- Hey everyone, it's Jasmine,
and I love hosting dinner parties.
And as much fun as it is
to get all your friends together to entertain,
I know it can be a little bit stressful,
a little bit daunting.
So today I'm gonna show you some easy foolproof tips
so you can host like a pro.
Let's get started.
(bright music)
So it's the day before the dinner party,
and we're gonna make a few crafts
to decorate our dinner table.
We're first gonna be making these clay napkin rings
and then these clay candle holders.
They're super cute
and add a personalized touch to your dinner table.
So we're gonna start by making our clay napkin rings.
I have two colors of clay here.
This one's the white,
and I'm just gonna add a few globs to my board.
And then some terracotta clay here.
Just sprinkle it, randomize it.
It'll all look beautiful once together.
That looks good.
So we're gonna place it back onto our board
and we're just gonna roll it out to a quarter inch thick.
Okay, uh.
Looks good now.
So now we have a ruler here.
I'm just gonna place it right here.
And we're just gonna draw a straight line all the way down.
Same thing on the other side.
Now we're just gonna cut this down on either side
so we have straight lines.
We're gonna cut this in half.
Now we're gonna take either side,
overlap it, and just pinch it close.
Ta-da!
Super easy, super cute.
Truly, there's no way to mess this up.
And we're just gonna let it air-dry overnight.
With my scraps here,
I'm gonna combine this into a ball
and show you how I make my candle holders.
We're just gonna roll this up into a nice fine sphere.
I split my ball into two.
And I'm just rounding these out.
And we're gonna take our candle
and stick it directly inside.
And since it air dries a little bit smaller,
you wanna kind of roll it out
so there's a little more space and it will fit tomorrow.
We're gonna do the same thing with this one
and we're gonna let it dry overnight.
I actually made some yesterday.
So once these air dry, they'll look like this.
They're super cute.
They just look very rustic.
You know, I'd buy something like this off Etsy.
It's super artsy.
And it just adds that extra touch
to your hosted dinner party.
So the next craft we're gonna be making is ice dyed napkins.
Super cool, super easy.
We're gonna start with a baking sheet on the bottom
and a wire rack over a tray.
And I have a couple of damp napkins here.
We're just gonna scrunch them up ever so slightly
over the tray.
Do the same with your other napkin.
This one is super cool and really easy, honestly.
And same thing with this one, you can't mess up.
It'll look amazing, promise.
And you can customize it to your favorite colors,
which is also great.
So if you're doing a themed party
and you have colors, go ahead and do that.
Now that these are all scrunched up,
I'm gonna place a bunch of ice all over them.
Feel free to be generous with this.
And make sure to wear gloves
because working with dye, you may stain in your hands.
Now we're gonna sprinkle on some powdered dye,
blues and greens, in random spots.
Moving on to my next color here.
And just be free spirited with this.
It'll turn out beautiful, I promise.
So when the ice starts to melt,
it'll leave this really cool tie dye effect.
And that's what's gonna give it that design.
Now that I've done all of this,
I'm gonna bring this outside,
let all the ice melt, then let it air dry,
bring it back in, run it under the sink
until all the color runs clear before washing it.
I made some yesterday and this is what it looks like.
Look how cool it is.
It's kind of like this aqua marine vibe.
I really like the coastal look.
They're beautiful.
And they just add a pop of color to the dinner table.
So it's the day of the dinner party.
Our guests are arriving in a few hours,
and we're gonna begin our flower arrangements for the table.
You can use some flower frogs here.
We have glass and a metal one,
but they also come in different materials.
And you can also use these bud vases
for simple and really adorable arrangements.
Look at these.
I love them.
So one hack I have
is to pull the vase close to the table,
hold your flower against it
to see what height you'd like it to stand at.
And then we're just gonna cut out a diagonal.
Today, we're gonna be using the metal frog
and it'll go inside the vase,
but I'll demonstrate out here.
All you do is put it in your desired place
and shove it right in,
and it'll stay intact.
I'm just gonna pick this up and put it into our vase.
And I have some tack on the bottom to hold it down.
So what I like to do is start with some show stoppers.
That looks good.
So now I have some other flowers
and I'm just gonna fill them in
and get it all evenly dispersed.
I really love that the flower frogs
keep everything in place.
And I like to get flowers with different kinds of textures.
