We had a dinner party at my house one Sunday evening that ended up with two guy friends punching watermelons in my bathtub. I think it was bacon and garlic themed dinner, but I don't think I'll ever forget the watermelon punching.

The dinner parties I've loved most have barely been about the food. It's _always_ about the people and the atmosphere in the room--candles, a good number of people for talking, etc. One of the best parties I've ever been to involved the hostess showing us the can of Tesco soup she was heating up for us!

So every time I'm getting too deep in the prep and other kitchen fiddliness, I remember this. Which is liberating--but also a little bit sad, for some of us who get waaaaay into the food aspect!

The one that ended with apple pie spiked with so much vodka the host and I only VAGUELY remember the evening at all. :)

Last Christmas season, a neighbor of mine had 3 couples for a dinner party. The chef of a local gourmet restaurant gave us a cooking class, teaching us all while preparing the meal. It was interactive, as we all participated by helping in the preparation of one of the courses. In between, we sat and ate each course together. It was the BEST dinner party EVER, and the best Christmas gift from a friend!

We hosted a chili verde party for close to 100 people. Chili, cornbread, pies, and a band. Pretty great.

I bid on and won a dinner party catered by a wonderful Seattle chef, Ethan Stowell. We threw the party for some close friends who where moving across the country and invited some of their closest friends. Our friends that were moving away showed up to the party with their car packed and headed out across America the next morning. 12 of us where there and we had 10 or 12 courses of food. Wonderful food and wine, but more importantly, a wonderful time to bask in the love of friends.

The best ones for me are typically the spontaneous type, though I definitely think food plays into it to some extent. Great dinner parties are largely great because of the conversation, the people invited, etc. But when you add into that great food, it becomes magic.

For me, the ones I remember tend to be the ones where the idea of a 'dinner party' was spontaneous, the food turned out just right (luckily!) and the company was brilliant. Friends from out of town, people you don't usually get to have over for dinner, etc. Usually sitting out on the back deck and listening to the crickets while drinking wine or beer and talking.

Of course, any dinner that also involves well made (and strong) margaritas is usually pretty magical as well. :)

My friends and I had a pie themed dinner party. Everyone made their favorite dessert pie recipe (we coordinated to avoid overlap) and as we were hosting we made chicken pot pie for the main course. We ended up with pecan, rhubarb, a mixed berry pie, and a chocolate mascarpone. Pie of various kinds, along with wine and friends, we ended up sitting at the table for a good 6 hours. And there wasn't much pie left.

I've never been to a dinner party :(

A fantastic molasses-themed potluck. We reenacted Boston's Great Molasses Flood. Plenty of wine and good company!

Sadly, I don't think I've ever been to a dinner party that I didn't throw myself.. When I was 16, I started organizing dinner parties for my friends. I've always loved the organization that comes with that sort of thing, but I miss having my parents big house to throw them in.

My son graduates from high school in a few months.. maybe I'll have to throw one for him :)

smoked bbq on the back patio w/ friends, dogs, dessert & a fire pit

I went to a raclette party with friends. It was a new experience for all but the hosts, and it was tons of fun.

When I throw dinner parties with my close group of friends we all cook together. We usually do two appetizers, two main courses and we bring 3 or four different desserts. Obviously we start early and end very, very late.

The first time we did it, maybe 4 years ago at Christmas time, was epic! Everyone remembers trying to fill cannelloni with very hot bolonhesa sauce and getting burned fingers! Now every year we do one or two of these dinner parties, it has become a tradition =)

The unplanned, spontaneous parties that occur after a series of phone calls with all guests having a hand in the meal stand out to me as the ones I remember the most fondly. Good friends, good food and good wine-everythign else just falls into place.

I'm a student in my mid-20's, as are most of my friends, so there aren't many dinner parties among peers that I've attended. So, uh, my favorite dinner party would probably have to be the one that I gave the weekend before Christmas last year :)

My bf and I invited about 20 people over for an "open house" type affair that began at 4pm and then stretched late into the night. I served fairly traditional, easy, budget-friendly food. We had a good old-fashioned cheese ball <3 that had been rolled in roasted, chopped pecans, crackers and crudite, homemade hummus, macaroni and cheese, baked ziti with sausage ragu, and for the vegan folk: spaghetti with olive oil, roasted tomatoes, basil, and garlic. There was also candied spiced nuts, gooey pumpkin butter cake with fresh whipped cream, and tons of 3-buck Chuck from TJ's.

