Keep it fun for guests and sane for you

Here are some of my best tips for easy entertaining:

Enlist help. But not just any help. Figure out which of your friends and family members really want to jump in the trenches with you — not just to come and start snacking and drinking early.

Find the right task for the right person. Let the teenagers set the table or bring out the platters of food; have your pyro pals light the grill. People like to contribute, especially when they’re given a task they feel comfortable with.

If you have a friend who makes one thing you love — a certain kind of cookie, say, or a dip — and he or she asks to bring something, accept the offer. Just make sure your friend comes early, so you have time to transfer it to your own dish and put it out on the table before guests start to arrive, when you’ll have 50 other things to do.

Put out easy appetizers for guests to snack on, such as good crackers, cheese and cheese condiments,

salumi and seasonal fruit. Place them away from the kitchen, so your guests will be entertained while you get the meal on the table.

Keep the meal simple. Keep each dish simple and don’t prepare too many of them.

Keep dessert even simpler: Offer a selection of artisan chocolate bars, boxes of store-bought ice cream, carefully curated cookies from a favorite bakery. I don’t recommend you start baking a peach pie or churning ice cream the same day you have 30 guests coming over.