The Ultimate Dinner Party Planning Checklist

Table of Contents

So you’ve decided to plan a dinner party. Your bookmarks folder is full of delicious recipes, tablescapes, and theme ideas. But how is this big vision going to fit into your busy schedule?

A time-stamped dinner party planning checklist, of course!

Early on in our dinner party planning process, we secretly wished that someone would just give us an hour-by-hour breakdown of when to do what for a successful soirée.

(We didn’t find one, so we just roughed it and figured it out ourselves!)

Hundreds of dinner parties later, we have a refined strategy that makes it possible for anyone—even you!—to execute a smooth dinner party.

We’ve outlined everything you need to do from 6 weeks to 6 minutes before your dinner party, ensuring that you get to enjoy your event just as much as your guests do.

6 Weeks to 2 Weeks Before Your Party: Guest List & Menu Design

Every dinner party is going to take a different amount of planning and preparation, which is why we say “6 weeks to 2 weeks”.

More intimate dinners (up to 8 people) or simple menus may only require 2-3 weeks of planning.

Larger celebrations (10+ people) or more complex menus (i.e., 5+ courses, food and wine pairings) may require 4-6 weeks of planning. Having enough time to plan is crucial for any type of party.

Set a date and build your guest list

For more intimate dinner parties, build the guest list first. Consider your event space and the number of guests that will comfortably fit.

However, for larger milestone celebrations, like a birthday party, set the date first and build the guest list second. Prime dates fill up quickly, so securing your Saturday night early is essential!

Choose your theme

Is this going to be a casual friends’ dinner or a milestone celebration? A birthday party or a holiday season gathering? Something casual or black tie? The kind of party you’re hosting will dictate everything from your theme ideas to your table settings and cloth napkins.

Send out invites

Design your invitations based on your theme, and make sure to include a space for guests to indicate their dietary preferences. The quicker you can get this vital information from your party guests, the easier it will be to plan your menu and avoid last-minute modifications.

Design your menu

For simpler main courses and hors d’oeuvres, we’ll typically plan 2-3 weeks in advance.

For complex menus with specialty sourcing and ambitious techniques that need testing, allow the full 4-6 weeks.

Run menu options by guests

Once you have a rough schedule and menu items, send them out to guests to confirm their preferences before finalizing.

Give your guests a “confirm by…” date to stay on schedule.

Alternatively, you can include the menu in your dinner party invitations.

Now, with the Gourmet Host App, guests can instantly view and get notifications about the menu without having to go back and forth in different messaging threads and emails.

3 Weeks to 1 Week Before Your Party: The Grocery & Cooking Plan

Finalize your menu

1-3 weeks before your dinner party, lock in your full menu—make sure to think about everything from main course to sides, appetizers, and hors d’oeuvres selections.

Create & categorize your shopping list

Go through every recipe on your menu and combine similar ingredients. Then, organize your dinner party shopping list into categories or by store for efficient shopping.

For a long time, we used to do this in Excel, but it still took a bit of time to input all the information.

So, we created a dinner party app that automatically generates categorized shopping lists for you!

Tip: Get your meat and flowers on the day of Your Dinner PArty

Breaking up your grocery list into segments can save you time, but make sure to leave the meat and flowers for last! We like to go to the local butcher for our meat on the day of the party for optimal freshness.

If your menu is starting to look a little too ambitious or costly, don’t be afraid to appoint a co-host or assign small tasks like wine, appetizers, or dessert to guests.

Check your serving dishes and utensils

There’s nothing worse than cooking up a gourmet dinner and having nothing to serve it in! Make sure you have enough serving tableware for each course.

If you need an extra platter or salad tongs, add them to your list now. This small detail can make or break your hosting experience!

Plan the lighting and music

Will you need candles? Some extra themed cocktail napkins? Fresh flowers for the table? Add any ambience elements to your grocery list now to make sure you stay within your budget.

2 Days Before: Shopping & Prep

Main shopping trip

1-2 days before your event, do the bulk of your shopping, purchasing all items and ingredients except for specialty perishables (meat, oysters, etc.)

Get bottles of wine, signature cocktails supplies, tonic water, and full bar essentials.

If you need to marinate anything overnight, make sure to include it in this grocery trip.

Shopping at stores with a larger selection and higher-quality perishables, like Whole Foods, is usually the most time-efficient solution. If you have a big family and a busy schedule, consider opting for online order and delivery for an additional fee.

Plan for storage

If you’re cooking a large holiday meal, make sure you have enough space in your fridge to store any leftovers. Consider getting some cardboard takeout boxes for guests to take home some goodies.

