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Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends

BySarah Gibson
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Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comWe aren’t hosting for the holidays this year, but I do love having family and friends over to our house for dinner or drinks. I’m not picky! I am pretty good at stocking up on everyday glass wear and serve ware items (see my checklist here!) that I’ve built up over the years, but having “special” items for company are a great addition to your kitchen arsenal (is that a thing?). Whether you’re hosting family or friends- or just want to stock up on kitchen items and serve ware, here are some important items to get you started.

CHEESE + CHARCUTERIE BOARDS

Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comYou guys know I love a good charcuterie or cheese board! It’s such a fun and easy way to cover the appetizer part of a meal. Don’t feel like doing a big elaborate dinner? Invite people over for charcuterie and drinks only. You can add something new each time to mix it up depending on your guests’ preferences. Here are some tips on how to put a charcuterie board together. I’ve rounded up some of my favorite boards below. Marble or natural stone is a great option to keep meats and cheeses cold but I always love the warmth of a natural wood board, too!

Click directly on my finds below to shop or use the numbered links at the bottom of each collage…

01: cheese board set // 02: round serving board // 03: cheese knives // 04: cheese board and carafe set // 05: round marble cheese board // 06: marble cheese board set // 07: large wood cheese board // 08: monogram serving board // 09: acacia cheese board // 10: cheese serving set // 11: round charcuterie board // 12: slate cheese board // 13: marble cheese board

CARAFES + DECANTERS

Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comI’ve mentioned my obsession with Tour wine glasses before, and that obsession also applies to carafes and decanters! I love them both, because they are the perfect combination of useful and beautiful! That sharp angle is so pretty and sculptural. If you are a red wine drinker, using a decanter helps the wine “breathe” and is supposed to improve the taste. Carafes are good to have for water on a bedside table in a guest room or for juice at breakfast… OR better yet- a brunch mimosa bar, because you know I’m into waffles and champagne. Putting any liquid into a carafe or decanter looks so elegant; you can’t go wrong! Here are some of my favorites (I may already have this Tour Wine Carafe in my cart)… you can also find lots more barware & bar tools in this post.

01: marble base carafe // 02: swoon wine decanter // 03: tour wine carafe // 04: tour decanter // 05: monogram carafe // 06: rothwell decanter // 07: decanter // 08: valencia wine carafe // 09: pura decanting system

OVERSIZED SERVING DISHES

Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comCan you have too many serving dishes? Asking for myself, ha! I don’t think so (Emmett begs to differ). I love to mix and match different big bowls and larger dishes or platters, so I always have options to serve a variety of food. You can’t go wrong with white (all of our regular dishes are white), but I also love mixing things up with patterned or colored serving dishes for some fun, too. Here are some options with great color, texture, and pattern (my three favorite things)!

01: rectangular serving platter // 02: oval platter // 03: bowl set // 04: wooden bowl set // 05: baroque serving platter // 06: large serving platter // 07: whitewash bowl // 08: oval organic platter // 09: blue platter // 10: bamboo platter // 11: wood platter

SERVING UTENSILS

Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comWhen you have big serving dishes, I love complimenting them with serving utensils. There are lots of fun options out there made of wood, marble, bone inlay, and obviously metal! Like the serving dishes, I enjoy having fun with unique utensils that can be used for just about anything from salad to vegetables. My favorites in all kinds of materials can be found below.

01: six piece serving set // 02: salad servers // 03: brass serving spoons // 04: wood and marble servers // 05: bone handle servers // 06: two piece serving set

ICE BUCKETS + BEVERAGE TUBS

Kitchen Must Haves for Hosting Family & Friends - roomfortuesday.comIt’s cold and snowy in Utah right now, so icing down drinks isn’t necessarily important but I always have an ice bucket and beverage tub on hand. I typically set out a bucket for guests to ice down their drinks or a tub to keep cans and bottles cold. In the warmer months we love to be out on the patio (remember our 4th of July BBQ or fall dinner party?) and a beverage tub stocked with all the essentials is a great way to keep drinks close so you can focus on the fun! Here are some unique options…

01: prospect ice bucket // 02: silver beverage tub // 03: metal beverage tub // 04: clear ice bucket // 05: galvanized beverage tub // 06: linen white ice bucket // 07: copper ice bucket // 08: graphite and wood ice bucket // 09: dawson ice bucket // 10: corkcicle ice bucket // 11: champagne ice bucket // 12: gold bash beverage tub // 13: beverage chiller ice tub

Are you hosting friends or family over the holidays and adding anything to your kitchen? It’s probably no surprise I have a decanter and some new serve ware on my list. I hope you’re all having a good week so far!

