Etiquette for hosting

It tends to be a more American characteristic, but hosting your boss or a business acquaintance/colleague at home can happen. Even if you are hosting a Christmas Party or doing an event at home that has work colleagues, it is important to be a good and authentic host.

Most importantly this is the time when people see your true colours… organised, capable, multi-tasking….

A couple of important points:

• Present your home. No, don’t change it, but make the effort to clean up and ensure that the house is presented in a manner that would make your guests comfortable. There is no need to make the house look like its out of a magazine. It should be comfortable, clean and inviting. There should be sufficient chairs for all guests to have a seat.

• Dogs are not everyone’s best friend. Unless you and your colleagues work in a pet store, probably assume that your guests are not dog or cat lovers and keep your fur-children locked up and away. Make sure you also clean up any stray fur, pet fur is often an allergen, so do you best to remove fur from the main areas.

• Depending on the type of function, consider natural meeting points in your house. Do you want people congregating in the kitchen? Or the sitting room? Consider that wherever the pre-meal snacks are or the drinks is where people will naturally congregate. Control where people meet by using food!

• Prepare the meals in advance. There is nothing like a host sweating it up in the kitchen to ensure you get no air time with the invitee. Unless your significant other is happy to slave away, ensure you choose a meal that is easy to finish off.

• Know what your guest likes/doesn't like or has allergies too. There is nothing wrong with asking. A good host will be amenable. Last thing you want is a vegetarian when you only have a rib eye steak on the menu. Ask. Or if not possible, ensure that you have something readily available that uses different ingredients (if the steak has mushrooms, maybe have a fish meal in case) yes, it can be a pain, but think of it this way, you are already halfway prepared for the next day’s meal.

• No guest intends to be late (well, hopefully no guest you aren’t expecting to arrive on time). Target a meal that can handle delays. Of course, there is no excuse really for being late, its only polite for a guest to advise if running late, how many people these days do not have access to a mobile? Certainly not one in business!

• Alcohol. Dangerous territory. This takes some knowledge of your guest. As the host, you control the pouring and the amount of alcohol available. Whatever you choose, make sure you have water readily available too. If you are worried about drunk people, find away to ask at the start of the night how your guest intends to travel home, this will give you a guide. If your guest is driving, then be a good host and drink only the same amount that would assume you could drive too. A drunk host is a turn off!

• Timing there is nothing worse than asking guests to turn up at 7pm when dinner wont be ready until 9pm. Plan the evening well and everyone wins. As a rule, dinner should be served within 30 min of the nominated time. You never know if your guests have double planned, ie have house sitters for children or need to work in the evening, so having everything wrapped up in 2 hours is appropriate. Coffee and snacks can be available to extend the night. But consider you hosting no different to going to a restaurant.

It can be very fraught hosting, but go for simple and natural and prepare meals you are comfortable with or have trialled recently. The natural you should shine through.

Some good sites:

http://www.etiquettescholar.com/dining_etiquette/business_etiquette/business_entertaining_at_home.html

https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-dos-and-donts-of-entertaining-your-boss