First Iteration

The bar for the first outing was set pretty low: can I get 5 guests to participate in a dinner party? Sounds simple enough but previous attempts at this fizzled for one reason or another. I used Facebook's 'event' feature and invited 20 or so friends. The guest list filled out quickly and I even had to turn a couple folks away.

First lesson learned: Evite has a better system for this, provided you have a large enough invitee list. The main advantage of Facebook is viral promotion through your event showing up on other users' walls. If you don't need the extra publicity, stick with Evite and make use of features like capping the size of the event and having guests select something to bring when they RSVP.

As for the food, I had a couple bottles of wine from my days in Stuart Cellars wine club that I thought would pair nicely with lamb stew. When I went grocery shopping, the pork selection was far superior to the lamb so I figured I'd make a game time substitution.

Second lesson learned: Avoid substitutions if at all possible once a dish has been announced. People may be allergic to literally anything and may base their RSVP on what you claim to be serving.

Overall, the event went well. 5 people showed up, with food, and everyone was very complimentary. A couple other random observations for future iterations:

- One or more guests will inevitably be running late, especially for weeknight events. Encourage those with tough commutes, erratic schedules, etc. to volunteer for dessert rather than appetizers.

- Good conversation is free flowing, lively and engages all the guests. This is usually takes care of itself but the host should keep a watchful eye to be sure of it.