Holiday Dinner Party Made Easy

A snippet of evergreen or holly makes this invitation to a sit-down dinner stand out from a pile of one-dimensional holiday cards. To replicate this invite, open the link below to get the template, then print it out on card stock, and cut along the dotted lines. Using a hole punch, make two side-by-side holes at the top of each card. Thread a small length of ribbon from back to front, tie it to a twig, and knot.

Open Holiday Dinner Party Invite here.

No, you don't have to make everything from scratch. Your guests will never notice if you cut a few corners and take advantage of packaged ingredients. You can save more than an hour of prep time by relying on frozen pearl onions (no peeling!), presliced mushrooms, precut stew meat and carrots, and pre-bagged lettuce.

Menu

Shopping List

• 3 1/2 to 4 pounds stew or chuck meat
• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 14.5-ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 small onion
• 1 whole carrot
• 1 head garlic
• 1 1-pound bag baby carrots
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 pound fresh or frozen pearl onions
• 1 pound sliced button mushrooms
• 8 russet potatoes
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 quart whole milk
• 3 bunches (about 3 pounds) broccoli rabe
• 1 12-ounce jar red currant jelly
• 1 1.5-ounce jar red pepper flakes
• 1 8-ounce jar Dijon mustard
• 3 heads Bibb or Boston lettuce
• 2 navel oranges
• 3 ounces pecan halves
• 4 ounces goat cheese (optional)
• 1 shallot
• 1 8-ounce carton orange juice
• 1 12.7-ounce bottle white wine vinegar
• 2 pints vanilla ice cream
• 2 pints chocolate ice cream
• 1 7.5-ounce bag hard peppermint candies

What to Sip

Tradition holds that whatever wine goes in the stew should go in the glass. That's fine, but wine expert Andrea Robinson suggests matching rich beef stew and bitter broccoli rabe with an assertive Rioja (such as Bodegas Montecillo Rioja Reserva, $16) or a Petite Syrah (like Bogle, $10).

Two Days Before

• Make the Ice Cream Bombe.
• Select the music.
  

The Day Before

• Set the table. Holly sprigs or evergreen branches can add seasonal color to the table. Clip cuttings from your yard or your Christmas tree.
• Clean the living room, dining room, and bathrooms; edit the medicine cabinet, in case of nosy guests.
• Make the Beef Bourguignonne.
  

Early in the Day

• Unmold the Ice Cream Bombe onto a platter and return to freezer.
• Make the salad and the vinaigrette; refrigerate them separately.
  

Two Hours Before Guests Arrive

• Mash the potatoes; transfer to oven.
  

One Hour Before Guests Arrive

• Heat the stew.
• Make sure the dishwasher is empty.
• Change into your party clothes.
  

15 Minutes Before Guests Arrive

• Light the candles and turn on the music.
• Set out some chilled sparkling water.
• Uncork the wine.
  

15 Minutes Before Dinner

• Toss the salad.
  

After the First Course

• Make the broccoli rabe.
  

After Dinner But Before Dessert

• Place a load of dishes in the dishwasher.
• Sprinkle the candy over the Ice Cream Bombe.
  

After the Last Guest Leaves

• Clean the dishes before going to bed so you don’t have to face them in the morning.