From Invites to Ice Chips, A Hosting Guide for Italian Disco Dinner Party Bliss
I frequently find myself reminiscing about the family dinners that filled my childhood. Mum letting my siblings and I take lead on the menu by taking turns picking a recipe from one of her hundreds of cookbooks that span decades and travel through every corner of the globe. Some nights we’d sit down to a decadently Moroccan spiced lamb shoulder the next travelling to the south of France for a decade’s old, butter rich, family recipe. Whatever the country and whatever the menu the constant was being brought together through the way of food and in turn love.
Now, you know me – little Laura – the queen of showing love through lavish feasts. Dinners at my family home have become a rare treat since I’ve moved to the opposite side of the Strait of Georgia. So, I’ve chosen to take matters into my own hands, becoming the architect of my own family dinners.
To say my hosting skills and menu planning have evolved would be an understatement. My inaugural foray into hosting dinners was back in high school, presenting a menu of spaghetti al pomodoro e basilico crafted from boxed pasta and canned tomatoed. Oh, the naïve simplicity. Yet, like most, I look back on my first with only the smallest twinge of embarrassment.
Now years from the early days of hosting a dinner and giving a fancy name to spaghetti with red sauce I recently embarked on a journey to co-host a night of ⋆˙⟡♡₊˚⊹. Italian Disco .⊹˚₊♡⟡˙⋆ revelry. When a theme as eccentric as that twirled into my orbit, I couldn’t resist the siren call. It was time to put on my hostess apron, dust off my (borrowed) disco ball, and throw a soiree that even the fabulously gaudy, overly romantic, Italian Nona’s would envy. And let me tell you, it was a feast for the senses and a spectacle for the soul.
There is no one-size-fits-all method for planning a dinner party, but a few steps can make all the difference in having the experience be a joy for not only the guests but also you, the host. With that in mind, I dove headfirst into planning – mood boards, regional wine research, and a never-ending pasta test kitchen. Pinterest became my battlefield of ideas, a collage of dishes, tablescapes, floral arrangements, fonts and fabrics keeping me on the straight and narrow. Because, let’s face it, every good party needs a mood board, and in turn, every good mood board needs a good audience. Welcome my co-host and friends’ disco-loving crew.
Theme – decided, guest list – perfected; next up informing the friends. Now, formal invitations are my pièce de resistance, I don’t entertain the group texts or Facebook event invites. I opted for an old-school, tactile experience, crafting invites from recycled paper – rustic, romantic, and the tiniest bit sexy. Each invite consisting of layered paper with ripped edges, carefully drawn sketches of love-drenched dinner settings, and calligraphy that whispered, “get excited”. Now let’s talk libations. No longer do I bear the burden of supplying all the beverages, I’ve grown up and elevated my game. Included in the invitation each guest was assigned a region of Italy to fetch a specific varietal of wine, turning them into collaborators of the evening. Genius, if I do say so myself. Date, time, and details now all set the invites – folded, adorned with a slender red satin ribbon, and rested in their assigned envelopes – were then sent to be hand delivered.
As for the décor I channeled the spirit of the flamboyant and mesmerizing Italian Nona’s I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. The dinner table was draped in seven layers of vintage lace in varying shades of cream while antique brocade napkins, gold-rimmed shot glasses and personalized antique crystal glasses added a touch of opulence. And those glasses? They doubled as name cards, thrifted treasures adorned with glass pen calligraphy, ready to be whisked away as take-home souvenirs.
Now floral arrangements and I, we have a complicated relationship. Beautiful on a counter, shelf, or table (when not in use), but during a sit-down dinner they act as little more than a disruptor of eyeline. I opted for an unconventional approach – floating florals. In reference to the invitations that same slender red ribbon was cut at varying lengths and tied to one or two stems of carnations before being hung from the ceiling by small ½” finishing nails. Simple, yet show-stopping. A touch of whimsy without disrupting the conversation flow. No floral hostage situations on my watch. You do however risk your male guests stating they felt as if they were walking into their own proposal.
Finally, one of my cherished hosting tricks involves setting out some bite-sized nibbles and pre-poured drinks. This simple, yet ingenious, strategy allows me to warmly welcome each guest without the stress of needing to mix a drink or fix a bite off the bat. In line with the nights theme, an elevated ceramic dish overflowing with assorted olives, caperberries, and
Spanish sweetie peppers as well as a two-tiered silver with a dozen or so oysters laid atop ice chips, pre-shucked just before the guest’s planned arrival. To elevate the welcome drink experience, I poured aperitifs into my grandfather’s crystal port glasses, each adorned with extravagantly long bows fashioned from the same red satin ribbon.
So, there you have it – the ins and outs, tips and tricks of co-hosting my dream dinner party and maybe Victoria’s first ⋆˙⟡♡₊˚⊹. Italian Disco .⊹˚₊♡⟡˙ The theme was the heartbeat and the planning was the lifeline. While the disco is over the recipes are coming. Until then, keep the wine flowing and the pasta simmering.
X Mads
Dreamy