Dear Mrs. A – January 2025
Dear Mrs. A,
We served many meals and many friends and family during the holidays, but we’re curious about ways to serve meals in our home moving into the New Year.
– Happy to host in The Hamlet
Dear Happy,
I love that you are curious about this, and I just had this discussion with some friends who love to entertain. We were talking about the different ways to serve guests in our home and how to maybe entertain some new ideas.
FAMILY service is the most warm, welcoming and casual type of service. This type of service allows your guests to stay seated while the offerings are brought to the table. Portions can be unique to each guest and the food is always passed to the right. This type of service doesn’t allow for the same kind of variety you can serve on a buffet, and large platters can sometimes by heavy and messy.
PLATED service is when each course is served while guests are seated. If you have more than four diners, you may want to consider having help. Courses might include the appetizer, soup/salad, entrée and dessert. With this many plates and courses being served and cleared you can see why this style would be difficult for the host/hostess.
BUFFET service allows for a large variety, sizeable amounts, and guests can easily help themselves to more. This service can be hectic if everyone gets up at once.
APARTMENT service can be considered when there isn’t enough room in the dining room to seat all the guests. Food is typically eaten with a fork and plates are delivered with heavy napkins to be eaten while sitting.
I hope you will all consider hosting more in the New Year and I look forward to hearing all about it!
Big Love,
Mrs. A
