The Dinner Party: The Best Thing I Did in 2025

On a whim, in the last few days of 2024, I decided the best way to engage with my friends and build something that mattered to me was to host a monthly dinner party. I polled a group of 10 friends, all of whom were vaguely familiar with each other, some who were tight knit, others outliers, added them to a group chat, and posited the question:

“If I hosted a monthly dinner party, would anyone come?”

Because the truth is, would anyone come to this?

I live in a small, one bedroom condo, with minimal hosting space. I don’t really cook regularly. I’ve rarely hosted people in my home. But I wanted to be the sort of person who held deep connections with their friends, and who did host.

And, like the gregarious, kind people that they are, my friends responded, “Yes,” they would come. I picked hosting on Sunday nights to accomodate most everyones schedules, put the date on the calendar, and started preparing.

For the first event, I made appetizers, entree’s, and dessersts, accomodating for a variety of dietary restrictions, and enjoying the fun of hosting. I encouraged my friends to bring drinks, and we had a good time.

But what I didn’t expect was for this to become a full participation sport.

My sister, in attendance, suggested that the guests pick the theme for the next event. Which is how I ended up hosting February as an “Italian Lemon” style party.

My guests, a gaggle of people I have picked up along the way, all of whom are friends I’ve had for years, some met through work, others through high school, loved the participation aspect of this.

We ended up picking a theme for every future dinner party. And what was how we ended up with “shrek Irish” for March. A tea party for April. A friendsgiving in November. See, what had started as a desire to host elevated events turned into something a bit more valuable: community.

Now, this hasn’t been without its hiccups. Hosting requires a lot of mental energy, so doing a full clean of my house, cooking and entertaining can be exhausting. About 3 friends from the original group chat left almost immediately. And in the midst of it all, I was navigating a really interesting year, for better or for worse.

Ultimately, this dinner party project started as an idea that gave me something to anchor my month around. I have enjoyed this so much, that I am doing it again next year.

Here are some tips to starting your own dinner party series:

• Choose a small, intimate group that will have your back. I had about 10 people in my life who would make this meaningful.
• Simplify your cooking: What can you make the day before? What can you outsource?
• Clean on a schedule, so your home stays “ready”. This can make things a little easier when you host.
• Take pictures! Of the food, and of your friends. I have almost no pictures from this, and I am so sad that I don’t have photos to commemorate this year.

And remember, true friends do not judge you. If they are judging you, chances are that means they shouldn’t be part of this.

Would you host monthly or quarterly dinner parties? Let me know in comments!

-M