I may have gone a little overboard, which I attribute to a teenhood spent hovering over Martha Stewart Living magazines and dreaming of the day when I might finally put together my own dinner party.

I think that part of my comment was cut off - the mention of going overboard had to do with more than just a cheese ball!! this was the rest:

"We had a good old-fashioned cheese ball that had been rolled in roasted, chopped pecans, crackers and crudite, homemade hummus, macaroni and cheese, baked ziti with sausage ragu, and for the vegan folk: spaghetti with olive oil, roasted tomatoes, basil, and garlic. There was also candied spiced nuts, gooey pumpkin butter cake with fresh whipped cream, and tons of 3-buck Chuck from TJ's."

I have been to/given many fun dinner parties and the mix of guests is the most important thing. You can't have a lively, hilarious party if you don't have some lively, hilarious friends. Way to go caseoftornadoes!
You can always buy delicious food, even if you can't cook.
We were invited to dinner and arrived before our hosts returned from the store, whereupon they set to work making pasta (80's fad) We ate around 11 and had a fantastic evening drinking and talking and dancing. It was a revelation to me that a dinner party could be just about being with friends, not showing off your skill at advanced preparations.
The most gracious and generous dinner parties I have attended were hosted by parents of my children's school friends. They invited large groups of kids and their parents before proms, giving us the unforgettable experience of seeing our children all dressed up among their peers while we, the embarrassing saggy baggy parents, got to visit with each other and take photos.
My kids said the pre parties and after parties those parents gave way surpassed the school events.

A cheese and chocolate fondue party with six people was loads of fun, and I got to use my mom's avocado green fondue set from the early 1970's. Good times.

Also, I need the name and artist of the painting above. Love it! Please?

Oops, never mind. Just found the image link there at the bottom. Thanks for that.

I wish I could give a dinner party for all of you and Gwendolyn could come.

It was my Dr. Zhivago party this past December 20. NYC was hit with a blizzard right on cue! Completely by coincidence, the film Dr. Zhivago was on TCM that day!! Of the 24 guests invited, 12 actually made it through the snow. I served hot borsht, blinis with caviar, mac 'n cheese with bacon, chicken Kiev, and a Pavlova for dessert. My apartment was decorated in all white and twinkling lights with lots of chandeliers I made out of foam core. It was magical!!

One of the best I can remember was one we threw for my mom's birthday. My husband got the most beautiful standing rib roast I've ever seen. I remember all of us devouring the food as my then-8-month-old daughter lay in her baby seat, enjoying her bottle.

definitely the most memorable was when i was visting paris and staying with someone i met on couchsurfing.com. he invited me out to a dinner party at his friend's--she lived on an island in the middle of the seine and had an amazing apartment in an historic building. she was in the middle of a remodel and one thing i did that night was help hang a large painting in her front room, overlooking the river.

My favorite dinner party (and I haven't been to any except family or those I've thrown myself) was not really a dinner party at all.

It was hunting season and a lot of our out-of-state relatives came in for deer hunting. They stay at my great-grandmother's little house out in the middle of nowhere. My mom and sister and I went out to see my grandparents (who were visiting and deer hunting) and said we'd cook dinner. Mom brought to-be-assembled chicken and pasta in alfredo sauce and the makings of a salad. We were planning for 6 people and ended up with 11. So my little sister and I found some potatoes, a few sweet potatoes, and giant carrots from my great-uncle's garden that we roasted in oil, salt, and garlic-pepper that was probably ancient (the only spice we could find). Then we made applesauce out of a few apples from someone's tree, but there was no sugar. A little cinnamon made that dessert. Some deer sausage from the freezer got cut up and fried. I tried to make a salad dressing out of some box wine and oil, but it didn't really turn out all that well (I didn't measure as well as I should have).

HOWEVER, it all turned out very nicely and everyone had a little of everything. My sister and I got many compliments for our creativity, everything tasted pretty good, and my grandpa told us our great-grandma (who passed away several years ago) would have been proud of us. Which made me feel all glowy inside.

We were all a little grubby and it was cold out (November in ND will do that), but it was really fun to all sit down as a big family and eat together.

