5 Emergency Dinner Parties

Guests are expected at 7:30 and you can’t make it home until 6. Don’t panic. Use these secrets to make your home look like it jumped off the pages of a magazine

Choose a Theme

• Farmhouse Chic
• Elegant Venetian
• Modern and Minimal Asian Style
• Italian Feast
• Asian Express

Countdown to Dinner
6:00 Grab your bag and get moving.
6:10 First stop: A grocery store on the way home. Pick up ingredients, flowers, votives, napkins and some wrapping paper. If you only stop once, you’ll save time. Head home.
6:30 Throw on an apron and tidy up. Put anything unsightly into the guest-room closet. Close all doors except for the guest bathroom and one bedroom (for coats). Quickly wipe the bathroom mirror, sink and faucet. Then give the surfaces in your living room a once-over.
6:50 Pour yourself a glass of wine and set the table.
7:00 Start kitchen prep.
7:20 Dim the lights and light the candles. Put on a fresh top and change your shoes. Give your hair a quick brush and touch-up your makeup.
7:30 Answer the doorbell.