1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 (Visit this post for a breakdown on how I style a table)
Prepping for any party can be challenging. But prepping for an iftaar party where you’re often scrambling to get food on to the table so that people can break their fast at the right time… is a lot trickier.
There are a few specific things that I generally like to do when party planning, and I find them to be very useful to get my food and table decor in order:
Plan, Plan, & Plan
I plan out my theme/color scheme weeks before an event. A theme sounds fancy, but it’s a great way to give you a bit of focus. Themes can range from beachy, rustic, Ramadan neutral with gold/brass accents (my personal favorite) and are also set by the things that I already have in my stash and can easily add to (like flowers). My menu is also set days (and sometimes weeks) in advance depending on how large the crowd is. This gives me ample time to go grocery shopping. Most of my food prep starts days before and I usually leave my desserts until the day before. I find that so many desserts actually taste so much better if I’ve given them a day to set!
Plan for Ready Made & Homemade Food Items
Don’t do everything yourself. If you can outsource and pick up food items, it’ll give you some extra time to focus on other things.
Pick up flowers a couple of days before
I like to stop by the flower shop a couple of days before an event. This is important because it gives any closed buds a chance to bloom by the time the event rolls around. I’ll either arrange them immediately or the morning of once the flowers have bloomed.
Design Tip: If you don’t trust your flower arranging skills, take your vase to the florist and have them make it for you!
Set your table at least 24 hours in advance
My table is fully set at least 24 hours before an event (maybe even before that). I grab all of the pretty decor, serving dishes, dinnerware and drink dispensers from around my house, and then make a list of other things that I need. This year I filled my table with so many beautiful West Elm accessories – they were the perfect addition to my neutral with gold/brass accents theme.
Write out a list of what to do, by time
This is something my mom used to do and it is the best advice! Write out a list of tasks and make sure to add a time to each one. You then know when to start things and it helps you think through how much time an item might take. And if you’re like me and love to cross off items on a list, make sure to do that too. IE: 4PM make salad, 5PM light candles, 5:30PM start pakora, etc.
Add Labels by your dishes
Put labels next to your serving dishes. You will be scrambling to set out food close to Iftaar time, so it may be helpful to put a label by your serving dishes to remind you of what is going in what. That way, if any of your guests want to help as well, they’ll know exactly how to help you.
Lastly, try not to get stuck in the kitchen cleaning up while you have people over. If you can sit with them and save the clean up until later, you’ll enjoy your event much more!
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