Chef Steven GordonWith Staff At Steven Hensel's Home

For me the perfect cocktail party is one where I actually have a good time and my guests leave feeling happy, feted and thoroughly entertained. My partner, Patrick, and I don’t throw many parties so when we do we like to do it “right.”

God knows we are all so busy these days that one can hardly find the time to invite the guests in the first place. Hand written invites are out of the question for me, and calling each person doesn’t work either. We’ve all seen Evites in our electronic mailboxes but I prefer Pingg. There are many elegant options to personalize your invitation and for $10 you can opt out of any obnoxious ads popping up. It’s also a very organized way of tracking who’s received, seen and responded to the invitation.

How many to invite is a function of what your home can comfortably accommodate. You also want a balance of enough people to energize the space but not so many that you can’t spend time with each your guests – for our house 40 to 50 is a good fit. Our home is not large compared to many of the projects that we work on, so I like to remove the dining chairs and barstools to create additional standing space.

There are many elements to consider in creating a memorable evening and none are more important than hiring professional help that deliver the goods. At a recent soiree we hired the help of one of Seattle’s best caterers, chef Steven Gordon stevenagordon@comcast.net who is also a good friend. He’s pictured above, second in from the left with his capable crew in my kitchen just before the guests’ arrival. His delicious menu was wonderfully prepared, but he also takes particular care with the presentation and is sensitive to this designer’s style with his polished presentation. We chose to set up a buffet of his delicacies on our dining table and also opted to have the wait staff pass additional hors d’oeuvres on beautifully garnished trays.

A good caterer, like Steven Gordon, takes care of most every detail of the evening in terms of supplying food, glassware, dishware, wines, mixers and even the clean up at the end. With so much talented help, the hosts were free to mingle with their guests. We include a mix of friends, neighbors, clients and colleagues that I think would enjoy one another – its also a great way to reciprocate to those who’ve had us over. For drinks I like to offer a basic full bar, a choice of two white wines, and an array of non alcoholic beverages.

 I think it’s important to create a casual atmosphere that is also on the sophisticated side. To get there I don’t set a dress code, no ties required and personally I tend to dress down so any guests that have done so feel comfortable. I like to play music that has plenty of energy but isn’t heavy rock either; Buddha Bar is an excellent resource for worldly party tunes. I eschew formal floral arrangements in favor of unusual cut flowers in powder rooms and entries. For our recent party, above, I chose to display tall grasses in  sandblasted glass vases on the dining table. It added drama but didn’t compete visually nor with aromas of the beautiful spread of edibles. Scented candles (not near the food) add sparkle, mood and warmth, too.