Planning a dinner parties and entertaining guests does not have to be a harrowing experience. If this is something you feel is completely out of your realm, stick with recipes that you have had success with in the past. You should never try out a new recipe at a dinner party without having at least experimented with it first. The kind of food you serve will also depend on the occasion and the number of guests you plan on inviting. If you know the people, you can make inquiries as to whether they have any food allergies, so you can be careful not to include these on the menu.

All dinner parties start off with appetizers. Guests nibble on the hors d'oeuvres while they are waiting to sit down and they chat and discuss various topics. While you want to have a variety of appetizers available, you should not have so many that the guests will be too full to enjoy the meal. This is designed to be just a taste of your exquisite culinary skills. Some suggestions for appetizers include:

* Fruit and Yogurt. An array of fruits with a yogurt dip.

* Vegetable tray with a sauce for dipping.

* Crab legs with a seafood sauce

* Brushetta cut into small bite size pieces

* Kabobs made with pineapple, mandarin oranges and cubes of cooked ham

There are several ways you can serve the appetizers at your dinner party. If you have a large room, you can place trays of the appetizers at various points - on tables, coffee tables, etc. You can also serve the appetizers as you work your way through the guests. This also gives you a chance to chat with each one and make him/her feel welcome. One thing you do have to remember is that you need to have plenty of napkins for the guests to use.