{"id":10392,"date":"2020-05-19T16:56:55","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T23:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10392"},"modified":"2020-05-21T17:18:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T00:18:34","slug":"premier-party-planners-home-entertaining-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10392","title":{"rendered":"Premier Party Planner\u2019s Home Entertaining Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

From Santa Barbara Independent, May 14-21, 2020. Photo by Megan Sorel Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dishing With\u00a0Merryl Brown,\u00a0Event Designer\u00a0Extraordinaire<\/strong><\/p>\n

While wow-worthy fundraising events may\u00a0be in our rearview mirror for a while, anyone\u00a0who\u2019s ever attended the Pacific Pride Foundation\u2019s\u00a0Royal Ball<\/a>, the Community Environmental Council\u2019s\u00a0Green Gala<\/a>, or the Bellosguardo Foundation<\/a>\u2019s inaugural\u00a0Great Gatsby\u2013themed soir\u00e9e knows what a thoughtful, creative\u00a0touch that Merryl Brown<\/a> and her team bring to every\u00a0event.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re all so eager to have our friends and family\u00a0once again able to join us in our humble abodes, here is some\u00a0entertaining advice from the expert.<\/p>\n

How do you plan a small house party?<\/strong> I sit and I think about who\u00a0is coming and who I want to be there and who will interact\u00a0well with whom. Then I think about the flow of the party and\u00a0what it\u2019s going to feel like.<\/p>\n

It starts with the invitation: What\u2019s it going to tell you? How\u00a0are you supposed to dress? Is it going to be a dinner? Are you\u00a0going to get cocktails\u00a0and hors d\u2019oeuvres?\u00a0You want to convey the\u00a0theme and really give\u00a0a sense of the party\u00a0\u2014 without giving too\u00a0much away.<\/p>\n

Make sure everything\u00a0is spotless in your\u00a0home, that the bathrooms\u00a0have a candle lit\u00a0and that everything is clean and tidy. Make lots of space on\u00a0your counter if you\u2019re having a caterer. I\u2019m a big believer in\u00a0that it\u2019s really hard for people to cook, make food, and be able\u00a0to entertain their guests simultaneously.<\/p>\n

If you want to cook, then have some extra help in the\u00a0house. You can always enlist people who can take some of\u00a0the burden off of you, so you aren\u2019t stressed. That\u2019s probably\u00a0the single most important thing: The host or hostess really\u00a0leads the mood. If a person is really stressed out when they\u2019re\u00a0entertaining, I think it really kills the mood of the party.<\/p>\n

And when the party starts?<\/strong> It\u2019s important to have a bar that\u00a0people can get to right away and get their drinks. I think it\u2019s\u00a0really fun to have a couple of fun, interesting drinks and create\u00a0a drink menu that you can put on your bar. Get interesting\u00a0glassware and have interesting things that you can put in the\u00a0drinks: edible flowers and interesting ice cubes where you\u00a0invent something inside of them, glowing straws, or metal\u00a0straws.\u00a0There\u2019s all different kinds of things that you can use to\u00a0make your drinks look and feel great \u2014 and it becomes a\u00a0point of conversation.\u00a0You want to make sure\u00a0to give that to people,\u00a0particularly people that\u00a0don\u2019t know each other.<\/p>\n

You can also have a\u00a0person with a tray passing\u00a0drinks if you have\u00a0a bigger party, to take\u00a0pressure off the bar.\u00a0My favorite way to\u00a0entertain is to traypass\u00a0hors d\u2019oeuvres\u00a0and keep everything\u00a0really neat and tidy\u00a0(so people aren\u2019t sharing\u00a0germs). If you go\u00a0online, there\u2019s a million\u00a0different recipes.<\/p>\n

If you are limited in\u00a0your budget, you can\u00a0have custom cocktail\u00a0napkins done very\u00a0reasonably. Have some\u00a0little quote or some\u00a0funny little saying, or\u00a0some sort of image. I\u00a0did a memorial one\u00a0time, and there were\u00a0lyrics from a song that the person loved on the napkin, and\u00a0it was meaningful.<\/p>\n

What if I don\u2019t have a bar?<\/strong> You can create a bar. You can take a\u00a0six-foot table and put a linen on it; you can get some PVC and\u00a0you can cut four pieces exactly the same size, and you raise\u00a0that table up a little bit so that the front bar\u2019s a little higher;\u00a0you put another six-foot table behind it. And then you display\u00a0your bottles; you display your artifacts; you make some cool\u00a0things. Everybody should have a hot-glue gun \u2014 what you\u00a0can do with a hot-glue gun is a beautiful thing. You can find\u00a0fun stuff [Michaels, Art From Scrap, and Art Essentials are\u00a0her go-to places] and make cool things that are in the theme\u00a0of the party.<\/p>\n

You have to get creative and have fun with it, and don\u2019t be\u00a0so nervous that it\u2019s not going to be good enough. When you\u00a0make an effort and you have fun with it and are not all nervous\u00a0and stressed about it, people are psyched. They just want\u00a0to have a nice time and they want to have a new experience\u00a0and they want to be a part of something meaningful.<\/p>\n

I think people really want to connect. The more that you\u00a0give people things to connect about, to talk about, the more\u00a0fun people are going to have.<\/p>\n

What about the tablescapes?<\/strong> I try to layer things. For example,\u00a0if you\u2019re setting the table, it\u2019s not just about the china and the\u00a0linens and the glassware and the flatware and the floral. Those\u00a0things are part of it, but there has to be something more, those\u00a0little lovely surprises that make things pop. Have the beautiful\u00a0calligraphed menu tucked into the napkin and this beautiful\u00a0flower, and then they lift the napkin up and there\u2019s a lovely\u00a0little fortune or some little surprise, some little special poem\u00a0or whatever it is.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your most critical piece of advice?<\/strong> The single most important\u00a0thing when you do an event is just to do it with love,\u00a0infuse it with love.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait to go to your coronavirus containment party.<\/strong> I want\u00a0to throw that party. You\u2019re going to have to come with your\u00a0own hand-painted mask and your own gloves that you created\u00a0yourself. We\u2019ll all carry a six-foot scepter pointed out, so\u00a0that everybody is six feet away from you, and then it\u2019s a dance\u00a0party in a great big space where everybody is far apart. And\u00a0there\u2019s no buffet at all; everybody gets their own individual\u00a0food when they walk in the door.<\/p>\n

See you there!<\/strong><\/p>\n

See merrylbrownevents.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stay at Home and Garden, special issue of SB Independent May 14, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

This story was originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent<\/em><\/a> on May 14, 2020. Click here<\/a> to read it as it appeared in print.<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>