Books On How To Host A Dinner Party With The Best of Them

Hosting a dinner party is more than just serving good food—it’s about curating an experience, a vibe that speaks to your soul and your guests’. Whether you’re setting the table with vintage finds or designing a plant-based menu that’s as ethical as it is delicious, there’s an art to entertaining that goes beyond the basics. For the poetry-loving, socially conscious host, we’ve gathered a collection of books that blend style, sustainability, and creativity, all while keeping it real.
From mindful (demure and cutesy too!) recipes to eye-catching design tips, these reads will help you host with heart, soul, and flair.

The Hostess Handbook: A Modern Guide to Entertaining

by Maria Zizka

isbn: 9781648291807,template: list, title: The Hostess Handbook: A Modern Guide to Entertaining

From the author of The Newlywed Table, this helpful handbook offers readers 100 easy entertaining recipes, party planning advice, and curated menus to pull off the most delicious and delightful of gatherings, from an epic holiday bash to a casual get-together in the backyard, or an inspired dinner party.

Ready to throw a dinner party? It’s easier than you think. With 100 crowd-pleasing recipes and expert tips and tricks, The Hostess Handbook shows how to create an event that’s warm, joyous, and imbued with the special glowy feeling of a celebration that we never want to end.

Everything you need to know is here. How to plan a fantastic menu with foolproof recipes for finger foods, make-ahead mains (because you don’t want to be in the kitchen when your guests arrive), and festive desserts. How to get your home party-ready, whether hosting two people or twenty, with primers on setting the table, the art of serving, and flower arranging. And drinks, of course–including recipes for both classic cocktails and delicious nonalcoholic libations. Cheers!

The Curated Board: Inspired Platters & Spreads for Any Occasion

by Bebe Black Carminito – Marie Reginato – Susan Spungen

isbn: 9781949480511,template: list, title: The Curated Board: Inspired Platters & Spreads for Any Occasion

Compose a delicious small-bite meal out of simple recipes and thoughtfully selected ingredients.

The Curated Board: Inspired Platters for Any Occasion elevates the art of composing delicious small-bite meals. From family breakfast and afternoon tea to date night and game night, food stylist Bebe Carminito presents twenty-eight themed boards and platters with more than sixty-five effortless recipes and suggests perfect pairings along with styling tips for optimal presentation.

Presenting a diverse array of platters from culinary influencers celebrating their gastronomic heritage, The Curated Board invites you to create spreads for all your special occasions. Raid your pantry and fridge and pair your favorite prepared foods with Bebe’s delicious homemade dips, snacks, baked goods, salads, cocktails, and sweets. Relish in Green Chile, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Pineapple-Jalapeño Cheese Balls, Herbes de Provence Grissini, Campanelle Pasta Salad, Basil Gimlets, and Cherry-Almond Oat Bars, among many others–the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy themed boards for any occasion, including:
– Granola, Fruit & Yoghurt Board
– Lebanese Sheet Pan Brunch
– An English Tea Party
– Girl’s Day Charcuter-Yay Board
– Ukranian Budmo Board
– Aperitivo Time
– Dim Sum Celebration
– Chocolate Lover’s Soirée
– Halva-Licious Board

These fun and easy-to-prepare meals will have you pulling out your platters and boards, making the most of your pantry, and gathering with loved ones around a cornucopia of delectable small bites.

Every Cocktail Has a Twist: Master 25 Classic Drinks and Craft More Than 200 Variations

by Carey Jones – John McCarthy

isbn: 9781682687291,template: list, title: Every Cocktail Has a Twist: Master 25 Classic Drinks and Craft More Than 200 Variations

You love your favorite libations, but sometimes you want something different that you know you’ll like. Providing all the tools you need to create delicious new concoctions, this comprehensive collection reconfigures 25 timeless tipples, from Bloody Marys, Daiquirís, and Manhattans to Margaritas, Negronis, and Old-Fashioneds.

Whether you’re a new enthusiast or a seasoned expert, these original riffs will transform your go-to drinks. Featuring more than 200 recipes with numerous adaptations for different tastes and surprising flavor combinations, Every Cocktail Has a Twist also includes Mix and Match options for additional variations and batching instructions for gatherings, making the book even more useful. Remixing the classics has never been easier.

The Emily Dickinson Cookbook: Recipes from Emily’s Table Alongside the Poems That Inspire Them

by Arlyn Osborne

isbn: 9780760374368,template: list, title: The Emily Dickinson Cookbook: Recipes from Emily's Table Alongside the Poems That Inspire Them

Bring the mysterious and magical world of Emily Dickinson into your home by making the comforting foods that Emily loved to cook.

