The 10 things you must do before having friends over for dinner

ByGitanjali Roche, 01/30/2015

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While we love being invited over for dinner, there’s something special about inviting people over to your place for a meal. You get to bust out your fancy tableware, create a cozy ambiance and show-off your culinary prowess.

So what can you do to make sure that your evening goes off without a hitch? And are there ways to make sure that you, the host, can also enjoy the company of your friends without being confined to the kitchen?
Follow our guide to the 10 things you MUST do before having guests over, and we promise, your evening will be perfect.

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Find out about food allergies

One of the first things you should do when inviting people over is think about the menu.

And in order to do this efficiently, it's crucial that you find out if any of your guests have food allergies. Maybe they're lactose intolerant, avoiding gluten or follow a vegan diet. Or worse, one of your guests is seriously allergic to shellfish and you were planning on making a seafood bisque.

The quickest way to spoil an evening is sitting down to eat and realizing one of your guests can't touch the food you've been slaving over. So always make sure to ask about dietary habits beforehand to ensure that everyone will leave well-fed.