I've never been to a dinner party either. :(
I would LOVE to have them at my place if I could afford to blow the money.

The best dinner party had to be one I threw for my friend who was moving to Hawaii. People came and went and everyone had a good time, but when I pulled out the disgestif (sp?), tea-infused vodka, the party started rolling. I infused it with an orange-spice tea and placed it in the freezer. No one could taste to alcohol and just kept drinking and drinking. Great night. Horrible morning!

Not to toot my own horn, but the best I've been to was one that I hosted. I was 16, and was getting ready to go on a trip to New York with my school. 3 of my closest friends came over for a New York theme party. I served any and every stereotypical New Yorker food, made Cosmos and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's after dinner.

The best dinner parties I've been to are any of the ones I've been invited to.

A recent one stands out at as one of the most memorable. Technically, two. NYE two years ago I was invited to a small party hosted by my fish purveyor. There were a handful of us there and most were food people--chefs, wine sellers, chef's significant others. The fish guy supplied stacks of oysters and crab legs and we all had to shuck the oysters. The chefs cooked decadent fatty foods like foie gras and sweetbread sliders. It seemed like the wine guy brought the whole "candy store."

My best friend, who is also a chef, had invited my wife and I and another couple to a New Year's Day dinner the next day. It turned out to be a multi-course, fine-dining affair that was beyond anything we had expected. New Year's Day had always been a day of vegging out (or working) so it was really a nice surprise. Memorable food and a memorable occasion.

For the one who have never been in a dinner party, if you live in a the DC/ Baltimore are, you are invited to mine!! I know the felling, I always the one giving dinner party's !! I actually thinking in create a meetup.com group for people who want host dinner party's and be invited it to others. iloverp@gmail.com

One NYE we hosted a dinner party for our closest friends. One friend roasted a pork joint for 24 hours beforehand and brought it over. It was fabulous and we had a great time. Then we all wandered off to the pub to meet more friends and celebrate the NY. The next day we had more friends (some the same, some different) round for an easy supper of the rest of the pork, jacket spuds and salad with a movie. Great dinner party - lasted for two days :-)

ktoth, I've done a pie-themed dinner party too! Chicken pot pie is one of the greatest inventions on the planet.

My favorite dinner parties are summer parties out on our patio, with oldies playing and the grill going full blast. While I love to do elaborately-themed formal parties for friends, there's something spontaneous and relaxing about grilling on a summer evening with a frosty glass of beer (or sangria) in hand.

This is going to sound pathetic but...

I have been to many wonderful dinner parties with various themes, food, etc. My favorite so far happened a few weeks ago when my best friend from high school and her husband came over with their 3 children (plus our son). I planned tacos - kid and adult variations, fried plantains, guac, and of course margaritas. The kids ended up eating quesadillas, we ended up eating tacos along with the quesadillas (which my friend's husband prefered).

The kicker to the whole night is when my friend curled up on my sofa with her drink, a fleece throw, her 8 year old son snuggled up to her, along with our dog. We put in Star Wars and basked in the comfort of friendship and family (along with our memories of watching those movies when we were young). In the meantime, their other 2 girls were putting my 2 year old son to bed on the dog bed :)

My how times have changed!

Christmas Dinner, 1976. I was alone, my husbnd having died the previous April (at age 30). In England. The parents of my office mate invited me. I was still very sad and trying to decide if I wanted to stay or return to the U.S. They were so gracious. They are gone now, but the outstanding company, the succulent food, their beautiful home and their open arms will remain with me until my end.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Newbury!

@kittyatlanta that's beautiful.

I think one of my favorite dinner parties was one we had last night. A friend and I started "Dinner At My House", we are doing it 4 times a year and we each ask another couple. So we will always have just 8 people. Our first theme was French Country (the four of us are going to France in March), so we set up a long table in her living room with blue and white with a French quilt as a topper. Our menu was a tapenade with tomato and shaved parmesan, Rosemary Wafer, Escargot, Salad Lyonnaise, Cassoulet which took me about 4 days to make and served in individual Lion Head Apilco bowls trimmed in blue, homemade French bread, individual cheese plates at the end and Chambord Ganache filled raspberries in Amuse Bouche spoons after the cheese plates. Yummy and fun meal, can't wait to do the next one at my house.