When I think of hosting dinners, I think of Mrs. Dalloway. Everything set up perfectly—platters, food, and flowers—and from that beautiful core, the party flows.
Our parties are a couple clicks more improvisational than Clarissa’s. Sometimes, as I’m running to the supermarket for a last-minute lemon or a roll of paper towels we’ll use as napkins, I wonder how much this matters. From our imperfect core—a delicious if frugal buffet, a policy of BYOB, makeshift seating around the coffee table—good parties flow too.
All of this is to say that though we own some beautiful platters, functional dinner plates, and brand new silverware, plus enough glassware for eight whole people to drink from matching cups, as soon as our group will be larger than six, I switch to paper plates and cups. They’re not pretty, and they hardly set the scene for anything fancy, but since we don’t have a dishwasher, they eliminate about half the post-party clean up. That makes entertaining a million times more fun.
So, I’m curious: when you have friends over, where do you draw the line between attention to detail and convenience? The more I think about it, the more I’m considering taking the leap to using nice-looking paper plates, like Bambu.
P.S. How to host a noodle bar party.