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6 Comments

  1. I think entertaining gear is my love language. I cannot pass up a beautiful platter, and don’t get me started on colorful, special glassware! I’ve really been coveting a horn or bone serving set, and that Alice Lane pair is lovely! You’ve really compiled a comprehensive collection here-bet it was fun! We don’t have plans yet for hosting during the holidays, but I might have to wrangle up a little gathering…Cheers!

    Reply

    1. You and me both! We might wrangle up a little gathering too… I’m think simple- maybe just have a handful of friends for drinks? We’ll see how the formal living room plays out. Our plan is to finish that this week! Fingers crossed :)

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  2. Love this round up, as I’m a hosting machine!

    I have the drink bin #13 – take note of the sizes. At first I bought the larger one and it was cartoon-funny oversized when sitting on my countertop (maybe better suited for by the pool?). Anyways, the smaller bucket is perfect for integrating into an interior drink set-up for parties.

    For ice buckets – why are they all so small? During a party, I’m definitely refilling the thing at minimum four times. Even though we keep big ice bags in the garage fridge, pre-party I fill up large ziplock bags in the kitchen fridge for easy and quick bucket restocking. That’s also a task easily assigned to a 10 year old nephew. :)

    And what about drink dispensers! I have this one from CB2, it’s so pretty in person (and does not leak!): https://www.cb2.com/mellie-glass-beverage-dispenser/s503087 I use it for batch drinks, or good old water as I always have water accessible to guests. I’ll often write a business card-sized sign of the contents, and then use ribbon to wrap it around the dispenser.

    Also, for cutting boards, I love ordering from Etsy. You can often get custom sizes, choose your wood species, and I appreciate supporting a small shop.

    This Etsy shop had made me several cutting boards, including a HUGE custom-sized board measuring 22×34. It’s also my primary appetizer board. After the apps are finished up, I wipe it down, and then it’s onto its second function: it covers a sink and thus extends my buffet line/serving surface area. This shop also made me a rectangular board with juice grooves, and he engraved our last name in an Olde English font – I gave that to my husband last Christmas. Again, very happy with the quality: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdirondackKitchen?ref=yr_purchases

    This company made me a custom walnut tray, to keep by my utensil crock and cutting board, to house my cooking oils, salt, butter bell, sugar jar. It’s gorgeous in person. https://www.etsy.com/shop/farmhillwoodshop

    I truly love entertaining – we host our family’s Christmas Day dinner, and with that on the horizon plus my oldest daughter’s birthday on Dec 20th, my prep/grocery/cooking list is in high-gear right now. Hostess lists, being organized, and scheduling all make me happy :)

    Reply

    1. Sooooo much good and relatable info, Karen! Thanks so much for sharing. I definitely should’ve included drink dispensers… we use those ALL the time! I love the CB2 one you linked. You sound like the BEST hostess and expert entertainer :) Enjoy doing your thing this holiday season!! xo

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  3. I don’t entertain near as much as I’d like to. Maybe I need to work on that! Great line up. I think I may need to add one of the white platters to my collection. Although we strictly use cloth napkins in our day to day life, I like to keep a stash of paper cocktail napkins on hand for guests. I go with paper because guests stress out about messing up the cloth. I typically pick up fun patterns from Home Goods or Target (on clearance)

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    1. Great tip for finding paper napkins, Melissa! We also like to use cloth napkins on the daily, but I’m a sucker for a fun printed cocktail napkin. H&M Home always has good options :)

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