spontaneous hostesses (and hosts!) what are your secrets?

[Anonymous]

In the summer, dogs, beer, buns, beer, soda, and a full bottle of gas for the grill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I never thought about how I do this, but I'll try to tease out what makes it work.

1. We keep the house pretty clean. Cleaning ladies twice a week, we never leave dirty dishes any longer than it takes to eat a meal (so we leave for work with a clean sink and go to bed the same way), the nanny leaves us clean play spaces at the end of the day, when we get out of bed we make the duvets/blankets look neat (same for kids), we don't have a lot of clutter or "stuff" and everything we DO have has a specific place.

2. We invite people over spur of the moment and DH and I will immediately split up. One goes home to meet guests, pour drinks, etc., and the other runs to the supermarket if necessary.

3. We always have certain things on hand. Various types of nuts, a box or two of crackers, a box of tortilla chips, baby carrots, edamame, couple types of cheese, whatever fruit is in season, ice cream, pound cake, a full bar, etc. What this means is that DH can be the one to go home and pour drinks, put out a couple of bowls of nuts, and then chat with people as he cuts up cheese and pears to put together a cheese plate for guests to nibble on while I'm stopping at the grocery store or pizza place to get the main meal (or ingredients for it). We also always have pasta and homemade gravy in the freezer because if you have enough kids over eventually one will be a picky eater who only wants pasta. I can pop over to the store to pick up meat and bread, bring that home and we can make meatballs, pasta and garlic bread pretty quickly.

This is a nice breakdown! But I just have to ask: you can make meatballs quickly?! You mean frozen meatballs, I'm guessing? I'm Italian and mixing, rolling, sauteeing and then saucing meatballs always takes me about an hour from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I never thought about how I do this, but I'll try to tease out what makes it work.

1. We keep the house pretty clean. Cleaning ladies twice a week, we never leave dirty dishes any longer than it takes to eat a meal (so we leave for work with a clean sink and go to bed the same way), the nanny leaves us clean play spaces at the end of the day, when we get out of bed we make the duvets/blankets look neat (same for kids), we don't have a lot of clutter or "stuff" and everything we DO have has a specific place.

2. We invite people over spur of the moment and DH and I will immediately split up. One goes home to meet guests, pour drinks, etc., and the other runs to the supermarket if necessary.

3. We always have certain things on hand. Various types of nuts, a box or two of crackers, a box of tortilla chips, baby carrots, edamame, couple types of cheese, whatever fruit is in season, ice cream, pound cake, a full bar, etc. What this means is that DH can be the one to go home and pour drinks, put out a couple of bowls of nuts, and then chat with people as he cuts up cheese and pears to put together a cheese plate for guests to nibble on while I'm stopping at the grocery store or pizza place to get the main meal (or ingredients for it). We also always have pasta and homemade gravy in the freezer because if you have enough kids over eventually one will be a picky eater who only wants pasta. I can pop over to the store to pick up meat and bread, bring that home and we can make meatballs, pasta and garlic bread pretty quickly.

This is a nice breakdown! But I just have to ask: you can make meatballs quickly?! You mean frozen meatballs, I'm guessing? I'm Italian and mixing, rolling, sauteeing and then saucing meatballs always takes me about an hour from scratch.

When you have people over, everything takes an hour - meatballs are no harder than anything else. Dump the ingredients in a bowl (5 mins, with all the taking out and putting away of ingredients). Turn on pot to preheat it with a smudge of olive oil. (1 minute) . Roll all the meatballs (3 minutes, if you're slow). Throw them in the pot. Wash hands. Talk to guests. About 2-3 minutes later turn the meatballs. Get out the can of tomatoes (or if it's a weeknight, the bottle of good-quality jarred sauce) . Two minutes later, just pour the sauce over the meatballs. Cover and simmer for the next 45 minutes or so. As you finish, star preheating the pasta water so it's ready for when the meatballs are done. There's your hour, but it's only about 15 minutes of work.

It's a mindset.

[Anonymous]

The thing about being the fun spontaneous host who is always down is that people don't expect to have top notch food and drink. They're just happy you host so much!

Keep beer and wine on hand. I usually throw out whatever I've got- hummus and Melba snacks, palmetto cheese and tortilla chips, olives and feta, guacamole and queso, nuts. In summer we do tons of burger nights.