It just makes it look more vibrant.
And there you have it.
A beautiful flower arrangement is gonna stay in its place.
And last thing we're gonna do is add in some water.
Beautiful.
Okay, it's time to set the table for our dinner party.
Today we have four people coming,
and we're gonna be having a main
with a salad, wine, and water.
So we're gonna start with a large plate
with a salad plate on top.
We have a cute little handmade menu right here,
and this just adds a little extra to the dinner table.
Got some cute little hand drawn art on there
and just a good overall view
of what everyone will be eating at the dinner party.
Next we got our hand dyed napkins
and our handmade napkin ring.
We're just gonna place it on top.
Next we got our utensils.
The solid fork will be on the outer left side
and the main fork will be on the inner left side,
and our knife on the right side
with the blade facing towards the plates.
For our cups,
we're gonna place the water glass above the knife
and our wine glass just to the right of that.
And there you have it.
The table is set.
It looks complicated
but it was actually pretty easy to do
and very straightforward.
Now onto the food.
So now I'm gonna show you
how I like to display the dishes on the table.
For starters, I really love this Mediterranean hummus.
This is an awesome way to upgrade some store bought hummus,
and just display it differently and beautifully.
So I've already laid out some hummus here
with some rainbow carrots on the side.
And we're just gonna add some toppings
to make it extra fancy.
First, I'm gonna lay out some cucumber slices,
adds a nice crunch to everything,
nice and vibrant, and just add some color.
Next I'm gonna add in some sun-dried tomatoes.
I love the red it brings to this dish.
Next we're gonna top it with some feta,
just a nightlight sprinkle.
Ooh, that looks so pretty.
Next we're gonna top it with some pine nuts.
Yes, we are going very fancy here.
And some mint.
Last but not least, we're gonna drizzle on some olive oil.
There you have it, some Mediterranean hummus.
I love the vibrancy of the toppings on here.
People are gonna look at this and say,
"Wow, let me take a photo of that."
And that's the goal.
These are all done.
I'm gonna place them right over here.
Beautiful.
So another appetizer I love
are these fig and whipped ricotta crostinis.
They're so, so cute and delicious.
Figs are in season right now.
And whenever I can use local and in season produce
when hosting others, that's an extra plus.
These are so good.
The whipped ricotta is so fluffy,
topped with the honey and balsamic glaze.
Ugh, so, so delicious.
So for the show-stopping main,
I love to make this beef tenderloin paired with fresh herbs,
a creamy horseradish dressing.
One thing I love to do is slice them beforehand,
plate it with some fresh herbs, and the sauce on the side.
That way no one needs to worry about cutting the meat.
And honestly, it makes for some really great presentation.
One of my favorite sides to make for dinner parties
are these gorgeous potato roses.
This is just a really fun and unique way
to elevate the presentation of roasted potatoes.
And while they look super complicated to make,
they're actually pretty easy for beginners.
And I just love to place them on a cake dish
so it looks like another bouquet of flowers on your table.
All right, time for some salad.
I love to add a big salad to my table
when I'm hosting a dinner party.
Honestly, we need some greens.
I love to add in some fresh fruit,
some nuts for texture,
very flavorful veggies like fennel.
Got some onion.
Avocado for creaminess.
This is just overall a great way
to add vibrancy to the table for presentation and in flavor.
For dessert, I love to do a DIY parfait
for my dinner parties.
It lets guests get creative and customized to their liking,
and also give them a taste of everything.
You can display it however you like,
but for me I love to use a variety
of different colorful bowls.
I've already built some over here on the table.
I added some of my favorites, which was all of them.
All the brownies, all the cheesecake,
berries, fudge, caramel,
chocolate chips, literally everything,
'cause that's what makes it taste so good.
I also added some whipped cream on top.
This is just one way to do it,
but you can get really creative
and come up with different themes.
You can do ice cream sundaes.
Chocolate fondue, honestly.
The possibilities are endless.
Final setup for dinner is complete.
I lit some candles, poured some water,
and of course, some wine.
Cheers.
All right, I hope these tips were helpful
and show that with just a little bit
of preparation and creativity,
anyone can throw their first dinner party like a pro.
Let me know in the comments below
if you have any dinner party tips to share.
(bell rings)
Oh my, my guests are here.
Uh, you got this, bye!
(bright music)