I decided to have a small, impromptu pre-Thanksgiving dinner party last night for a few of my close friends and it was a great success. I'm a battling perfectionist and it's hard for me to have people over since I believe my house is never clean, organized, decorated well enough. I will stress myself out preparing for it that I will avoid doing it for a long time afterward.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I decided that I have to get over it and have dinner with my friends since we're going out of town to visit family too. That, and because they are always asking why I never invite them over!

The key was keeping the menu simple and focusing on the company and not the planning stresses. I basically had the variation of this party:

Dinner Party Menu

I worked with what was on sale and freshest at the store and the ingredients were less than $35. Guests brought wine and desert. I cleaned up the house and put out some fall decorations which were still the in Rubbermaid containers in storage. There were hours of laughter and fun and everyone loved the food. Success!

Entertaining can be so enjoyable when you keep it simple and don't try to make it like something out of a magazine : )