I invited my family over for a Not Your Nonna’s Dinner Party where the menu was nontraditional yet Italian inspired and the setting leaned grandma chic. It was so fun to put together and the menu is one of my favorites yet!
Here I’ve gathered all the information you need, from the timeline to the menu to the decor, so that you can throw your own!
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
- Start thrift shopping for any supplies you want to source second hand
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!
- Gather and organize all serve ware so it’s ready to be set out
Day Before:
- Prep and recipes that can be made in advance, such as the pasta chips, meatballs for the crostini, salad dressing, zucchini lasagna and cannoli dip, 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
1-3 Hours Before:
- Finish any dishes that need cooked
- Set the table while the dishes finish cooking (can be done earlier if you don’t have cats, like me!)
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 SETTING
With the Not Your Nonna’s theme, I wanted to feature a nontraditional yet Italian inspired menu with a grandma chic table setting. I used my collection of mismatched vintage bone china that I’ve gathered from Goodwill, eBay and antique stores as well as my favorite vintage table cloth and and napkins. The table and chairs are also second hand finds from Restore and Facebook Marketplace, respectively. The chairs are actually our indoor dining chairs that I reupholstered with French fabric I fell in love with on etsy. Finally, the silverware has been thrifted over time and the glasses used for water were pieces I thrifted for our wedding rehearsal dinner a few years ago. Everything had the “collected” and “special” feel that I was hoping for and I love how it came together!
To really make the space feel unique, I spent so much time trying to figure out how I could hang a chandelier over the table to make it feel like an elevated dining room. However, I had no where to hang it from. Finally, I found this trellis that I put together and luckily, it held the weight of the chandelier. I loved that it had two planters on either side, which I filled with beautiful small rose plants that I completely forget the name of (and hope that I can keep alive).
What I didn’t love, though, was that the trellis came with a piece broken and that I ended up cutting my finger while building it. Otherwise, it’s great, but you’ve been warned!
What I also didn’t love what that it started raining 15 minutes before my family was set to arrive. Watch the disaster unfold by clicking here!
Links:
Everything else was second hand!
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:
Honestly, my family mostly just drinks water and A&W (lol), so I didn’t have any special drinks. I do, however, think the following would be great additions to this menu:
Hugo Spritz (Zero Proof Compliant)
Tomato Margarita (Zero Proof Compliant)
Sparkling Peach Sangria (Zero Proof Compliant)
TO START:
TO SERVE:
Overdressed Greens Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing
TO SAVOR:
BONUS RECIPES:
Here are some recipes that I didn’t serve but I think would be amazing with this dinner party theme:
Gluten Free Arancini Rice Balls
One Skillet Lemon & Thyme Chicken Milanese
Pesto Ricotta Zucchini Roll Ups
10 Minute Italian Chopped Salad
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
- At Home Pizza Parlor 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!
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