If anyone knows how to throw a holiday party, it’s Ree Drummond. Now in the seventh year of her popular Food Network series The Pioneer Woman and with a new cookbook just released, the culinary guru can throw a party with her eyes closed! While in New York working with Pillsbury’s revamped Bake-Off, she sat down with Us Weekly for a one-on-one and revealed her five best entertaining tips (plus a bonus tip!) around the holidays – watch the video above to hear her advice!
1. Set the mood with candles. Candles, candles, candles! Everywhere you can put a candle, I just think they add such a vibe.
2. Plan ahead. That doesn’t mean you have to do anything elaborate. But even if you just have a really simple menu, see what you can do the day before. It’ll make the party so much more fun. No one wants to go to a party where the hostess is frenzied and stressed.
3. Get dressed an hour before guests arrive because [if you don’t] then you’ll probably get dressed 20 minutes before they arrive!
4. My No. 1 one piece of advice for entertaining is do not sweat the small stuff. People aren’t coming to your house to scrutinize how its decorated. They’re not coming to scrutinize the food. If they’re friends, they’re coming to hang and have a good time. It’s the memories they’ll carry with them. I’ve really found that to be true through the years. I’m guilty of putting pressure on myself from time to time and I’ve finally just realized you know what? Whip out the queso if you don’t have time to make fancy mushroom hors d’oeuvres.
5. Set a timer if you put anything in the oven. I cannot rely on my own short-term memory!
Bonus Tip: Old Music. Don’t stress out trying to find the best current playlist. Play Bing Crosby.
