Date Added: February 20, 2013 06:40:05 PM

Hosting a dinner party is a great way for you to invite your friends and share long conversations without the rush that you might feel in restaurants. When you have your dinners at home, you feel more relaxed and you enjoy the moment more. If only you could fast forward the hands of time so that you don't have to worry about what to cook for your guests. Indeed, thinking up of a menu plan can be tedious since you're not too sure of what your guests will prefer. With these menu ideas, you can whip great meals from the appetizers to your desserts that your guests will surely love.

Appetizers

Finger foods as appetizers serve as one of your conversation starters. You can welcome guests with them while you are preparing your main course. The good thing about appetizers is that they are light enough for your guests to still have room for the food that will be served later. They also serve as a prelude to the good dinner that they will have. Therefore, while waiting for all your guests to come and while exchanging small stories before dinner, make it a point to entertain your guests with appetizers that can be eaten using their fingers. Some examples of favorite appetizers served during dinner would be sausage rolls, pigs in a blanket with cheese cubes, strombolli bread, and asparagus wrapped in parma ham and cheese.

Main Course

You might dread preparing the main course since most of the menus out there require a lot of time to get them ready. One great idea would be to serve hot pot recipes. The soupy, creamy, or saucy texture would make your guests feel warm and comfortable while the combination of sauce, meat, and vegetables will fill them up. In addition, preparing stews, baked chicken, or chili con carne takes less time and effort since you will cook them mostly on one pot. This means that after dinner, you also get to wash lesser pots, thereby giving you more time to entertain your guests instead of worrying how to clean up.

Desserts

No dinner party is complete without desserts. You may opt to buy them, but if you want to have a home-made dinner party, you can actually make desserts within just a small amount of time. The most fail-proof dessert would be cakes and tarts since everyone loves them. All you need to prepare these would be cake mixes, Custard cream, and Fruit fillings and you are good to go. You can experiment on the type of fruit that you will use, be it canned, with syrup or those that you buy fresh from the store. Your guests will love it since they feel that their sweet tooth is satisfied and they're still getting something healthy out of the fruit tarts.

Dinner parties need not be dreaded. Instead, they should be enjoyed. After all, it is fun to cook meals for your friends and share a wonderful night with them. Make it even more memorable by serving great meals that take less time to prepare.