Dinner parties are having a moment, with supper clubs and recurring gatherings pulling people back to the table. Few hosts are more associated with the format than Martha Stewart, whose dinner party tips still set the standard more than 40 years after her first entertaining book.
What Are Martha Stewart’s Top Dinner Party Tips?
Stewart’s top tips for a dinner party come down to three things. Prep ahead, stick to dishes you have already cooked successfully, and design the night around the guest experience rather than the menu alone.
She laid out the philosophy in her 1982 book Entertaining, writing, “The key to entertaining is organization. A well-prepared hostess is a relaxed hostess.” More than 40 years later, she still tells home cooks to write a list, plan a theme and invest in dishware they can use across any event. Her bigger point, repeated in interviews this year, is that the host should actually enjoy the party too.
How Does Martha Stewart Prep for a Dinner Party?
Stewart preps days in advance, writes everything down and avoids any last-minute experimentation in the kitchen.
On On Air with Ryan Seacrest in 2023, Stewart said, “A lot prepared ahead of time. I think most of our mistakes are that we’re trying to do everything at the last minute. It’s better to have stuff to serve that’s been prepared a little bit before the guests get there.” She told The New York Times in 2025 that the menu itself is the place to start. “It’s all about organizing and feeling good about what you’re going to serve. Don’t try new dishes. Use the tried-and-true. So many people experiment, and they have a disaster. So make sure you’ve made it before.”
What Dishware Does Martha Stewart Recommend for Hosting?
Stewart recommends investing in one cohesive set of plain dishes, ideally white or a muted neutral, with enough shapes to cover every course of a meal.
She told The New York Times that hosts starting out should “get the best white dishes you can afford, and get enough of them. If they’re not white, then make them drab or make them, you know, cream color. But have enough of one kind of dish that has all the different shapes of dishes. The flat soup bowls, the round soup bowls. The cups and saucers. The cappuccino cups. The espresso cups. Have it all in one set. Then you’re set.” She keeps a deep collection of platters and serving bowls so she can match an entire table to a single palette.
How Has Martha Stewart’s Hosting Style Changed in 2026?
Stewart has scaled back. She still believes in heavy prep, but she now pushes hosts to keep menus simple and bring in help so the night does not run them ragged.
She told Elle Decor in 2025 that the all-out approach in Entertaining reflected the moment. “I think people are trying to be a little more simple. I went all out in [Entertaining] because it was the first book of its kind, and I really encouraged people to go all out. That said, some of the parties were quite simple, and many of them could be reduced in size or scope to present day habits.” Her current bottom line, she told the magazine, is to “Be organized, make a doable menu, have enough assistance so that you don’t feel too stressed out, and have a good time.”
