Mondays Are Secretly The Best Day Of The Week For Dinner Parties
If you're considering throwing a dinner party sometime in the near future, you have most likely already blocked out the idea of hosting anything midweek on a subconscious level. Beyond worrying about the cleanliness of your house, rearranging furniture so you can accommodate enough guests, and preparing your perfect party-pleasing pimento cheese recipe, there's still a lot that goes into planning a dinner event — even for a handful of your closest friends.
Depending on how extravagant you want this party to be, you need to first pick a date that works for everyone you plan to invite. Then you should plan a theme for your event: will this dinner be a fancy affair, a relaxed meal, or a potluck-style party? After sending out invitations, you'll want to create a flavor profile for the food you plan to serve. That might seem like a lot of work, but if you have proper time to prepare, you can host a dinner party with low stress.
Those who enjoy hosting might claim Friday or Saturday nights to be the best days for a gathering, but according to a New York Times guide on how to host a dinner party, the few days before the big night includes grocery shopping, cleaning house, and lots of food prep. Who has time to do all of these things during the week? As it turns out, Mondays might be the best day to host a dinner party.
Midweek dinner parties are underrated
You might feel instant anxiety on Thursday evening as you start to think about many of the finger foods you're planning to serve to friends on Saturday night. With a full day of work on Friday, when are you going to prep everything? Hosting your dinner party on a Monday night may be the best way for you to secure ample time to get things in order for guests. You have the entire weekend to get ready leading up to the main event.
There are also many advantages to having a Monday night dinner party. Besides getting to see your friends on a weeknight, there are few expectations for having a themed party or fancy four-course meal since your guests know you worked that day. You also don't have to worry about people potentially overstaying their welcome since weeknights usually denote an earlier bedtime. And when it comes to what to serve for dinner, you get to choose. New Orleans-based author Pableaux Johnson told The Splendid Table he serves traditional red beans and rice to a different group of friends every Monday night to create a familiar expectation among guests. For Johnson, a dinner gathering on a Monday evening is more about time spent relaxing as a community and less about a fancy meal worth fussing over. If you've been convinced to try a weeknight dinner party, there are some easy tips to get your midweek affair off to a solid start.
How to craft the perfect midweek dinner party
If you're ready to make Mondays your new go-to night of the week to host friends, the first thing you'll want to do is utilize any downtime on the weekend to get as much prepped as possible so you're not rushing around after work on the night of the event. This is crucial when hosting on Monday nights since you can use Saturday and Sunday to shop, prep some food, and give your home a good scrub. For the actual dinner, you don't need fancy napkins or string lights to make a cozy impression on your friends: Your favorite music coupled with a few warm candles should do the trick.
When deciding what's on the menu, there are ample charcuterie board ideas out there in the world to pull from for inspiration. Who doesn't enjoy a platter of cured meats, cheese, and their favorite fruits all together on one platter? Also, you may benefit from buying one of your meals' components already pre-made. There's nothing wrong with outsourcing some ready-made dips for an easy appetizer or delicious cupcakes from a nearby bakery to save some time. For the meal, stick to recipes that are easy to assemble so you can actually enjoy spending time with friends. Do as much as possible in advance so that on the night of your communal dinner, you can kick back and enjoy a much-welcomed pause amidst another hectic week.