A Seasoned Hostess Shares Her Top Tips
I come from a family who always had people in the house. There was often laughter in the kitchen, with different friends and family members popping in or coming for dinner parties. My father is a musician, and he’d usually play the piano after the meal, so my sister and I would go to sleep to the sound of singing and music.
I love having family and friends over all year round – from work colleagues to neighbours and people who live locally, and we always host the family at Christmas. It’s great to mix people of different ages. I’ve always got on well with adults because, as a young child, I’d often spend the summer in Virginia or on Nantucket, where we would be taken to cocktail parties or lunches at our grandmother’s house. It was very much that old-school southern hospitality, and part of our role was to talk to the older generation, play card games with them, and put on shows for them.
Our house was designed around entertaining. We have a spacious kitchen with an open-plan dining room and living room. I want the kitchen to be a place where my children will grow up and come back to with their families.
I’m lucky because I have access to a wide selection of Maison Margaux tableware, linens and accessories. We rent out tablescapes for any event, throughout the seasons, so I’m spoilt for choice. Usually, I’ll start by thinking about the table and the seating plan. This season, I’m loving our Suzani table linens and our marbled tablecloth.
I like to put together a big mezze board for when people arrive. Then I’ll have pre-made cocktails in jugs, spirits and mixers laid out, and wines, champagne, beers and soft drinks in a big ice bucket, with pre-cut lemons and limes. That way, it’s easy for me to make anything people want, or I can just direct them to the cocktail area and they can serve themselves. The easier it is for people to find their way around the kitchen and make themselves at home, the more I can enjoy the night and the more relaxed everything feels.
People have so many dietary requirements these days. I find sharing platters or buffet style is the easiest way to go, rather than a plated meal. I’ll do a few meat dishes and a fish dish, plus plenty of sides, including salads.
Sometimes, there is pressure to have a beautifully laid table because of what I do. But I honestly love laying a good table. It brings me joy to create a space that others can enjoy. In the summer, I’ll go for bright colours, sometimes with fruit or citrus as centrepieces instead of flowers. In winter, I like something really layered that looks warm and inviting. I always start with the table linen. It’s the base to any tablescape and sets your colour scheme. I then tend to work with the rule of three for each setting, so placemat (or charger plate) dining plate and starter plate, all stacked ready for when people arrive.
For flowers, lots of low vases on a table is always better. You need to be able to see the person opposite you and if you have a big bulky floral arrangement in the way, you can’t. I don’t like anything too ‘tight’, so I keep floral arrangements loose and seasonal. You don’t need a big budget to make an impact. You just need to have some time to arrange them. I go to my local flower market in Chiswick. A big bunch of eucalyptus on the cocktail bar is a great, affordable statement piece, then for smaller vases along the table, I will open roses out, cut off excessive leaves, and try and get a few varying heights going. I always intersperse them with lots and lots of candles – candlelight is your friend when you’re entertaining. I like the lighting to be really low, never overhead. Turn off any spotlights and only use lamps or wall lights if you have them.
Liberty fabrics are great for making your own napkins. I also scour Goldhawk Road for fabrics if I want to do something bespoke and inexpensive for one night only. It’s so easy to make your own napkins these days or cover the seat pads of rented chairs to match your tablescape.
Harrods has a great edit of homeware. It runs from fabulously high-end pieces that most of us can’t afford to relatively affordable crockery and tableware brands. I love Soho Home for cut glassware – they’ve nailed the art deco-inspired coupe. Plus, the high street is so strong. H&M and M&S have some fab pieces, and Zara Home always does wonderful linen tablecloths.
If it’s a group bigger than ten, I will use place names. I often put the most extroverted people at the head of the table and the less extroverted people in the middle. Always go boy/girl/boy/girl if you can, and always mix up couples. Finally, I try to give people someone on their left who they know and someone on their right who they don’t.
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