PWOC International Blog

By Andrea Plotner

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:13

Before my husband and I got married, I dreamed of operating a bed & breakfast inn, because I love to cook creatively and befriend new people. But I quickly realized that entertaining involves a certain “knack” which I didn’t seem to possess. So, for years, I volunteered to bring one great dish wherever we went and let others do the cooking (and cleaning!).

In the last couple of years, however, we’ve managed to have a number of people in our home on a regular basis, many of them friends from chapel, so I thought I’d pass on a few of the tips & tricks I’ve picked up recently that have made entertaining more manageable and meaningful.

Stagger the Cleaning

The best thing I can say here is that my house is not spotless when people arrive. If I have guests over on Sunday afternoon, and I know I vacuumed and mopped the floors on Friday, I’m good with that. The one exception here is toilets. I have three boys, and the toilets get cleaned daily.

Pick a Theme

First, I try to pick a theme to unify the food, décor, and music so that, even if my meal flops, guests can still have fond memories. If we have Mexican food, for example, I might put a Mexican blanket down for a tablecloth, a sombrero with chips in the rim as a centerpiece, and try to have mariachi music playing in the background.

My in-laws recently celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary – the “Ruby Anniversary” – so we had a dinner where everything was “red” – red table decorations, red berry salad, red tomato pizza, and red meat with red potatoes.

Think “Three” (Ingredients)

I try my best to use recipes that require 3-5 ingredients or less. This saves both money and time. The red berry salad above, for example, had strawberries, snow peas, and balsamic vinegar (yum). That’s it. The red tomato pizza had puff pastry, mozzarella cheese, and sliced cherry tomatoes (double yum). The steak and potatoes had…well, you get the idea J For larger crowds, serving soup, stew, or chili with homemade bread pleases most everyone without breaking the bank.

Go with the Flow

This one took me a long time to learn, but make sure people can get to the food without stopping traffic or creating a bottle-neck. I find it works best to move my dining room chairs to the living room, and then use the dining room table like a circular buffet. After guests get their food & drinks, everyone moves to the living room to eat from trays. For us, it seems to work best to feed children first and then send them off to play. When entertaining families, I try to put out a loaf of whole grain bread, and jars of peanut butter & jelly (that’s just 3 ingredients!), regardless of the menu, so that the main focus can be on fellowship, and not the food.

Just Say “Yes”

If someone asks if they can bring a dish or help tidy up, the answer is “Yes, thanks for offering!” Besides needing all the help I can get, others (particularly those gifted in helping out behind the scenes) often feel more at ease when they have something to do.

Above all, when practicing hospitality, let the primary focus be on people, and not on preparations. With that loving formula, it’s hard to go wrong!