[Anonymous]

We entertain all the time. Our house is kind of known as the pop-in house and usually just have friends and neighbors walk on in whenever. We have a big media room in the basement and a well-stocked beer fridge. I always keep a few bags of chips, some dip, and crackers/cheese on hand. On most weekends, I make guacamole (which is pretty damn good) or am baking or making some sort of snacks. Kids are always over, but it's also our friends coming over to watch sports or just hang out. Anything more than snacks and we'll just order pizza or something. And people always show up with something, whether it's a 6-pack or some wings or whatever.

I'm fortunate to have a housekeeper every other week and a large enough house that I can keep the main levels presentable without much effort. That wasn't always so easy in our smaller place, but don't let that stop you. Friends don't care.

[Anonymous]

In the summer, dogs, beer, buns, beer, soda, and a full bottle of gas for the grill.

Meant dogs and burgers, but I guess I showed what's on my mind.

Spontaneous brunches are easy if you just keep orange juice, lots of eggs and bread, and fruit on hand (bonus points for breakfast meat and sparkling wine). It's easy to whip up french toast and scrambled eggs, or a frittata, and cut fruit. If people are willing to hang out at the table and eat it as it comes out of the kitchen, it's also fun to do crepes or waffles or eggs benedict.

"burgers" and "breakfast meat" also include veggie versions. Those are easy to keep around in the freezer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I never thought about how I do this, but I'll try to tease out what makes it work.

1. We keep the house pretty clean. Cleaning ladies twice a week, we never leave dirty dishes any longer than it takes to eat a meal (so we leave for work with a clean sink and go to bed the same way), the nanny leaves us clean play spaces at the end of the day, when we get out of bed we make the duvets/blankets look neat (same for kids), we don't have a lot of clutter or "stuff" and everything we DO have has a specific place.

2. We invite people over spur of the moment and DH and I will immediately split up. One goes home to meet guests, pour drinks, etc., and the other runs to the supermarket if necessary.

3. We always have certain things on hand. Various types of nuts, a box or two of crackers, a box of tortilla chips, baby carrots, edamame, couple types of cheese, whatever fruit is in season, ice cream, pound cake, a full bar, etc. What this means is that DH can be the one to go home and pour drinks, put out a couple of bowls of nuts, and then chat with people as he cuts up cheese and pears to put together a cheese plate for guests to nibble on while I'm stopping at the grocery store or pizza place to get the main meal (or ingredients for it). We also always have pasta and homemade gravy in the freezer because if you have enough kids over eventually one will be a picky eater who only wants pasta. I can pop over to the store to pick up meat and bread, bring that home and we can make meatballs, pasta and garlic bread pretty quickly.

This is a nice breakdown! But I just have to ask: you can make meatballs quickly?! You mean frozen meatballs, I'm guessing? I'm Italian and mixing, rolling, sauteeing and then saucing meatballs always takes me about an hour from scratch.

The meatball idea is fantastic, but I make them in advance, freeze them on cookie sheets and then stick them in ziplock bags for the freezer. Always have homemade ready to go! Anyone else have ideas? I'm going to entertain more this year.

[Anonymous]

Always have a clean house, lots of snacks and drinks on hand. Then order in, that is what I do.

[Anonymous]

Trader Joe's frozen apps are great for this. We always have some on hand. We've also had people over for wine and cheese in lieu of dinner (with friends who ,like us, consider wine and cheese dinner). I just go to Whole Foods day of to pick up supplies and it takes about 10 mins to setup a really nice cheese and charcuterie platter. We are also fond of Two Amy's take out for impromptu dinners.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Trader Joe's appetizers. We always have a pack or two handy, makes even the most casual gathering seem a bit more festive. Also plenty of wine and beer, cheese and crackers. People can snack while one of us gets takeout, if we decided to go that route. Ice cream for dessert.

If I have a couple of hours' notice I often cook. I'm Indian so my friends like Indian food at our place. I find if I keep frozen naan (thanks again, Trader Joe's!) I can quickly rustle up a couple of dishes, like Chana masala/ saag paneer/ dal/ aloo Gobi or whatever. I have an Instant Pot which is pretty quick at this sort of thing.