If you’ve ever hosted a dinner party, you’ll know just how easy it is to become fixated on the food. Although today’s dinner parties tend to be fairly relaxed affairs, not unnaturally, most of us are keen to show off our culinary prowess, or at very least not burn anything!
But while your guests are undoubtedly looking forward to a well-cooked meal, they’ll also be hoping for a fun-filled evening. A good dinner party should, after all, be a fusion of food, friends and fun.
Yet in the grand scheme of things, planning for fun is often an afterthought, which is why we’ve created this blog post packed with dinner party entertainment ideas to help you out.
So, if your food fails to impress (or worse, is memorable for reasons you’d rather forget!) you can still notch up some brownie points for your entertainment. And if your food is perfect too, you’ve nailed it!
Let’s get started!
Conversation starters
If your guests don’t all know each other, having some conversation starters to hand is an excellent way to get them talking about something more interesting than traffic problems or the vagaries of the British weather!
Print conversation starters on small cards / slips of paper. Scatter these on coffee or side tables where guests are enjoying pre-prandial drinks and you’ll ensure everyone has something to talk about.
Potentially controversial topics, such as religion and politics, plus anything too personal, are best avoided, but anything else is fine. And, in case you’re stuck for ideas, we have a few suggestions:
- What was your first job?
- What fictional place would you love to visit?
- What are you reading / what’s your favourite book?
- If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you would buy?
- What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
- Do you have a secret talent or party trick?
- If you could time-travel which century, or decade, would you choose to visit?
- What’s your greatest fear?
- What was your worst fashion disaster?
- Where in the world would you most like to visit?
Fun with Food
An excellent way to keep guests entertained at a dinner party is to get them involved in the food preparation. Why not try these ideas at your next dinner party?
Pizza Party
Dinner parties don’t necessarily have to be super-formal events, so what about holding a poshed-up pizza party? All you need are some pre-prepared pizza dough bases, pizza sauce, cheese and a good selection of topping ingredients laid out in bowls ready for guests to use. Your guests then get to make their own customised pizzas.
Having a single oven, or cooking outside in a dedicated pizza oven, needn’t be a problem either, just cook two pizzas at a time and let guests sample each other’s creations while they wait for their own.
Play some music and provide drinks while you prepare your pizzas, and perhaps watch a movie afterwards.
Delectable desserts
With the starter and main course over, it’s time for dessert. This idea will entertain your guests, allow you to relax a little and ensure the sweet course is fool proof too! What’s not to like?
This works well with ideas such as Eton mess, ice cream sundaes, or even trifle. Arrange your dessert ingredients and bowls on a side table or clear the dinner table and place them there. Suggested ingredients:
- Ice cream cones / wafers
- Ice cream
- Chopped fruit
- Cinnamon sticks
- Nuts
- Aerosol cream
- Dessert sauces
- Cold custard (use a carton to avoid a skin forming)
- Fruit coulis
- Mini meringues
- Sprinkles
- Sponge fingers
- Amaretto biscuits
- Chocolate sticks / hearts
- Mini pastry cases
- Edible gold spray
- Mini indoor cake sparklers
You could also turn this idea into a competition; take a photo of everyone’s creation and award marks for presentation and creativity.
Games
Murder Mystery
There are several short murder mystery games available to download free online. These include everything you need to play a complete game. Many are shortened versions of the full game and last approximately 30 minutes, making them ideal for after dinner entertainment. The website https://www.playingwithmurder.com/uk/offers a good selection of free to download games with various scenarios. Downloads contain printable instructions, character sheets and name tags, and provide instructions which enable the host to play too.
Pictionary
If you have the board game, the cards will come in handy, if not, just write some cards of your own. Ideally, a flip chart, or child’s easel raised up on a table, will allow everyone to see what’s being drawn, but you could always use A3 paper on a tabletop. Ensure you have a supply of broad tip felt pens available, and you’re good to go.
Two Truths and a Lie
Requiring little or no equipment, except possibly a pen and paper, Two Truths and a Lie is a brilliant yet simple way to entertain your dinner party guests.
How to play
- Guests can either play as individuals or in teams of three or more.
- Individuals / teams take it in turns to come up with two truths and a lie while the remaining players must try to work out which statement is untrue.
- Keep the lie simple to make it believable.
- Make one of the truths as unlikely as possible to mislead the other team.
- Keep a straight face when making your claims.
The winner is the individual or team who gets away with telling the most undetected lies.
Telestrations
If you’ve never played this game before, take a few minutes to read the instructions and give it a whirl. It’s suitable for a wide variety of ages and produces hysterically funny results when drawings are misinterpreted.
How to play
The game is a bit like Chinese Whispers on paper. Players are given a wipe clean booklet and a pen. After writing their name on the book, they select a word (using the cards provided) and write it in the indicated space. They then turn the page and pass the book to the player on their left, who attempts to draw the word. At the next pass, the player on the left will write a word for the previous player’s drawing. Play continues in this way until the book returns to its original owner. Players now take turns to reveal everything in their books and allocate points for the best guess and best drawing. The winner is the player with most points after multiple rounds.
Escape Room in an Envelope
An innovative escape room concept which is perfect for playing at the dinner table with a group of friends. Containing a story involving mystery, blackmail and deception, envelopes usually include nine to ten puzzles which require solving to prevent something undesirable happening. Solving the puzzles reveals a passcode which gives access to an online vault to complete the game. If you get stuck, clues are usually available on the company’s website. You can find Escape Room in an Envelope games on Amazon UK, Etsy.com and Not on the High Street.
Hire a Professional Entertainer
If you’re holding a dinner party to celebrate a special occasion or anniversary, consider hiring a professional to entertain your guests.
If you’re based in Ireland, you can find and book a huge variety of the very best professional entertainers directly through our website. Here are just a few ideas:
Photo Booths
Photo booths and Polaroid corners have become a staple of entertainment. They come in different shapes and sizes. You can rent an actual photo booth cubicle, you can rent a jumbo selfie mirror, or you can have just a regular Polaroid camera.
Magicians
If you’re looking for some truly memorable entertainment, you can hire a magician to entertain your guests. At dinner parties, magicians are usually booked to perform “mix and mingle” magic. This is where the magician walks among your guests, entertaining them in small groups at a time.
Caricaturists
Booking a caricaturist for your corporate event is a fun way to entertain your guests and to have them walk away with a fun souvenir of your event.Only those who are brave enough and ready for a laugh need to ask for a drawing. Others are free to remain in blissful ignorance.
That’s a wrap
We hope our dinner party entertainment ideas have given you something to think about when planning your next dinner party.At PartyWizz, we specialise in working with entertainers.We pride ourselves in only working with the best in the business.
You can book an entertainer directly though the platform. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Our team is always happy to help.
