Pop-Up Dinner Party

Dinner parties are great fun, right? So are picnics in the park. When you combine the two together you get the best of both worlds: a pop-up dinner party.

My sister and I hosted our first pop-up dinner party last summer, and it was such a success that we've been plotting and planning our next event for months now.

Here are some recommendations for what you'll need if you'd like to host your own event that is guaranteed to dazzle your friends.

1. Plan ahead and share the load.

In our prep, we divided the work so that I prepared an appetizer, the main course, and dessert. My sister took care of the drinks, an appetizer, and the tablescape. This perfectly suits our interests and made everything so much less stressful than trying to tackle the project solo.

In retrospect, I think this is actually less stressful than hosting at home because I didn't have to clean the house and make the food and decorate for the event. That's a win-win in my book.

2. Select a gorgeous setting.

I scouted several locations around town that were picturesque and accessible. Some were ruled out because they were too far from the parking lot (a strong consideration when lugging coolers and folding tables!) or required a pricy permit.

We settled on Hunt Park; it's perched at a high point in the city and overlooks the tree framed skyline of downtown Ann Arbor. It was shaded, close to street parking, and picturesque. In other words, just perfect for our pop-up party.

When sending out the invitation, we opted to tell guests that the location was a surprise that would be texted and revealed two hours before dinner. This allowed us to have a backup plan in case the weather was poor or some other unplanned occurrence spoiled our first choice.

We also planned our start time for 7:00 p.m. so we'd have over 2 hours for dinner and enough time to pack things in before it got too dark to see. Everyone was handy with the cleanup, so we got it all in the trunks just as the last glimmer of light was fading.

3. Create a menu that suits the setting.

We debated the menu and finally came up with warm weather favorites that didn't require warming up. Everything was made ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic, and unwrapped at the park.

 We started with pimento cheese and celery, a recipe from local favorite Zingerman's, and baguette topped with creamy goat cheese, chopped pistachios, fresh thyme, and summer fruit compote from American Spoon. 

We sipped on two craft cocktails to start and had sangria and Pellegrino for later in the meal.

I made a summer favorite, lemon linguine with Cajun shrimp as the main dish, a huge loaf of wonderful French bread, and blueberry buckle for dessert.

4. Come prepared.

We showed up with folding tables and chairs as well as everything we needed for table settings. These are the easy to forget items I made sure I had before leaving home:

wet rags for wiping up messy serving dishes
serving spoons and forks
garbage and recycling bags
plastic wrap for taking leftovers home
crates for taking home dirty dishes
card table and table cloth for prep

We're plotting our next pop-up dinner for late June, and I'm excited to give it another go at our next secret location. More details to come!

Cheers!