Monthly Archives: May 2019

Hosting Your First Successful Dinner Party

A dinner party can be a great way to entertain. If you love to cook and prefer evenings in relaxing with friends over good food and conversation, then a dinner party can serve as the perfect occasion.

Hosting a dinner party can be stressful, but if you get it right, you can look forward to many nights playing host for your friends and family. With a lot to consider and some careful planning needed, you’ll want to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible for your first time hosting.

Here are some useful tips for hosting your first successful dinner party for a great evening at home.

Invite the right people

The guest list can be one of the most important parts of a dinner party. Unlike larger gatherings where people tend to split off and mingle, a dinner party is a more intimate affair, and you’ll want to make sure that your guests can get along. Try to start off with a small number of people, as this will help make it easier to cook while you get used to cooking for larger numbers. Starting off with people you know well can make a big difference, as you’ll feel more relaxed in their company, while they might be more forgiving if the food doesn’t turn out that way you planned.

Give your guests plenty of notice and remember to ask them if they have any allergies or dietary requirements that you should know about.

Plan a menu you know you can cook

Cooking for other people brings enough pressure, so don’t stress yourself out further by trying to make something new. A classic recipe done well can impress your guests more than something fancy, and can mean that there’s little room for error in your cooking. You can always do some practice runs in the weeks leading up to your party, as well as practice your cocktail skills.

What’s your go-to dish? From a simple pasta dish to a good roast, design a menu that you know you can cook easily and will impress your guests.

Take things a step further

While you don’t want to do anything that will turn hosting into a stressful situation, you can try going the extra mile with your dinner party to truly impress your guests. Consider offering different drinks to accompany each course as a way to offer a more authentic dining experience. Nailing your wine pairings can also help add to the occasion, making things feel a little more sophisticated. Cocktail hour and excellent presentation are also some great ideas to make your dinner party extra special and create a memorable evening for your guests.

 

Consider some entertainment

While good food, good wine, and good conversation can be some of the key ingredients for a successful dinner party, you might also want to consider some entertainment options to help the evening go off with a bang. From introducing party games to music and fireworks, there are plenty of fun ideas you can try to bring additional fun to the evening. Take a look at some excellent dinner party games to help you get some ideas.

Remember to enjoy yourself

While there’s a lot of pressure on you as the host, it’s important that you learn to let go and enjoy yourself. This is your time to enjoy with your guests and can be a good way to relax and unwind. Busy parents can find that their social lives take a hit after having kids, and while nights out are difficult, hosting at home can be much easier to manage.

By planning your menu in advance, cleaning in the days leading up to your party and preparing food the morning or day before, you can help yourself ease the stress out of hosting and actually begin to enjoy it. Remember to go with the flow when it comes to the night itself – there’s a lot that is out of your hands, so just sit back and ride that wave.

Hosting a dinner party is a simple way to entertain in your home, without worrying about things getting out of hand. Whether you’re celebrating a special occasion or just want to catch up with your nearest and dearest, a dinner party is a fantastic option for those who want to entertain in their home. Don’t let the stress of hosting get on top of you, nail your formula and learn how to enjoy yourself for a successful dinner party every time.

Being Boss Means Being Johnny On The Spot

You may or may not have heard of the classic British saying ‘Johnny on the spot’. This refers to someone who is always on hand whenever they’re needed. As a business owner for you it basically means having your hand in all the pies at any given time. In other words you’ll be leading from on the ground, where you people can see you instead of in a office from behind a desk. This is kind of thing that small business owners have to do and be. This might be needed because you’re short of employees, you might lack some knowledgeable or skilled people, they might also just be a lack of management level staff in your business. Whatever the case may be, here is why you should be someone who is ready to slot in anywhere and be of good use.

