These days, it’s rare to see people host dinner parties at home for their family a friends. Most people’s idea of a fun night would either be to go out to a club with their friends or spend a few hours at a fancy restaurant with their loved ones. But if you want a small, private, and intimate party without having to spend a lot, why not opt for a dinner party at home?

Just because it’s a small party though does not mean you can skimp out on some details. I’ve found these steps to be necessary if you want your guests to leave with a good impression of you, your hosting skills, and their likeliness to come back should you decide to invite them over again.

Assess Your Living Space

Let’s face it: not all living spaces are capable of holding house parties. A large house can host big parties, but studio apartments that are small and cluttered may only hold up to five people comfortably; any more than that and it may seem cramped and might push your guests to leave as soon as possible.

Take a look at your living space and try to estimate how many people you can fit in. An average-sized studio apartment can fit less than ten people. If you have a loft apartment, you can have more people over as long as you’re willing to let some people hang out on the loft. Try to invite less than your maximum capacity, though, in case your guests ask to bring along other guests. Avoid inviting large groups of people and expecting only a handful of them to show up; in the off chance they do show up, there won’t be any space for them in your party.

For multi-bedroom units and medium-sized home, it’s possible to host larger parties. But with bigger dinner parties comes the bigger chance your home can become noisy. If you’re too noisy and the party extends beyond dinner hours, your neighbors may call the cops and ask them to stop your party. If you can manage the noise, do it; otherwise, let your neighbors know ahead of time so they won’t be irritated by the party noises as much.

Leave Restricted Areas

Just because they are guests does not give them the go signal to explore every room in your home without their permission. If you want the party to be more intimate with less people wandering off to form their own groups, avoid letting them wander off and limit the places where they can go.

For example, if you have a home with a second floor, you can block the stairs with a velvet rope or a ribbon to make a clear but non-aggressive way of telling your guests to keep out. Or, if the bottom of your staircase is near a place of high foot traffic, block off the entrance by placing a snack table in front of the stairs.

Restricted rooms are also a good place to hide furniture and other possessions that will cause too much clutter if you have many guests attending. Hide your plants, coffee tables, lamps, and other unnecessary furniture in your bedroom temporarily, and then after the party ends, put it back.  

Plan Your Menu to Complement the Party

While you should consider what your guest would most likely want to eat, take into consideration how they’re going to eat your food. If you’re inviting a few people for a sit-down dinner and there’s enough chairs at the dining table, you can serve any food you want as it will be easy to eat sitting down. But if you’re inviting more people and there aren’t enough chairs and tables for them, it’s much better to serve them finger food or things they can eat easily without spoon and forks.

MyRecipes.com offers creative but easy finger food ideas you can easily make hours before your party. If you’re worried about portions, remember that it is always better to have too much food than not enough food. If it’s a casual event with friends, food like pizza, fries, and chicken is alright and you can buy them and have them delivered to your home from your favorite fast food restaurant.

Do be aware that you also have to choose the right drinks for your party too. For a more formal get together, perhaps that includes work colleagues, you need some high quality drinks ready to serve such as Four Roses Bourbon Whiskey. You can pick some up at The Bottle Haus or a similar online seller. You might also want to look at a guide online to see which drink goes with what menu selection.

Clean Up a Day Before or the Morning of the Party

Your party may be at night, but if your party involves a lot of preparation, waiting until the morning of your party to clean up your home may be cutting it really close. Your home says a lot about you and how you live, so if you want to make a good impression, you want your house to look as clean as possible when your guests enter.

Simple cleaning tasks you can do include sweeping and mopping the floors, wiping down the tabletops, counters, windows, and other surfaces that may have collected dust, and replacing the linen on your tables, chairs, and pillows can make your home look more inviting. For handling fabrics, here’s how you can easily clean odor, grease, and creases with everyday items and hacks you can use for your washing machine. If you have a dryer, you can easily do this in the morning. But if you hang your clothes dry, do this the day before to provide enough time to dry and press your clothes.   

Dress Smartly

It may be your home, but if you want to set a good impression, you don’t want them to see you in stained or soiled clothes for the entire party. Assuming this isn’t a casual outdoor party, then dress in smart casual. This helps create a good impression because you are dressed for the part.  

A dinner party may be a challenge to plan depending on your circumstances. But if done right with these simple steps, you can easily leave a good impression on your guests, improve your relationship with them, and convince them to return the next time you plan another party in your home.