If you have been invited to a dinner party as a guest, make sure you know what the etiquette is on taking gifts. You don’t want to turn up empty-handed if everyone else is bringing a present. If you know you will need to take something with you, why not buy your gift online, rather than picking it up on the way. This will show that you have puts lots of thought into your selection.
Champagne
The first and most obvious gift to take along to a dinner party is a nice bottle of champagne. Remember that champagne is the region that the grape is grown in, so it will only be seen a genuine article if the grapes are from the right area. If you are scratching your head and wondering can you buy alcohol online? Then the answer is yes and you can get some cracking discounts too, so it is really worth your while checking out the online retailers.
If you are hosting the party, bear in mind that this is a likely gift. Your guests will expect to drink it on the night, probably before the meal. So make sure that you have enough clean champagne flutes to hand and an ice bucket to make sure that it is served chilled.
Chocolates
Another popular dinner party gift is a box of fine chocolates. There are a huge selection available online. You can try buying novelty artisan products from Etsy, like chocolate mushrooms, which are a great talking point. Or you can go for a high end product such as these. If you know that our host is not keen on chocolate you can always take some wrapped amaretti biscuits or fruit jellies instead.
Party Games
A great icebreaker and a more usual dinner party gift is a party game, which are readily available on ebay. You have the old traditional favorites like Scrabble, Clue, and Pictionary. Or depending on your audience, you could go for one of the more edgy and controversial card games. Try Exploding Kittens or Cards Against Humanity to start with. Just remember that these last selections are not suitable for anyone that is offended easily. So maybe not the best gift for Grandma’s annual get together!
Alcohol
Of course not everyone drinks, but for the people who do, having choices of alcoholic beverages at a party is always a bonus. For the person hosting the party, ensuring a variety of drinks is provided will hopefully cater to many people, but we can’t please everyone. To make the choice easier, it may be worth checking out sites like The Bottle Club to search for a variety of drinks that could be worth buying for a party.
Cheese Board
There Is nothing quite like rounding off a delicious meal, with some cheese and wine. If you are the host and you know one of the guests will be bringing some cheese, make sure you have crackers, grapes, and chutneys to serve it with. A variation of cheeses will usually go down with any guests but to ensure you have enough, the cheese counter you buy from will even have calculators so you can specifically measure the quantity of cheese you need so no one misses out when dining on some delicious cheese.
As a guest, it can be confusing to know what cheese people will like, so it’s often best to go for a selection pack. Surprisingly you can buy good cheese online. This is because you can often purchase it directly from the producer, so you know that the quality will be high. Look out for type s that have received awards for their flavor and texture. Make sure you include some soft, hard, blue and goat’s milk cheese so everyone will be happy. Always buy the best possible cheese that you can afford, as you will be able to tell the quality by the taste.