{"id":7925,"date":"2026-09-30T22:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T22:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7925"},"modified":"2026-09-30T22:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T22:58:00","slug":"13-entertaining-tips-to-make-hosting-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7925","title":{"rendered":"13 Entertaining Tips to Make Hosting Easier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Are you hosting any get-togethers this fall? If you ever get in your head when planning parties, like I do<\/a>, just take a deep breath, remember that people love to hang out with you, and read these entertaining tips from our past house tours<\/a>. Here goes\u2026<\/p>\n

HOSTING IN SMALL SPACES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Easy<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Rearrange your furniture.<\/a> \u201cThe key to hosting big parties is moving the furniture. Before people arrive, I move everything into the back room. My goal is to make the living\/kitchen area feel like a giant dance floor.\u201d \u2014 LaTonya Yvette<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Serve buffet style.<\/a> \u201cI like setting out a buffet in the kitchen, where everyone can help themselves. Then I can avoid feeling at the end of the night like I didn\u2019t get to have a real conversation with anyone!\u201d \u2014 Maggie Pouncey<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Or just skip dinner altogether.<\/a> \u201cI love having people over, but only two people fit around my table. So, I invite friends for drinks and apps and let them sprawl around my whole place. I figure it\u2019s less about the food itself than bringing people together and having fun.\u201d \u2014 Christina Bryant<\/a><\/p>\n

EASY MEALS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Consider roast chicken with a twist.<\/a> \u201cMy tried-and-true, learned-from-my-mom recipe is Chicken Marbella<\/a>. It\u2019s a perfect sweet and salty chicken from the 1980s cookbook The Silver Palate<\/em>. You marinate the chicken overnight in a combination of prunes and bay leaves and parsley and capers and green olives. It looks really beautiful, and I love serving it with rice and a big salad.\u201d \u2014 Hopie Stockman Hill<\/a><\/p>\n

5. And cumin-glazed salmon is easier than it sounds.<\/a> \u201cWhen friends come for dinner, I do a salmon with cumin brown sugar glaze, and saut\u00e9ed spinach with golden raisins and pine nuts, which is always a hit. It\u2019s not too complicated. I found the basic recipe<\/a> years ago and have tweaked it to be my own. \u2014 Julia Leach<\/a><\/p>\n

FUN THEMES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"easy<\/a><\/p>\n

6. Host a talent show.<\/a> \u201cMy friend and I host an annual concert at my apartment. We invite people over; then we play guitar and sing six songs. Our preferred genre is murder ballads, like Caleb Meyer by Gillian Welch<\/a>. We both have a dark sense of humor, and it\u2019s not anything serious, just an excuse to hang out.\u201d \u2014 Corrie Beth Hogg<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Throw a tomato (or apple or pumpkin) party.<\/a> \u201cIn the summer, I love anything with tomatoes. My friends have historically held an \u2018annual tomato fest\u2019 in August \u2014 it\u2019s a dinner party where every recipe has tomatoes.\u201d \u2014 Taylor Swaim<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Organize a taste test<\/a>. \u201cRight now, India is making some of the best gins in the world; I bring back four bottles every time I go. A fun party trick is pulling them all out and doing a taste test with friends. My favorite is Pumori<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s very cardamon forward.\u201d \u2014 Sana Javeri Kadri<\/a><\/p>\n

OVERNIGHT GUEST TIPS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Entertaining<\/a><\/p>\n

9. Sleep in the guest room.<\/a> \u201cI wanted our guest room to be the perfect spot, so I slept in there myself to try it out. I also feel like people have a bad habit of putting things that they don\u2019t want to see all the time into guest rooms. I flipped that on its head and fill the room with things we really love.\u201d \u2014 Justin Reis<\/a><\/p>\n

10. Fill the fridge.<\/a> \u201cWe keep the fridge stocked with milk, beer, and champagne because we have people stay all the time and want things to be as self-serve and efficient as possible. Whatever is in the fridge is free game.\u201d \u2014 Heather Ross<\/a><\/p>\n

SETTING A RELAXED VIBE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Easy<\/a><\/p>\n

11. Have an open-door policy.<\/a> \u201cOnce a week, we invite our friends over for dinner. Most times, they will let themselves in before we get home, so by the time we show up, families are already playing and eating popsicles outside. It feels so good.\u201d \u2014 Hannah Haehn<\/a><\/p>\n

12. Stock up on crowd-pleasing drinks.<\/a> \u201cI try to anticipate what drinks people will want. At an arm\u2019s reach, my brother-in-law can grab a Pellegrino, because he crushes a bunch every night. My friend Annie loves Coors Light, and I never bought them before but now I\u2019m buying them all the time. My husband is always laughing because I keep stocking way up on her favorite drink. But it\u2019s all about making people feel welcome and thought of.\u201d \u2014 Heather Taylor<\/a><\/p>\n

13. Talk to everyone.<\/a> \u201cLast Christmas, I taught the boys how to mingle, a parenting experience that still makes me laugh. Before our adult friends came over, I told the boys that people would naturally separate into small groups (\u2018How do you already KNOW that?\u2019 said Toby, wide-eyed), and at the start of the party, the role of the host is to float between groups and chat for a few minutes at each one. The boys excitedly accepted the challenge and spent a half hour rotating between clusters. \u2018Okay, gotta go!\u2019 Toby told some friends, at one point. \u2018My five minutes are up!\u2019\u201d \u2014 Joanna Goddard<\/a><\/p>\n

How about you? Do you have entertaining tips you always fall back on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. A menu that works for almost everyone<\/a>, and are you a party host or enthusiastic guest<\/a>?<\/p>\n

(Heather Taylor\u2019s home<\/a> photographed by Nicki Sebastian<\/a>. LaTonya Yvette\u2019s home<\/a> photographed by Julia Robbs<\/a>. Emma Straub\u2019s home<\/a> photographed by Alpha Smoot<\/a>, styling by Oliver Cano<\/a>. Justin Reis\u2019 home<\/a> photographed by Alpha Smoot<\/a>, styling by Cecilia Elguero<\/a>. Hannah Haehn\u2019s home photographed<\/a> by Leela Cyd<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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13<\/span> COMMENTS<\/p>\n

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