Canadians love to entertain and host dinner parties. From backyard barbecues to family celebrations, gathering around food is the favourite way to mark an occassion or create new memories. To help create magical evenings at your house, Food Network Chef Michael Smith teamed up with Cascade Platinum to share tips on how to make your dinner party sparkle, while cutting down your clean up time! (Amen!)
Want your dinner party to sparkle? Follow these tips from Chef Michael Smith and your guests will be blown away:
Spend time to save time: Prep as much as you can in advance – from food to your table. Smart preparation will allow you to spend more time with your guests
Make your guests feel special: Thoughtful details tell your guests they are special. Set the mood with music, place cards, flowers and sparkling dishes and glasses. I use Cascade Platinum in every cycle to make sure everything is ready for a big event.
Start with a bang! Do something collectively right away. A group activity subtly reminds everyone “We’re in this together!”
Give your guests something fun to do: At some point, engage your guests in an interactive activity, something hands on, that’s not work.
Clean as you go: Get the mess out of the way, and load the dishwasher as you prepare dinner. With Cascade Platinum, you don’t need to worry about pre-rinsing – it will clean stuck-on food in one wash.
Share the work: Many hands make light work. After the main meal and before dessert, encourage everybody to pitch in with clean up.
Grand finale: End the evening with something spectacular, something memorable, or my favourite—something flammable!
Thanks Michael! Something flammable would definitely be memorable!
But you don’t have to host a party to have a Sparkling Clean dinner. Sitting down to family dinner is special in itself. Why not give your family an extra special night by putting Michael’s tips to action? And with Cascade Platinum, you’re sure to have sparkling clean dishes every day.
Visit www.foodnetwork.cacascade for more tips and recipes from Chef Michael Smith and Cascade Platinum.
Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom/mamanP&G. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own.
By entering the following contest you are accepting that if you win your contact information will be shared with a P&G PR and shipping agency for the purpose of mailing your prize. Please allow 4-6 weeks from the contest closure date to receive your prize.
This giveaway may appear on other blogs as part of the #PGmom/#mamanPG program. However, to be fair, you can only win once per giveaway. If your name is chosen more than once, another winner will be selected. All winners must be from within Canada
hmmm, maybe 2.
Not too many, maybe 3 a year.
Usually about 2 or 3.
My home is too small to host parties so I help my daughter host parties at her home. She has at least one a month. I help with the cooking as well as the cleaning up after.
I only host one a year.
I host a dinner party about once a year.
Once or twice a year.
We have about 3 but my sister in law has one almost every weekend. She could really use this prize package 🙂
Unless my daughter having a large group of friends over for dinner counts, I don’t.
3 or 4
usually 3
I host maybe 2 a year
I host about 3 dinner parties each year.
I don’t host many dinner parties. We do have lots of barbecues during the summer though. 🙂
that’s more my style too
I host about 10 a year. Love doing it! Hate the dishes… :o)
I usually host about 4 a year
I host maybe 1 a year
I host at least two parties a year.
About 2-3 dinner parties per year.
I host about 8-10 parties each year!
I probably host around 12.
We host one big one every year:)
2 times, at Easter and Christma 🙂
I only host one a year.
a few holiday ones and BBQ’s usually.
I host about 2-3 dinner parties per year.
around 5
2-3. thanks
Usually 4 or 5.
probably 8 or so
I host about 3 to 4 dinner parties. Thank you!
Maybe about 6-8…
It seems like the older we get the more our home becomes a gathering place for family and friends which I absolutely love. At least once a month (and more during Hubby’s favourite time of the year~ BBQ Season) we have a get together. We have come to know and trust the Cascade Brand in our home! It’s what we use to make light work of a messy situation! Wonderful article and giveaway! Thanks for the chance 🙂
We host a few dinner parties a year, and if you mean extended family dinners, even more. I need to have one soon, on a nice Sunday afternoon.
tons! We host the big family Thanksgiving and have a group of friends over regularly!
We do not really entertain but we occasionally host Christmas at our house.
we’re much more informal than “dinner party” status, lol! Maybe once or twice a year I am making meals for guests or in-laws 🙂
I only host 1 or 2 very informal ones, it stresses me out.
We host about… 3 a year
we like to host one every few months
Just one per year
Only a couple during the summer months
We host at least 2 per year.
Not very many about a hand full.
I host a dinner every Monday night for 9 people plus me and hubby,then we play board games or cards
just 1 a year
Usually about 6 – holidays and BBQs
12 im a chef by trade so every dinner is made by me or someone ask me to hosts its allot of cooking but i really do enjoy it
Just a couple…
Once a year
I host dinner party about once a month, about 12 a year.
I host about 10 a year.
5-10
Only a couple.
3-4 most years
about 3 a year
About 3 a month
At the moment; none. However I hope to have a few next year.
We host about 3-4 every year.
Like. None. I’m too insecure about my mess house 😛
Probably three or four – although it’s a challenge to fit enough people in our little kitchen!
Probably about 50 or so.
Probably one once a month!
2 or 3?
2
4
About 3
2-3
I’d say 3 or 4. Nothing extravagant.
I host an average of 6 dinner parties per year.
