From practical planning tools and timeless hosting advice to seasonal inspiration and experience design, explore our growing library of guides and ideas to help you create gatherings guests remember.
Thanksgiving side table prep The turkey may be resting. The table may be set. But the details most likely to send a Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving host back into the kitchen are usually much smaller. There is not enough ice. The wine glasses are still in a cabinet. No one can find the pie server. The kitchen trash is already full—and guests are asking what they can use to take leftovers home. One hour before everyone arrives, stop thinking about the menu and walk through the g
Table with bottles of wine, wine glasses and a large acrylic ice bucket with ice and wine A thoughtfully arranged wine station keeps drinks organized, helps guests feel comfortable and gives the host more time to enjoy the gathering. Hosting often becomes a series of small interruptions. Someone would like a glass of white wine. Another guest needs a corkscrew. Someone else asks where the water is. A guest sets down a glass and cannot remember which one was theirs. Before lon
Work backward from the feeling you want to create—not just the time on the clock There is a particular kind of panic that arrives before a party does. The food is not quite ready. The ice is still in the garage. You have changed your shirt twice. And just as you notice that the powder room needs a fresh hand towel, the doorbell rings. Professional event planners avoid much of this last-minute chaos by working backward from the moment the first guest arrives. In a recent Good
