Lower the stress while entertaining for holidays
There’s no need to channel Martha Stewart
Did you have a good time at the last holiday party you hosted? Or were you too frazzled to actually enjoy it?
There’s no doubt adding hosting duties to all the other demands of the holiday season can be fraught with stress. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
“There was a bit of a time when we wanted to be fancy, then people realized it was more important to spend time with their guests than in the kitchen,” says Taryn Wa, co-founder of Vancouver catering company Savoury Chef Foods.
“Food is all about making personal connections. If you can have beautiful food and spend time with your guests: win-win.”
True, we are seeing a return to a more elegant way of entertaining. But these days, it comes without all the overthe-top fuss of the past.
Forget trying to channel Martha Stewart and doing it all yourself. The easiest way to throw a memorable — but stress-free — event is to hire a caterer.
“If you want everything to be taken care of and have the easiest party ever, while still impressing your guests, hire a caterer,” Wa says. “They’ll bring everything in and clean it up after and tidy up during the event. Basically, it’s relieving stress.”
If you don’t feel like hiring a caterer, you can still hire serving staff. And even if you do want to do it all yourself, you should definitely use rental glassware, cutlery and dishes — not only will everything match, you won’t have to polish it beforehand, wash it afterward or store it when the party’s over.
As for what to serve, we’re seeing a welcome return of the canapé.
“People are going back to more refined dishes, refined canapés,” Wa says. “Something that can be eaten in one or two bites. You have a glass in your hand and you’re talking, so you want something you can pop in our mouth.”
Canapés may look complicated, and it’s true, they do have to be assembled at the last minute. But all the component pieces can be done ahead of time and some can even be purchased instead of homemade, as long as the ingredients are of good quality.
“The assembly is the easy part,” Wa says.
After that, all you need to do is add a cheese plate, a charcuterie platter and some interesting breads. “And for the holidays, sweets,” Wa says. “It’s the one time of year people indulge.”
Beyond the food, it’s important to set the mood with soft lighting and easy, elegant decor. There, too, we’re seeing a more refined approach. No need to deck the halls with boughs of holly and swags of gold lamé: a couple of simple floral arrangements should do the trick.
“If you have a good florist, you can just give then your theme and they’ll put something together for you,” Wa says. “Living plants instead of cut flowers have been a trend for the last couple of years.”
No matter what you do, the most important thing is that you, as the host, have time to spend with your friends. And that means keeping things as simple as possible.
“That’s part of the art of entertaining, making it look easy,” Wa says. “And then your guests go home and say, ‘Wow, that was a party.’”