10 Dinner Party Themes your Guests will Love

We all love a good get together with family and friends, so why not really impress them at your next dinner party by going all out with a theme night. These ideas will provide something suitable for everyone, whatever style and cuisine takes your fancy. It's also a good excuse to dust off your favourite dinner sets that you've been keeping in the dresser for a special occasion.

Mexican Fiesta

The sky is the limit when it comes to a Mexican Fiesta. Decorate the house with bright and colourful streamers, banners and piñatas. Serve platters of nachos and salsa, followed by fajitas and quesadillas, and invite everyone to come along in their biggest and brightest sombrero.

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Beach Party

Come dressed to impress in your beach wear (you may need to turn the heating up if it's winter!), chill some beers, blow up a few inflatable palm trees and serve up fish and chips in a sandcastle bucket.

Brit Awards

Decorate the room with Union Jacks and posters of all your favourite British pop stars and bands. Ask everyone to dress in evening wear, or even as their favourite Britpop singer - see how many Geri Halliwells you get in that union jack dress! Serve canapés and cocktails to your guests whilst having a game of 'name that tune'.

Hawaiian Luau

Build a Tiki bar in the garden from old pallets and employ a Hawaiian shirt clad barman to serve up Pina Coladas and Mai Tais in pineapple skins . Then give everyone a flower Lei to wear whilst partaking in a game of limbo.

Breakfast

Who says breakfast foods are just for breakfast. Set up an all night buffet of pancakes, waffles, croissants, fresh fruit and the good old full English, whilst everyone relaxes in their pj's, drinking Bloody Mary's and liquor coffees.

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Race Night

Don your best hat and fascinator, choose your horses and place your bets (with paper money of course), and see who comes out on top. 

Cheese Night

A must for all cheese lovers. Serve platters of cheese and biscuits, pair your cheeses with wines, fruit and chutney, and finish off with cheesecake for dessert. Why not throw in a game off blindfolded cheese tasting with some of the strongest cheeses you can find. Do you have the nose for it?

Retro Dinner Party

Dinner parties were all the rage in the 70's, so why not recreate the night by inviting everyone to wear their widest flares and highest platforms, and serve up a few 70's classics, such as prawn cocktail, fondue and black forest gateaux. Don't forget the Babycham and snowballs too!

Christmas in July

It may be summer outside but don't let that stop you from enjoying a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, pulling a few crackers, and wearing a hideous Christmas jumper. Don't forget the presents, the cheesy Christmas tunes, and a game of charades too.

Murder Mystery

Buy a murder mystery box set or download instructions from the internet, send out your invites, have everyone turn up in costume to meet the theme and era of the night, serve some themed food and drink, and use your powers of deduction to discover whodunnit!

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With a little advanced planning, whatever theme you decide to go for, it will be a night to remember.

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Be the Perfect Host this Christmas

If, like more than two thirds of the nation, you're going to be hosting a festive get together over the Christmas period then you might want to check out a few top tips from fashion designed Millie Macintosh, chef John Torode, and coffee expert Hazel Middleton.

Millie’s top tips to create a great ambience

Think about lighting – luckily, we have a lot of different lighting settings in our kitchens, but candles and lamps can be used to soften a room.  Mellow ambient music during dinner and then afterwards, I’d put on some more lively music.  And finally, the smell of food cooking is also very inviting, so get something in the oven early!

John’s top kitchen must-haves

My go to food when hosting friends is anything in pastry, because it is easy and always satisfies everyone. Little pies, tarts, puffs, sausage rolls and those sorts of things always work because both adults and kids alike always love them.

Hazel’s Coffee Mornings

There’s nothing better than a coffee morning with a selection of great hot drinks, including cappuccinos and lattes and some lovely cakes and biscuits. Nothing compliments coffee more than a delicious slice of cake or a crisp biscuit. I like to bake my own cakes for coffee mornings, and this can be done the day before to avoid panic on the morning.

I have to agree with Millie's tips about candles & lamps, which I use a lot and if you use festive scented candles it definitely gets people in that Christmas mood. I also agree with John's tip about pastries, as anything encased in pastry is so easy to serve, as well as eat, at gatherings with a lot of people, and they can also be made in advance which is a must for me. 

As part of the Tassimo Perfect Host campaign I was asked to get together with friends or family and host a meal or coffee morning. We decided to have a family get together, and bearing Millie's tips in mind, lit a few candles, put on some mellow music and enjoyed a family dinner (with a few games thrown in), followed by John Torode's recipes for Affogatto (kids had hot chocolate instead of espresso) with Shortbread Biscuits and Chocolate Brownie Cake (recipes below).

I enjoyed my brownie with a Carte Noir Espresso, made using the Tassimo Vivy.

The brownies were amazing; so rich and chocolatey, and were very well received. According to Hanna they were possibly even better than 'Amy's Mums quadruple chocolate brownies' (sorry Claire), which means they must have been very good indeed. I left out the hazelnuts and whiskey and added extra white chocolate instead.

Affogatto With Shortbread Biscuits

Chocolate Brownie Cake With White Chocolate Chips

If you're going to be hosting a gathering then check out the Tassimo website on the run up to Christmas for more top tips, recipes and kitchen hacks from the celebrities.

This post has been commissioned by Tassimo

Organic vs Non Organic Dinner Party Menu

When I'm doing the shopping I don't tend to go for Organic produce, mainly because there isn't much of a selection in the supermarket that I use for my online shop, plus it's more expensive than the regular foods. When I'm shopping for my family of five I do usually have to take the price into consideration, and whilst I don't choose the very cheapest products, I don't choose the most expensive either.

If I was buying ingredients for something a bit more special than an everyday meal I may go to the local farm shop, if time allowed, and take a look at their organic produce.

After looking at these figures from the Organic Trade Board, it is worrying to see that 100% of all soft citrus fruits & 98% of oranges tested contained pesticide residue, which is a good enough reason to switch to organic.

I've been challenged to come up with a dinner party menu for eight people and compare the costs of the meal when non organic ingredients were used vs organic ingredients. My menu is as follows :

Starter

baked camembert with caramelised red onion and crusty bread

Main

roast chicken with sage & apple stuffing

seasoned carrots & courgettes

hasselback potatoes

Dessert

white chocolate mousse pots

Nibbles

Selection of flavoured roasted almonds

The cost of the meal came in as follows (per serving) :

Starter

Non organic £0.94

Organic (organic red onions & organic bread) £1.18

Main

Non organic £1.44

Organic (organic chicken, carrots, potatoes, courgettes) £2.36

Dessert

Non organic £0.69

Organic (organic eggs, chocolate, cream) £1.43

Nibbles

Non organic £0.25

Organic (organic almonds) £0.42

Total (per serving)

Non organic £3.32

Organic £5.39

A difference of £2 per head isn't too bad for a dinner party but it would certainly put the cost of our weekly shop up by quite a bit if I was to switch the bulk of my groceries to organic.

This post has been commissioned by the Organic Trade Board.