5 entertaining must-haves

BEING a good host requires very little: a warm invitation, some good food and guests to enjoy it. It doesn’t hurt to have a few go-to entertaining pieces for the table, either.

Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer, founders of Canal House, a culinary, design and photography studio in Milford, New Jersey, and authors of the James Beard Award-winning Canal House Cooks Every Day, host dinners and gatherings four to five times a month, including for each other’s families.

On their must-have list for hosting are platters, serving bowls, white taper candles, thin-lipped glasses and nice napkins – all in a restrained style.

“It’s about the food and not the props,” Hamilton says.

“The things we love have a simplicity and an elegance, a beautiful edge and are never too shiny.”

Other food and entertaining experts we talked with added a water pitcher, favourite flower vase, cutting board and bar cart to the lists of musts.

Because when you invest in pieces for entertaining, you want them to work for not just the holidays but also casual dinners, birthdays and beyond.

Hamilton and Hirsheimer recommend a good serving bowl for salads, mixed pasta, popcorn and even centrepieces, such as a bowl of bright oranges.

“I use this for water and flowers always,” says Seri Kertzner, founder and “chief party officer” of Little Miss Party, an event-planning and styling company in New York, of Anchor’s large glass water carafe.

For buffet-style holiday parties, interior designer Krista Watterworth Alterman of Krista + Home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, always turns to the Portina marble cheese board.

“A beautiful array of meats and cheeses is a quick and easy crowdpleaser.”

A bunch of flowers can cover a multitude of hosting oversights, says Interior designer Tavia Forbes, of Forbes + Masters in Atlanta.

“If floral arranging isn’t your thing, do a monochromatic to dress up a table setting, especially a simple white plate... I recommend investing in a few different coloured ones, but also white and black ones.”

Her picks are the cotton buffet napkins from World Market, which come in a set of six (worldmarket. com). | Washington Post

WEEKENIGH serving bowl in eggshell from East Fork and a retro encased glass vase in white from West Elm.

arrangement in a cool vase,” she says.Skip “the clear vase and look for a coloured or patterned glass or ceramic,” such as West Elm’s retro encased glass vases.“A linen or cotton buffet napkin is a must,” says Kaitlin Moss, blogger at the Every Hostess. It’s an easy way

FROM left to right: Portina cheese board from Anthropologie, buffet napkins in stone blue from World Market and Anchor’s large glass water carafe from Target.