What's your preferred number?

[rich]

When throwing a dinner party (and I do one once a week), what's you favorite number of guests?

Including myself and my wife, I feel most comfortable with six. It seems things go very smoothly. I can plate all the dishes as my wife delivers them to the table, the soup stays hot as I serve each one and four bottles (two white, two red) of wine work perfectly.

Eight would be my next choice, but I hate cooking for four. With four the conversation appears to wane when I'm serving and when we're cleaning the table. The number of wine bottles never is right and it's more difficult to pace the courses.

Edited February 11, 2005 by rich (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Same as you, Rich... six is about right and eight is fine too, if they are compatible ... anything over 8 and I lose my focus ...

[fifi]

I run with a pretty casual crowd so being able to spend a lot of effort plating (unless we are cooking buddies having fun with a concept) doesn't really figure in my plans. That being said, I like four and a maximum of six for a sit down affair. I just like smaller groups. Beyond that, the crowd mushrooms and it is definitely a buffet type affair. I actually can only put up with one of those maybe once a year.

[browniebaker]

The saying that dinner guests should number more than the graces and fewer than the muses seems to make practical sense: four seems to be the bare minimum for good conversation although I prefer six for more interaction, and eight is the most I could ever imagine cooking for. Six is my favorite, as my table most comfortably seats six. I could accomodate eight, and even ten if the chairs touch, but I can't imagine voluntarily having more than eight, ever.

[EllenC]

Six people is definitely my favorite. I do eight pretty easily and I have done upwards to twenty, but that's just not comfortable in my house. Six people is about the right mix of conversation and food.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Twenty.

[NulloModo]

I don't ever throw formal 'dinner parties' but when cooking for others four is the perfect number for me. It means I don't have to make multiple batches of whatever I am making, there is usually good conversation, without it seeming like a crowd, and I don't have to take too many dietary constraints into account.

[Shalmanese]

All my service ware is for 4 people :D. But I'm not currently attached so it's me + 3 friends which seems to keep the conversation going.

My dinner parties tend to be overly elaborate as it's a rare chance to do big, complex set pieces so anything more than 4 gets exausting. For less formal parties, 6 - 8 seems good.

[fou de Bassan]

We have from 6 to 10 people over every week or so. With more than 20 I start to panic but I'm most comfortable with 6 to 10 in a casual setting.

[Luckylies]

six. me my boyfriend, a wildcard and another couple. never three couples, ick.

It works because one chicken is never enough, beer comes in sixes, buns whatever, it almost seems less wasteful to cook for six people than for four (perhaps I need to start portioning better) also, with six people, five say nice things after the meal

[pkenna]

Six seems like the most comfortable number for me from a cooking/serving viewpoint, 8 doesn't change things too much.......however, my table only seats 4 comfortably (gotta love apt living) so I often end up with too few people or I have to rearrange major furniture....

[pkenna]

oops.....double posted... Edited February 14, 2005 by pkenna (log)

[Busboy]

I like eight or ten -- enough to fill the table and get a proper crowd buzz going. More than ten and it gets tricky.

Edited February 14, 2005 by Busboy (log)