Nancy Meyers Inspired Dinner Party

As a lover of all things Nancy Meyer’s, I wanted to host a dinner party inspired by her overall vibe and aesthetic on my backyard patio. It was so fun to put together this Nancy Meyer’s Inspired Dinner Party and through cozy touches with elevated serve ware, homemade and garden forward dishes and an inviting atmosphere I think we pulled it off!

The setting was beautiful, the food was absolutely delicious with a menu full of fresh, flavorful recipes that were easy to prepare and allowed for me to actually be able to sit down and enjoy the party myself!

I was actually feature in an article about Nancy Meyer’s style and bringing it into your own space. Click here to read!

THE TIMELINE

Dinner parties can seem intimidating or stressful, but I make sure to plan for them in a way that creates the most low stress hosting experience possible so I can actually enjoy the night alongside my guests. Here is a rough outline of how I prepare in the days leading up to my dinner parties!

Month-Week Prior:

• Draft a menu and grocery list, inclusive of dietary needs and taste preferences of your guests
• Take inventory of plates, linens & serve ware to ensure you’re covered based on the amount of guests and types of dishes/drinks
• Order any supplies or ingredients that need to be purchased online

Week Of:

• Main grocery shop of everything that can be purchased in advance
• Make menus or food labels as a fun (and completely optional) touch!

Day Before:

• Gather and organize all serve ware so it’s ready to be set out
• Prep and recipes that can be made in advance, such as the appetizers and dessert, in this case!
• Arrange florals

Morning Of:

• If needed, secondary grocery shop as soon as the store opens to get any final needs and so you have as much time as possible
• As soon as you get home, measure and prep all ingredients that can be prepared in advance and set aside into stations based on each dish

1-2 Hours Before:

• Finish any dishes that need cooked
• Set the table while the dishes finish cooking

During:

• Enjoy!

Bonus Tips:

• Have food made in advance that you can eat while prepping because you probably won’t want to be cooking when prepping multiple dishes for your party, plus it saves time!
• Run and empty your dishwasher before the party so you can load everything instead of hand washing and taking up counter space. The easier the cleanup the better!

THE MENU

Below is everything that I included on the menu. All of the recipes are customizable and in turn dietary inclusive, all while being so delicious that even those without allergies will love them. They are also super easy to prepare, so you won’t be stressed putting these together!

TO SIP:

I kept it simple with a bottle of white wine and a bottle of rose, but I think the below drinks would also be an amazing addition to your (Nancy-approved) dinner party:

Sparkling Basil Cucumber Mocktail – click here for the recipe!

Elderflower Lemonade – find the recipe in my Garden Party eBook!

TO START:

I focused a lot of appetizers and snacks for this dinner party as it felt very on theme to me. Feel free to pick and choose what you’d like!

Snacks:

• Herby Roasted Nuts
• Marinated Olives (add olives, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, minced garlic and olive oil to a jar)
• Charcuterie
• Brie + Honey
• Crackers + Chips

Appetizers:

• Veggies & Ranch – click here for my ranch recipe!
• Whipped Ricotta – click here for my recipe!
• Hummus – click here for my recipe!
• Baguette & Butter – click here for the baguette I use! For the butter I whipped it together with fresh chives.

TO SERVE:

Chicken Milanese – click here for the recipe!

Creamy Pesto Pasta – click here for the recipe!

TO SAVOR:

Vanilla Prosecco Berry Cake – click here for the recipe!

While I didn’t serve the following recipes, I think they’d be great at this dinner party:

Blooming Chocolate Avocado Mousse Pots – find the recipe in my Garden party eBook!

Almond Flour Lemon Cake – click here for the recipe!

A NOTE ON CALORIE COUNT, NUTRITIONAL INFO AND SERVING SIZES

Due to my past experiences, I do not include most of the above information within my recipes as it is unsafe for me to do so personally. While I try to share a rough estimate when it comes to the serving size, please note that it is very subjective as we all have different hunger levels both from person to person and even from meal to meal.

If any of the above information is important to you, I understand! We are all different and have various goals and needs. If you’d like, you are welcome to calculate the information needed based on the ingredients you use when making one of my recipes.

I hope you understand! This comes from a place of love and protection both for myself and others like me. If you ever have any questions, send me an Instagram message for the quickest response time! Thank you for being here!

More Dinner Party Ideas

I LOVE to throw a dinner party! Click the links below to find some hosting inspiration!

• Italian Summer Themed Dinner Party
• Garden Dinner Party
• At Home Steak Dinner
• Mediterranean Dinner Party

FOLLOW ALONG

Be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok to see all of the behind the scenes of recipe creation as well as how to videos to watch them come to life! You can also head over to my Pinterest to save all of my recipes in one spot that you plan whip up in the future.

PS – If you make this recipe or any of my other recipes, I would be so grateful if you left a review so I can hear what you think! I also am happy to answer any questions you may have on here, but if you want a quicker response, be sure to shoot me a message on Instagram. Thank you so much and talk soon!