@aliciasappetite on Instagram
A student-friendly guide to follow for hosting friends at your university flat for a dinner party.
Dinner party culture has become very present at some universities, sometimes to catch up with your mates and pull the ‘I’m staying in card’ but also in order to pre-drink before you stumble into one of the clubs nearby.
First things first, let’s talk preparation. Experience has proven that if you’re hosting more than 10 people, (although not very environmentally friendly) paper plates are the way forward. It costs about £1.25 to buy a pack of 50 and will save you a HUGE amount of washing up. The same goes for paper cups and cutlery, you can jazz them up with colourful napkins. Candlelit French cafes have also inspired the timeless trend for candle sticks in wine bottles. When the red wax drips down onto a green wine bottle it creates an intimate and cosy look and can really set the vibe when having supper. It is also a sustainable choice as you can get quite a lot of use out of the bottles and candles.
MUSIC: Choose your coolest friend to make a playlist on Spotify to set the tone for the evening. Please not only techno house, obviously include some ‘old but golds’ because no one can resist belting to ‘Vienna’ by Billy Joel.
SEATING PLAN: This is totally up to the host and really depends on how formal/casual you want the evening to be. If you are doing a seating plan, don’t overthink it too much as everyone moves around eventually. I would suggest starting with doing girl, boy, girl, boy so that everyone is mixing otherwise it can look like you are at a party in Year 6! A fun way to get to chat to everyone is that between the main course and pudding every boy moves two places to the right, this way you are not stuck with the same conversation for the entire evening.
FOOD: There are clever ways to go about preparing food for a large group of people which doesn’t require too much cooking time or washing up. Crisps and dip on arrival sets the tone for everyone to start mingling and chatting. I also believe halloumi drizzled with honey and chilli flakes is an easy canapé
for everyone to snack on once they arrive and only takes about 7 minutes in a pan. Delicious!
To really feed your crowd I would suggest one pot wonders or tray bakes. By doing this you minimise the amounts of pots and pans you are using, and all the flavours mix nicely. My personal go to for a dinner party is risotto, it looks like you have made the effort but, it is all cooked up in about 30 minutes. Other great ideas are pies, chicken and veg tray bakes or juicy curries!
If you want to push yourself one step further and make a pudding, apple crumble is always a winner. It can be made in advance so you can literally whack it in the oven for your hungry guests and serve with custard or ice-cream.
RESOURCES: @aliciasappetite (Student-based Instagram account aiming to create university recipes) The Roasting Tin cookbook (Cookbook with recipes which require no prep) Mob Kitchen (Website & Cookbooks with simple yet delicious recipes.)
GAMES: Games are essential to any dinner party, it’s an icebreaker, a way to drink more and a chance for everyone to get to know each other just that bit better!
‘Guilty pleasures’: Create a Spotify playlist and get each guest to add their ‘guilty pleasure’ song to the playlist. After everyone has added their songs, shuffle the playlist and enjoy the song while judging who looks sheepish and who may have chosen this song. Drink if you guessed the wrong person. It’s a fun quick easy game and makes everyone let loose through embracing their true love for Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga.
‘Most likely to’: This version of the game requires pen and paper but is very much worth it. Give each person two pieces of paper and ask them to write two most likely to’s, without thinking of a specific person in mind. Example: ‘Most likely to go on MasterChef’ or ‘Most likely to have a summer romance.’ You then place them into a bowl and mix around. Everyone picks out two from the bowl and reads them quietly to themselves. Fold the pieces of paper back up and pass them to the person you believe the ‘most likely to’ applies to. Then everyone goes around the table and reads what everyone else thinks they are most likely to do!
‘Highest Card’: Everyone gets a given a card and should not look at what it is. They then should lick it so that it sticks to their forehead. Then around the room you can see everyone else’s card apart from your own. You each come up with a dare that you will do if your card is the highest. The highest card is usually an ace but can be a king also. For example, “If I have the highest card, I will swap clothes with someone.” Or “If I have the highest card I will down a drink someone makes for me.” This game can get quite messy and silly, on occasions I have had my hair cut off and seen my friends eat candle wax! It is all in good spirit and is great fun, especially when the person who indeed has the highest card realises and must complete their dare!
It goes without saying, these are just some ideas to jazz up a dinner party, the most important thing however is good company, I know hosting can be stressful but don’t forget that ultimately people are just happy to be invited somewhere and have their supper cooked for them!