Friends invited for a nice dinner? With the tips below you will certainly make it a successful evening!
1. Lighting is key: ensure a pleasant setting by choosing your lighting carefully. Tea lights, a table lamp on a cupboard, a floor lamp in the corner or even a fireplace: indirect lighting often creates a cozy atmosphere. Preferably choose warm light and avoid cold lighting such as you used to see with fluorescent lamps. Are you unsure between too light or too dark? Then too dark is usually the coziest choice (but make sure that your guests can still spot your beautiful plates and nice outfit ;-)).
2. Music in the background, foreground or in the middle: an evening without music is like an unlit candle: it is there, but an important element is missing. You decide for yourself how important the role of music is: a quiet lounge atmosphere in the background or up-tempo music to create a cheerful atmosphere? Everything is possible.
3. Food: well, this is of course the binding agent of the evening. A dinner without food would be crazy, right? How far you go in this depends entirely on you and who you are. Amateur chefs like to go all out and spoil their guests with multiple courses or an impressive dish. Not a hero in the kitchen? No shame in calling help! Better a good caterer than a burnt chicken :-). Simple, simple but super tasty is usually also appreciated. Do you like interactive? Then let your guests help prepare the food. Always make sure you have all the ingredients at home. There is nothing more annoying than having to send someone to the store before closing time.
4. Guests and their place at the table: there are different views on this, ranging from 'we just do whatever' to the royal protocols for state banquets. Some nice tips? Separate couples (literally, not figuratively of course), they already see each other enough. In addition, mix talkative people with rather silent types and put people together who share interests (and keep apart people who have very opposing views). With a bit of luck, fun conversations, new friendships or even exciting romances will arise, who knows. Tip within the tip: use name tags! At Casara we usually also add them to the table decoration packages.
5. Games: Oh la la, this is a whole topic in itself! Just check out this page !
There are probably several hundred thousand more tips we could add to this page. But don't let the evening be too controlled. Ultimately, it's all about having a good time together (at a beautifully set table of course :-D).