Even if you live in the South like I do, practicing hospitality—that is, having people in your home—isn’t something that necessarily something that comes naturally. When you think about practicing hospitality, you might be picturing what would be better called a dinner party, and the idea of doing that sounds stressful and complicated. But it doesn’t have to be! Here are 12 tips to help things run smoothly for everyone.

12 Easy Tips to Practice Hospitality

Plan who you’ll have over

The first tip is to be strategic about who you’re going to have over. Our family has one night a week that is usually a good night to try to have someone over, but that means there are only so many people we can have over! Usually at the beginning of every season, my husband and I sit down and make a written list of people who we would like to have over. It might be a new family at our church, or someone from our small group, or a neighbor we’d like to get to know better. We also ask people spontaneously, but having a list can help us be really intentional, too!

Ask about allergies or dietary restrictions

Once you’ve decided who to invite over, make sure you ask them if they or anyone in their family have food allergies, dietary restrictions, or just any foods they plain don’t like! For example, one time I asked this and someone said her husband really hated onions. What I was planning to make included onions, but it was easy to leave them out to accommodate that particular food dislike.

Cook simple recipes that are easy to multiply

Now you know who you’re having over and that they don’t have any particular dietary restrictions (if they do, check out some of our keto meal plan recipes or vegan meal plan recipes) that could also be adapted to be gluten-free, paleo, or vegetarian). Here are some of my favorite recipes that are easy to serve to a larger crowd:

Meatball subs: Use our easy meatball sub recipe and just make enough for the crowd you’re having. Serve with chips and salad or another green vegetable.

Taco bar: Brown ground beef or sauté chicken, then make sure you have all the fixins’ like cheese, salsa, sour cream, and lettuce. Serve with black beans or boxed Mexican rice and corn.

Pasta casserole: My favorite pasta casserole is this Three Cheese Baked Ziti from a now defunct recipe blog. I’ve made it dozens of times and it’s always a hit! Serve with a salad and garlic bread.

Read More→