Whether you are a fan of the hit television series Dickinson or have long been inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poems, this enchanting cookbook brings Emily to life as little else could. A distinguished food historian said this about Emily: “She was probably better known as a baker than a poet in her lifetime.” Remarkably, that is true! Emily wrote her poetry in the kitchen of her home in Massachusetts and was cooking up a storm much of the time. She wrote poems on the wrappers of packages of chocolate that she had ordered for baking; and she wrote recipes in her notebooks of poems. Food and cooking were central to Emily’s identity and were woven into her vocation of writing poetry.

The more than 50 recipes in this colorful and lavishly illustrated book include recipes that Emily recorded during her life, other recipes we know she and her family enjoyed, and recipes typical of the New England of her time. All are completely updated for today’s cooks. Throughout, you will also find inspiring poems by Emily, some about food specifically, others that provide poetic inspiration for the recipes in this volume. The recipes include:

  • Winter Vegetable Soup
  • Carrot Fritters
  • Apple-Butter Glazed Doughnuts
  • Boston Brown Bread
  • Lemon Verbena Tea Loaf
  • Emily’s Oval Gingerbread Cakes
  • Chocolate Loaf Cake with Cherries
  • New England Pear Tart
  • Peaches and Cream Pudding
  • Emily’s Chocolate Caramels

This charming cookbook makes a perfect gift for the Emily fan in your lifeor for yourself, if you happen to love Emily and the comforting foods of days gone by.

Charlotte Moss Entertains

by Charlotte Moss

isbn: 9780847861859,template: list, title: Charlotte Moss Entertains

Renowned and beloved interior designer and tastemaker Charlotte Moss celebrates gracious hospitality–from assembling striking place settings and arranging the table to hosting a dinner party or simply serving an elegant afternoon tea.

Charlotte Moss inspires readers to imbue everyday life with elegance and romance. Moss focuses on events–as small as breakfast in bed or tea in the afternoon or as elaborate as a festive Christmas luncheon or large dinner party–and the artifacts of our lives (china, silver, linen) to create the backdrop for a life well lived.

Moss celebrates the day-to-day by bringing her enthusiasm and impeccable style to every domestic activity. Setting the table becomes a joy when putting together stylish combinations of place mats, monogrammed linens, china, tableware, curios, and flowers. From tasteful meals for one to grand occasions for friends and family, Moss chronicles her own aptitude for hospitality. Style icons are conjured for their entertaining savvy: Pauline de Rothschild for her pioneering tabletop decoration, Marjorie Merriweather Post for her organizational precision, Lesley Blanch for her introduction of exotic delights to the table, and Elsie de Wolfe for her always-right recipes. Butlers’ pantries are explored. Linen closets are catalogued. Flowers are collected from the garden and artfully arranged for a memorable meal. Moss invites you into her world to discover how to make everyday an occasion.

Gathering Boards: Seasonal Cheese and Charcuterie Spreads for Easy and Memorable Entertaining

by Sarah Tuthill

isbn: 9781493075553,template: list, title: Gathering Boards: Seasonal Cheese and Charcuterie Spreads for Easy and Memorable Entertaining

For today’s easy entertaining–a date night, get together with family and friends, or festive holiday parties– thoughtfully arranged spreads of foods, drinks and decorations have guests feeling special. Using seasonal food styling tips, ingredient lists, drink pairings and décor inspiration, this year-round guide inspires simple yet memorable gatherings. Professional foodie Sarah Tuthill draws from her experience running EZPZ Gatherings to give all the how-to-do-it details for preparing and serving a wide variety of charcuterie and cheese boards plus a creative assortment of food and seasonally themed special boards, all beautifully photographed. This is a must-have asset for trendy hosts.

French Country Cottage Inspired Gatherings

by Courtney Allison

isbn: 9781423653592,template: list, title: French Country Cottage Inspired Gatherings

A layered mix of tableware and flower arrangements set the stage for inspired entertaining.

Entertaining starts with setting a fabulous table. In Courtney Allison’s signature French Country Cottage style, she showcases a myriad of romantic table settings for every occasion. Courtney provides the styling expertise to host your own French Country Cottage-inspired gathering, whether in the backyard, at the beach, under an old oak tree, or in a country barn. A simple picnic; coffee by the lake; a cheese board for friends outdoors; a bistro table for two; a long table for a formal meal–each setting exhibiting Allison’s dreamy style for you to emulate. The pièce de résistance in every venue, any setting, is the gorgeous arrangements of seasonal flowers; Courtney’s bouquets will take your breath away, from spring to fall, for outdoors and inside.

Inspiration