How to Host a Dinner Club

Looking for an excuse to spend time with your friends once a month? Form a dinner club so you can catch up while enjoying good food and drinks. Take turns hosting the parties. The host for the night can prepare the main entrée, while the guests bring the salad, sides, dessert and wine. And stay committed—don’t let other activities prevent you from attending the club regularly. After all, you’ve earned it!

The Benefits

• You can experiment with and learn new dinner recipes by exchanging ideas with your friends.
• You’ll practice your hosting skills so that you’re prepared for more formal events, such as bridal showers and big dinner parties.
• Your dinner club will motivate you to fix up areas of your house that you might otherwise neglect because you “never have guests.”

Hosting Tips

• Plan ahead. Make to-do lists for a few days before (buy groceries), the day before (clean your house) and the day of (setting the table and cooking). This way, you won’t stress from waiting until the last minute.
• Clean out your fridge. This will ensure you have enough room for the food you prepared or the dishes your friends bring that need to be kept cold.
• Know your place settings. The dinner club can be very casual, but it’s always fun to break out the china you never use. Have fun by learning table-setting etiquette:
  • The wine glass goes to the right of the water glass, which goes above the knife to the right of the plate.
  • Have a main course plate, a bread plate and a charger/service plate, which food is never served directly on but can be used to place your first course salad plate or soup bowl.
  • Silverware should be set from the outside in the order it’s used. The first course fork should be the farthest to the left and the first course knife farthest to the right. Spoons used before dessert should go right of the knives. Dessert utensils usually go horizontally above the plate.

What to Serve

The monthly host should think of a fun theme to bring new energy to every dinner. You can express this theme with decorations and food. Try these ideas:

Mexican Fiesta

• First Course: Start off with “Healthified” Mexican bean salad or tortilla soup.
• Main Dish: Get festive with Mexican bean wraps or Mexican pizza.
• Dessert: Treat yourself to churros or Mexican hot chocolate cookies.
• Beverages: Refresh with mangoritas or frozen strawberry margaritas.

Tailgate Party

• Main Dish: Dig in to grilled nacho cheeseburgers or sloppy hot dogs.
• Appetizer/Side Dish: Enjoy zesty pot luck pasta salad or savory spinach dip.
• Dessert: Indulge in cinnamon football cookies or carrot cake.
• Beverages: Quench your thirst with sparkling citrus punch for a crowd or raspberry frost sodas.

Tropical Luau

• First Course/Appetizer: Begin with Sunshine salad or pesto eggs with shrimp.
• Main Course: Spoil yourself with Hawaiian whole wheat pizza, or design-your-own kabobs with fruit sauces.
• Dessert: Unwind with sailboat cake or watermelon with blackberries and pear puree.
• Beverages: Chill with banana orange sunrise or lemonade tea.