Another great New Year’s Eve party idea is a sit down dinner for 10 or 12 of your closest friends. Throwing a dinner party isn’t hard so long as you follow a few steps:

Initial Planning

You’ve already got the date, the theme: New Year’s Eve celebration and the style: sit down dinner. Next set the time and let everyone know. You can send out invites if you want to make it really special, but since you are all friends and it’s a small group, a phone call works just as well.

Food, Drink & Décor

Now that you know who is coming and what sort of party you are having you can plan your menu.

For a more formal dinner party you’ll want to have at least three courses: a starter, main course and dessert. You can also offer salad and a coffee course too.

Try to keep at least one course easy. If you can have appetizers ready before people arrive they will be happy eating and drinking while you take your time getting dinner ready. No one minds the cook doing her thing so long as she isn’t all stressed about it. Dessert can be prepared in advance too – why not a chocolate mousse served in fancy glass bowls?

For drinks, beer, red and white wine and champagne should work for everyone. Keep on hand soft drinks and water for the people who don’t want to drink and those who will be drivering.

Finally the décor and ambience. Candles are a great way to set the mood. And fresh flowers for the centerpiece are a beautiful special touch, especially in the winter.

Get your best silver, china and crystal out. For serving plates use glass platters if you don’t have serving trays to match your china.

By following these simple steps and ALWAYS giving yourself enough time to get things done your dinner party will go without a hitch and your guests will have a great time!