Dinner party checklist
Written backwards from the moment the doorbell rings. The rule underneath every line: two courses made in advance, one course cooked while people are there.
39 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- A week before
- Ask about allergies and what people do not eat
- Write the menu: two courses that wait, one that cooks
- Check you own enough plates, glasses and chairs
- Decide what is served in what — before, not at eight
- Shopping
- Write the list by recipe, then reorder it by aisle
- Wine, half a bottle a head plus one
- A good non-alcoholic option that is not just water
- Bread
- Butter, more than you think
- Coffee and something small with it
- Ice
- The day before
- Pudding made
- Starter made or prepped to the last step
- Anything braised, cookedA stew is better on the second day. So is the cook.
- Table cleared, chairs found
- Dishwasher emptied
- Wine in the fridge if it needs to be
- The morning
- Vegetables prepped
- Dressing made
- Table laid
- Bathroom checked, with a clean hand towel
- Music sorted
- Somewhere for coats
- Two hours before
- Write the timings on paper and stick them up
- Oven on and up to temperature
- Glasses out
- Something to nibble on the table
- Bin emptied
- Get changedDo it now. It is the step everyone plans and nobody reaches.
- As they arrive
- Drink in a hand within two minutes
- Main in the oven before you sit down
- Water on the table
- Let someone help — give them one specific job
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How do you cook for six and still enjoy it?
- Starter and pudding made the day before, one main that finishes in the oven. If two things need your hands at eight o'clock, change one of them.
- How much wine per person?
- Half a bottle each is the usual planning figure, plus one spare bottle. Plan the non-alcoholic option properly too, not as an afterthought jug of tap water.