My motto, and I believe an organized motto, is that you can never plan too early. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, or really with any get together you plan, there are so many things you can do in advance that will really simplify things for you and allow you to really have time to enjoy your guests.

As you can see in this picture, everything is on the table that I’ll need for my get together except for the hot and the cold dishes that you can’t really put out until the last minute. It’s actually much easier to do it before your guests arrive than to still be doing it when they arrive, or after they arrive because you can focus 100% of your attention on the task at hand and you aren’t trying to weave in and out of people to do it.

Here’s a quick play by play of how you’ll do it:

1. Make a list of the food and drink you’ll be serving.
2. Think of how each one will be served – in a crock pot, in a hot pan, on ice, etc.
3. Think about what goes with each item – crackers, Fritos, etc.
4. Think about what each thing will be served with – slotted spoon, butter knife, etc.
5. Think about what your guests will need to consume it with – plates, forks, napkins, etc
6. Place serving item (tray for cheese ball) with what goes with it (crackers) and what it will be served with (butter knife) all together. Repeat for each item you’re serving.
7. Layout the table so that hot food is away from edges if you have small children around, crock pots will be nearest to wall plugs, etc.