You’re not a figment

Disgruntled employees is one of the hardest things to cope with in business. For one thing, you will see a drop off in productivity and determination. But then, you’ve also got to worry about them jumping ship with a competitor. So not being a figment of their imagination as a boss is highly recommended. Be there in the office so employees see your face, see you going around to all the various departments to check up on them. Make a bit of chit chat and have a joke or two with your employees. This boosts morale in the office, factory floor and warehouse. The image of ‘the man’ cannot be applied to you if you’re making your presence known.

Being the clutch

Certain scenarios call for drastic action. For example, you have a team of employees in the marketing department who are close to a deadline. Things are going good, they’re not ahead of schedule but they’re not behind either. Suddenly one of them team is struck with sickness and cannot make it in. The team will have to cope somehow, and to give a little extra help you should step in and offer to do something that would keep them from falling behind. Obviously you might not have the same skills they need but you can offer some kind of help such as sending emails, printing demos, writing press packets etc.

Who needs patching?

Software constantly needs updating. It’s not just because we live in a dangerous cybercrime world, but it’s also just because new features and performance are released in said patches. Using IT Consulting Services, you can go around asking your employees what kinds of patches and maintenance updates they need for their programs. The service will also monitor threat activity and offer you solutions to combat intruders. Often times bosses don’t actually know too much about the software their departments are using, they just need to worry about whether it allows them to do the job you ask of them or not. So going around to each team and offering them this kind of service is good for morale too.

Every boss should show themselves to the people they employ. Don’t lock yourself up in your office and cast down orders, be there in person so you can address problems face to face.

Feel like Your Life Needs a Bit More Meaning? Here Are Some Things You Could Try

Happiness is a great thing, and we naturally all seek to get as much of it as we can in life. But happiness isn’t exactly the same as fulfilment, and happiness also isn’t necessarily just a matter of having the right material comforts in our lives.

Sometimes, you will be in quite a good situation in your life, objectively speaking, but will still feel like your life is just lacking meaning, somehow.

“Meaning” is difficult to define, and a sense of meaning will vary from person to person. Generally speaking, though, living in a meaningful way means that you will feel as if the trials and tribulations of your life are all justified by the way you are conducting yourself.

If you feel like your life could use a bit more meaning, here are a few things you could try.

 

 

  • Explore your spirituality

 

“Spirituality” is a term that often makes people feel a bit nervous. Some people associate the term with strict dogmas that they don’t like, and others associate it with “feel-good” New Age ideas that don’t resonate with them.

Nonetheless, taking steps to explore your spirituality can definitely provide a deep sense of meaning in life – whether via attending Universal Church Kingdom of God meetings, or going on a Catholic pilgrimage.

In fact, you don’t even have to be a religious believer, exactly, to explore and connect with your spirituality. If you like, you could just consider “spirituality” a proxy for things like your ability to experience a sense of the transcendent, and to appreciate beauty and harmony.

Whether you’re going to a church service, or strolling through an art gallery filled with Renaissance masterpieces, a spiritual connection can definitely increase the net a sense of meaning you have in your life.

 

 

  • Adopt more responsibility

The opposite of living a life that is based around adopting responsibility for things, is living a life where you do your best to avoid responsibility and commitment, and seek out hedonistic pleasures instead.

The thing is – hedonistic pleasures are, by definition, shallow. They will satisfy your appetites in the here and now, but they’re not going to provide a sense of deeper and greater meaning. And it’s this kind of deeper and greater meaning that is associated with a “meaningful” life.

By adopting more responsibility in different areas of your life, your actions take on greater weight, and “meaning” is likely to be more present.

 

 

  • Check in with your own intuition – what feels “right” to you?

 

If something feels meaningful to you, you will generally know it without having to consult anyone else.

A sense of meaning is said to be something like a sense of contentment, purpose, and satisfaction that you are living your life in the best way possible, and are behaving according to principles that allow you to feel proud of yourself.

For this reason, checking in with your own intuition and asking yourself “what feels meaningful to me?” Might be one of the best ways of identifying a more meaningful path in life that you can walk down.