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

[Anonymous]

One of my resolutions is to entertain more frequently and more relaxed-ly. I think a lot of that means being spontaneous and inviting people over on a whim. (I have small kids so this could be playdate whim too). A huge deterrent is having to run to the store for stuff. What do you keep on hand to make entertaining spontaneous and easy? What do you serve? We have costco and freezer space and the drink fridge is always stocked up. I like to serve fruit and cheese but we eat it a lot and I feel like I need "new" everything to "serve". What are your tips and secrets?

[Anonymous]

Great post and question, I'd love to do this too.

[Anonymous]

I think that depends on your friends and your level of hosting. Keeping on hand drinks is easy - beer, wine, water, juice and milk boxes for kids.

Fruit and cheese are good but need to be replenished. I always have in my pantry at least one box of nice crackers and a jar of some sort of nice chutney or spread. You can also keep on hand some of those dried salamis that are shelf-stable or stay in the fridge for a long time. A container or two of nuts. And we always have fresh veggies and typically a container of hummus in the fridge. Between those, you are covered for simple adult nibbles.

Dinner-wise, the easiest entertaining is "Hey, come on over for pizza/Indian/whatever! We'll feed the kids and they can watch a movie while the adults talk." We do this with a couple of our neighbors at least once a month and it's great. The utmost in casual. This works for even the most truly last minute invites, i.e. email exchange midday or running into someone at the park at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. If by spontaneous you mean two or three days' notice, I think the key with small kids is still to keep it simple. Have on hand, or buy fresh, chicken or steak that you can grill up. Stop by the store that week for fixings for a salad and a batch of brownies. Or, if guests offer, take them up on bringing the salad or a dessert.

[Anonymous]

Cheese and salami or prosciutto, plus crackers and olives or a tapenade from the pantry. Costo sells a lot of frozen appetizers you could keep on hand. I usually have frozen shrimp in the house. If you have a log of cream cheese you can make a spread by topping it with cocktail sauce, pepper jelly, preserves, etc. I also always have chickpeas, tahini, lemon and garlic, which means I could whip up a hummus; same goes for a white bean spread I like.

[Anonymous]

I spontaneously host a lot. Mostly early dinners with kids, but sometimes dinners for adults, too. Here's what I keep in the house always for these purposes: Bacon, Hot dogs, Pasta, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, boboli pizza crust (1 fresh, several frozen), pizza sauce, marinara sauce, Vace frozen meals (lasagna, eggplant parm, gnocci), broccoli or green beans, and frozen cookie dough.

If i'm just cooking for kids, I make either mac n cheese with hot dogs or a boboli pizza and either simply steamed broc with or green beans (with a little garlic butter if all kids are ok with garlic). If adults are eating, i'll fry up some bacon to add to either mac n cheese or make a more adult pizza if I have arugula and fancy cheese. If not, I will also pop a vace meal in the oven and serve with a simple salad (we always have lettuce and ingredients for a vinaigrette around). I will also throw a few cookies in the oven for dessert. Oh - and you must have wine and beer. Always.

Really easy.

[Anonymous]

Easy mixes for muffins, coffee cakes and coffee/creamer. Done

[Anonymous]

I always keep a few packages of smoked salmon and a few well wrapped frozen bagettes. Add cream cheese and cucumber, and people think you're rather decadent.

Also keep finger food type apps - spanakopita, wings, mini spring rolls, potstickers, etc. Serve with a fancy sauce and feel great. Fries can even feel fancy if you take 45 seconds with your lender to whip up a garlic aioli. (Not as hard as it sounds). Then there are he other suspects- bagel bites, nuggets... Great for kids, but in a pinch, out them on a fancy plate with some other stuff. I guarantee no adult will pass them up, ever.

Basic crudités, like carrots, celery, sugar snapped peas keep well for a week or two in the fridge. Pita, hummus, olive tapenade are easy to whip up if you don't have them premade in the house. Just keep an extra few cans of chickpeas and olives, and a jar of tahini in the fridge. Almost everyone has olive oil and lemon juice around to round that out.

[Anonymous]

I bake loaves of sweet bread (pumpkin, walnut, zuccini...) and make pots of chili that I freeze. I can pull these out when I need to.

[Anonymous]

We always have several bottles of red, white, and sparkling wine on hand, and a fully stocked bar. Also a variety of cheeses, crackers, and mixed greens and home-made salad dressing. So it's no big deal to have a few folks over if I've made some chili, or soup, or jambalaya or something that I can only make in big quantities. I also make huge amounts of spaghetti sauce from scratch and freeze it, so it's easy to throw together some pasta dish. People are always happy to come over and hang out and eat whatever we make. It helps that I like to bake and my husband likes to cook and host too.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Food wise, I always keep on hand, in the freezer, a pound cake, some frozen fruit (blueberries or raspberries), and ice cream. I also always keep a can of Hershey's chocolate sauce on hand, and I always have sprinkles. So dessert is easy for both kids and adults.
For meals, in the summer my go-to is burgers, so always have buns in the freezer, homemade pickles on hand (also keep fish burgers and veggie burgers in the freezer for vegetarians). I will add in what I can depending on how last minute it is -- potato salad or coleslaw if I can make it, or just go buy it if I don't have time.
In the winter my go-to is tacos. I always have premade taco meat in the freezer, and cheese frozen too. A quick run to the store for cherry tomatoes and lettuce, and I am set.
Drinks wise I keep some Izze sodas or other fun sodas on hand, along with wine and beer.
I keep my house pretty clean and tidy, just because that's who I am.
Perhaps most importantly I keep in mind that people aren't really coming over to judge my house, or food. They are coming for good company and fun. If things aren't perfect, so what? I think its that attitude more than anything that you need to have at hand to be successful at entertaining.
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

What great tips here! OP, you specifically mention cheese. We try to buy cheese that doesn't go bad too quickly, so more of a chance we can use it for guests. And cheese that doesn't look weird if it's half eaten already - like a big block of cheddar that we cut into slices, no one has to know it's the second half of that block. You can even do a little surgery to cut off the outside if it's not looking so gorgeous.

I try to keep dip mixes on hand - just throw a little packet into some sour cream or yogurt (which also last quite a while in the fridge) and dip with whatever's around.

[Anonymous]

I wanted to post a similar thread, so thanks OP! I would recommend keeping canned artichokes (Trader Joe's has the best) and frozen spinach on hand. We always seem to have shredded cheese in the fridge, so combine those, with some may, sprinkle some paprika and bake in the oven for an easy spinach artichoke dip.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Does anyone know whether the little frozen appetizers (like mini quiches, spanokopita, etc.) are cheaper at Costco than Trader Joes/Target/Safeway? I'm hoping to do a lot more entertaining and am trying to decide if it's worth it to get a Costco membership for party food.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the key is to realize that your friends don't really care if the house looks perfect or if you have a wide variety of appetizers. They just want to hang out!

That said, it's nice too have some snacks and drinks around... Just pull out whatever you would normally munch on or order take out if you really don't have anything on hand.