Entertaining friends

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know that I love to entertain at home. We seem to go through phases of doing lots, then not anything for a while. Winter is a quieter time and this year it was extra quiet with us being away for 3 weeks. But we had friends last Sunday and some other friends coming this Sunday. And there a few more friends I need to organise a day with. We will soon be starting our busy time. We have Christy’s birthday in Sept, our Halloween Party in Oct, then Christmas Eve (with friends), Christmas Day (with family) and New Years Eve/Day (with friends). That’s on top of the normal entertaining we like to do.

A lot of people are surprised by how much entertaining we do and how effortless it seems. But I really don’t find it too hard and I think part of the reason is that I don’t get stressed about it. I plan out what I’m serving/making and write a to-do for the few days before the event to make everything run smoothly. I like everything ready when guests arrive and don’t want to running around madly on the day. In the case of last Sunday we were out all day Sat so we had a BBQ and a couple of side dishes. I usually make my own nibbles and desert but due to lack of time didn’t do that this time. Normally I clean the house the day before with the wedding on, Mum & Dad were kind enough to come and help tidy and clean in the morning.

A part of entertaining I particularly enjoy is setting a nice table. With most of our friends having young children we tend to eat outdoors if possible. Having 5 adults and 6 children on Sunday I set a special kids table. The girls usually help to do this.

All the food was ready before the guests arrived.

I lit some candles and even had time to sit down for about half an hour before they arrived. When our guests arrived (2 girls that I grew up with and their families) we welcomed them inside and I put some spring rolls in the oven to cook. Later Kevin cooked the organic meat on the BBQ and I heated up some side dishes.

We had a great afternoon. Amy had organised some activities for the kids.

And I had a lovely time catching up with old friends. I have known these wonderful ladies (who are sisters) since I was 3 years old. They lived behind us growing up and our parents used to pass us over the fence to each others homes. Later we had a gate cut in the fence. It’s impossible for me to think of my childhood with out thinking of them and I’m so very glad we’ve not lost contact (even if we don’t see each other that often these days). Michelle & Terri thanks so much for coming to visit us.