If this is for a party in the next month or so, agree that fancy caterers are booked. Could you think about ordering the food from Balducci's or some such and hiring a few college students (neighborhood listserv?) to serve and clean up?

You're really late in booking one. This needed to be done around Labor Day.

Anonymous wrote:Ridgewells is good but a little pricey.

I imagine they were booked solidly for this holiday season back in summer

Decide on what mix you want. For example, there's full service caterers that bring in the food, provide dishes, staff, and clean up. Or you can get food/drink on your own, and hire a company that provides servers/bartenders.

Ridgewells is good but a little pricey.

We've never hosted anything more than a small dinner party, but I have wanted to reconnect with a lot of people and have always wanted to host a holiday party. I've been to parties where there's caterers and some where it's more old-fashioned serve yourself. I'm pretty low key, but the idea of having servers would allow me to enjoy my own party, it seems, as opposed to having to run around.

Any recommendations?