I host Maybe 1-2 a year
Maybe about 5 a year.
Around 3-4 per year, but would like to do more.
NONE! Now that I live in an in-law flat my son who has much more room upstairs does all the dinner parties and I just eat – great eh? Well I do do the washing up – and he does use an awful lot of pots and pans 🙂
w usually hold 4-5 dinner parties a year 🙂 thanks for the chance !
6 or so
i dont host too many dinner parties in a year ..maybe one or 2
Unfortunately none….my Brother comes over once a year.
Only 1 or two a year.
Only 1 or two a year.
I don’t usually host the dinners.
I usually do one
Maybe four. dinner parties. Great useful giveaway too.
At least 12 a year or one a month
2-3 parties
6 o r 7 a year
About a dozen a year.
I have no idea how many dinner parties we host a year. We seem to have quite a few, some arranged almost at the last minute!
I usually host around 10 a year.
probably about 15
We usually host about 2-3
2 or 3 a year! Always a great time!
2 to 3 a year.
I host about 3-4 parties a year.. mostly family ones
One or two and I keep them small
Maybe 4 a year .
Only a few, I travel alot so between work and travel not much time spent at home to host!
2 or 3
No where near enough. 2-3 tops
Just about 2 per year.
We host 3-4 big bashes a year and have about 1 or 2 intimate dinners per month with a few guests
Usually 1-2 a year 🙂
Somewhere around 6-8
We tend to go out for dinner if we have a crowd.
I’d say four or five.
1
Usually one of the holiday dinners
usually just 1.
I host probably 2 a year!
I host dinner parties about 8 times a year. Thank Goodness for having a dishwasher! I could not live without it.
since its just me rarely I usually help host my kids parties
Maybe 2 a year
I probably have only 2 a year.
I usually only host one dinner party a year.
I usually do about 4 a year.
Lots ussuly once or twice a month!
around 2 to 3
None!
maybe one or 2 a year
It depends, but usually only a few.
I only host a couple of informal dinner parties a year in our home. My daughter & son-in-law host most of our family parties and we all help by bringing food and cleaning up afterwards.
I usually host 5-6 dinner parties a year. I like having people over but not sure I could handle more times than that.
Around 2 or 3.
We go out for those special events, so maybe host two to three dinners each year.
3 or 4
Usually 3 or 4 including thanksgiving dinner.
I used to host many in the summer, Probably two a month. Most of the older relatives are gone now. I still host probably three large dinners a year and many, many informal ones.
1 or 2.
I host Dinner Parties about 6 times a year
I host maybe two dinner parties a year, but mostly for family.
not many, small family gatherings :0
I host 3-4 dinner parties a year.
We usually host 2-3 dinner parties per year but then we also have one big party a year usually around Halloween.
About 5.
About 5, mostly for friends.
I don’t host dinner parties. We do have my parents over for a fun creative meal though! 🙂
I host about a dozen dinner parties a year for close family and friends; two that are huge open houses for extended friends and friends of friends and work associates. I also host my company’s function for 400+ staff.
Maybe once a year
1 or 2 a year
I aim for 3 -4 per year. Anything more than that and it’s just too much for me!!
We host at least once a month so about 12 a year
just Christmas
I usually do two or three a year.
Usually four.
One every couple of years
2 or 3
I average about 3 a year!
I only host once or twice a year.
Maximum of 2 a year.
For parties outside of family about 10,with family more like 24
I host very few because of the size of my house, I don’t really have an area big enough for us to eat.
I host about one a month but they tend to be smaller ones.
Once a year….
I host maybe 3 dinner parties a year
between 2 – 3
I usually host between 4 -8 dinner parties
4 dinner parties
Thank you for the giveaway. We normally host at least during birthdays and holidays, but I often invite people over for casual gatherings throughout the year.
About 4 to 6 a year.
About 4-6
Maybe around 5 to 8.
maybe 3
About 5 -7 depending on special birthdays or events and holidays
We usually only host a couple a year.
Most of my dinner “parties” are family affairs. We probably have friends over for dinner 2 or maybe 3 times a years.
I tend to go out to eat so I have to say about 3
We have about 6 a year, maybe a few more. I love casual entertaining in the summer the most.
I try to host about a dozen each year, but my guests are usually too busy to make it every month!
We host over ten times a year a dinner at our house
not very many
Not as many as I should maybe 3 or 4
At least 4, sometimes more.
usually 3-4. But lots of BBQ in the summer
usually 3-4, but tons of backyard BBQs in the warmer months.
We don’t do dinner parties.
Not too many, maybe one or two. Lots of barbeques though!
twice
I don’t host any dinner parties through the year.
We only host a handful, but I’m trying make it a weekly or biweekly thing.
3 at the most.
I host around 6, and love it
I host a dinner every Sunday for family and friends…so over 50!
3-5!
I do about 4 or 5 dinner parties a year..maybe more in the summer depending on how hot it is
Maybe 5… Usually for birthdays
1 or 2
1 to 2
We only host a couple.
If it includes casual get togethers, a couple/few a month, if not maybe 8.
At least once a month we have our extended family over
About 12 per year.
About 4
About 3 per year.