Planning a dinner party can be enjoyable and exciting or dread-laden and full of angst and fear. How you plan will spell the difference between success and failure. Over-plan and things will look contrived, under-plan and you will be ordering pizza for your guests.

The first step to the perfect dinner party is to mix and match guests. You want the mixture fun and stimulating; a little edgy but not obnoxious. Invite people you know will likely get along and pair couples or singles according to personality types.

For instance, do not pair a serious political advocate with a morose math professor. At the same time, do not stick your three most outgoing and gregarious guests at one end of the table. You are striving for balance.

Next, consider the home décor. You do not want to go overboard – breaking out the heirloom china, but you do want to have nicely appointed dishes and glassware; perhaps Italian or Spanish pottery for your dishes and sturdy but elegant glassware. Silver accessories are always a nice touch at a dinner party.

Additionally, you want to make sure that you have enough dishes for everything you plan on serving. You might also want to consider not using any heirloom pieces that, if broken, will devastate you and ruin the party mood. As with your guests, you are also striving for balance with your table setting – attractiveness with practicality.

Finally there is the food and drink. This is often the area that most people spend the most time on, but in reality, if mood is set properly and guests matched properly, you could serve hot dogs and most people would not complain. Look at you oddly maybe, but enjoy it just the same.

Make sure that whatever food you serve appeals to all your guests and have alternatives for guests with food allergies, preferences or diet restrictions. Asking your guests beforehand for ideas of what they cannot or will not eat is a good idea. Make sure as well, when you are preparing your meal that the ingredients you use will not conflict with any personal needs or preferences.

Always have some type of appetizer to keep people sated until the main course, and have a cocktail time beforehand to let guests get acquainted before they all sit down to dinner. Serve traditional drinks during the cocktail period and serve wine during dinner. Have a selection of red and white and other liquor available in case someone does not prefer wine.