whole deli roast chicken, crusty bread and a bottle of wine? Or anyone who objects to store-bought ice cream for dessert after the main course you prepared yourself? I don’t.

DINNER PARTY STORE Browse our convenient one-stop shopping Dinner Party Store. You'll find luscious eye candy books on entertaining and menus. Stock up on must-have tableware, bar and wine accessories, dinner music - all the supplies you need to set the right mood.

Then you can invite friends and family whenever you are in the mood - even on the spur of the moment.