Prep the bar

Chill any bottles of wine or beverages that need chilling.

1 Day Before: Final Preparation & Setup

Start your menu prep

Examples of dinner party elements we would prep the day before:

Marinate meats (if applicable)
Salad dressings
Peel and chop large amounts of veggies (especially for big groups)
Certain desserts that benefit from sitting/setting overnight (tiramisus, mousse, etc.)
Soaking nuts or seeds
Prepping homemade cocktail/mocktail syrups or garnishes
Making sure we have enough ice for drinks/filling ice cube trays

As you’re prepping, think about any last-minute extras that are good to have on hand, such as napkins, garbage bags, or stain remover.

Keep in mind that if you have a simple menu, store-bought dessert, an intimate guest list, and no fancy drinks, you may not even need to do day-before prep! Always evaluate your task list—and your schedule the day of—to see if you could benefit from some prep ahead of time.

Prepare your seating plan & place tags

Do this the day before to do this in case of any last-minute cancellations.

Clean the house

Save yourself the extra work and clean after your pre-day prep. It doesn’t have to be a deep clean—just vacuum the living room, guest bathroom, and dining areas where party guests will gather.

The Day of Your Party: Hour-by-Hour Execution Schedule

On the day of the party, we usually start prepping things around 6 hours before guests start arriving. For holiday parties, barbeques, and other special occasions, this could be earlier, but for this example, we’ll use 6:30 as the guest arrival hour.

11:00 AM: Final store run

Grab any last-minute ingredients, decor, or materials before you lock into full chef mode.

12:00 PM: Start food prep

Lay out all your ingredients and get cooking!

Prep any components that can safely sit at room temperature—like salad garnishes—first.

Start any slow-cook components or any elements that require marinating.

Leave time-sensitive dishes and elements (like meat, roasted veggies, salad tossing, baking desserts, etc.) until the end.

4:30 PM: Final tidy before guests arrive

Go around the main dining areas and make sure everything is ready for action. Fluff those pillows, restock the toilet paper, and make space in your coat closet if necessary.

Take out all the serving dishes, wine glasses, and plates you’ll need so that they’re ready to go on the counter.

5:00 PM: Prep yourself

Now that the bulk of the cooking and cleaning is taken care of, you’re going to want to shower and change into your dinner attire.

5:45 PM: Prep for cocktail hour

If you’re offering a cocktail hour, hors dourves, or a welcome drink, this is the perfect time to get everything ready.

Prep a “bar” or cocktail station with glasses, shakers, garnishes, etc.

Set out some cocktail napkins.

6:00 PM: Ambiance time

Put on your playlist, light those candles, and dim your lights! It’s always better to have the mood ready for early arrivals so you can continue cooking and welcome guests without the stress of running around to get things set up.

6:15 PM: Reset & breathe

Leave a 15-minute buffer before guests arrive for you to just sit down, take some deep breaths, and reset so that you can greet guests calmly.

6:30 PM: Guest arrival & cocktail hour

Show time! As party guests arrive, offer bottles of wine, signature cocktails, mocktails or sparkling water options. You may also wish to serve hors d’oeuvres on serving dishes in the living room.

Continue entertaining guests in the adjoining living room or kitchen island as you finish cooking.

Prepare a simple task for helpful guests if offered assistance.

Ten minutes before food is served, start ushering guests to the dining room table.

Clear plates between courses without making anyone feel rushed, managing food scraps and dishes discreetly.

This is also the perfect moment to capture a photo of the celebration (perhaps with the guest designated as the event photographer).

Late: Post dinner toast (optional) & goodbyes

Sometimes, the party wants to keep on going. But if you’re ever looking for a way to gently wrap things up without feeling liek you’re kicking anyone to the curb, try a post-dinner party toast.

It’s one of our favorite ways to thank our guests for coming while creating a memorable moment for the night.

Get a Customized Dinner Party Checklist With The Gourmet Host App

Even with this easy breakdown, it’s tricky to get the timing just right!

Luckily, the Gourmet Host App automatically generates categorized shopping lists, sends menu notifications to your party guests, and helps you create a rough schedule from 2-3 weeks before your event to an hour-by-hour plan on the day of your party.

It’s basically the dynamic dinner party planning checklist (and digital co-host) we wish we had when we started our hosting journey!

Join the waitlist today to get your customized party task list!

For a more in-depth look at how to host a dinner party—from vision to tablescapes and post-party thank you cards—read our in-depth article here. It outlines out exact dinner party planning process that we’ve refined over decades; it’s the same process that inspired the Gourmet Host App and all its features!