7 Tips for Quick, Stress Free Entertaining

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Food Lion. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ever wanted to entertain but then mom life took up all your time, and you felt like there was no way to have friends over without it turning into a ‘thing’ that took up too much time? I’m pretty sure every hardworking mom has been there at some time in our journey through motherhood. It doesn’t have to be that way. Entertaining can be quick, simple and stress free. The best part is that means you have time to have fun with friends and family and keep up with mom life at the same time. 

As I’ve told you before, I’m great at seeing systems and ways to plan things. Through what has felt like a necessity to me, I’ve applied those to my life as a mom, and I’ve been able to create systems that help me be more efficient, so I don’t live feeling stressed and overwhelmed all the time. 

One thing that eluded me for a long time was how to entertain and keep it simple and fun versus a stressed hot mess that needs everything done and perfect. I’m sure you know what I mean, with busy families, we’re never going to want to have time for friends or family if we keep making things stressful and attempting perfection when we have people over. Let’s change that and make it fun!

To help you, I’ve put together my tips on how to make entertaining fit into mom life. You only need to read the post, download the printable and follow these tips to make your next get together stress-free.

Tips for Easy Entertaining

Tip 1: Make it easy

Yeah…that seems pretty obvious since that’s the title of the post, but make things easy on yourself. 

I’ve got a printable at the bottom of this post for you to jot everything down and keep track of what you need.

When you know you’re planning to have friends or family over, make it easy on yourself by asking them to bring something. 

Then use the printable to make your list of who’s bringing what and what you need to take care of. You can search the time saver section of the Food Lion Recipes for tons of quick and easy ideas. 

Once you have that figured out pop everything you need into your Food Lion cart and use Online Shopping with pick up or delivery. 

There’s no reason that you have to add that trip to the grocery store to your list. Not one person will know if you hand selected everything or if you let that super helpful Food Lion employee select it all for you. 

Tip 2: Add flowers

Add flowers to your cart when you are getting what you need. 

There is just something about fresh flowers that make things feel more special and like you made an effort. You can add an extra little touch with the fun candle holders made from recycled salsa jars. 

Tip 3: Use disposable

I’m normally not a fan of disposable because I try my best to be eco-friendly, but I’m learning to let that go a little with entertaining, so I don’t have hours of clean up afterword. 

I found the Chinet Cut Crystal plates and cups at Food Lion and ?LOVE them. I came up with a genius idea when I bought them. Now, I don’t need different plates for each holiday or season. I’ll use the clear plates and change out my placemats and napkins to match the occasion. That eliminates the need to have a cabinet full of paper plates as well. Yay!

I was setting something during spring, so I added a colorful placemat and the little pink plates I already had with the Chinet plates. 

Tip 4: Add easy fancy touches

Take a quick look back at the last picture. Do you notice the ribbon and flower? That took less than 5 minutes, and it looks so pretty. I think it looks impressive but it’s super easy.

Another easy ‘fancy’ idea is to pour your drink into a dispenser with ice. Not only does it make your drinks self serve for all your guests, but it also looks pretty. 

Add a few slices of fruit to make it look even more pretty. It takes a couple of minutes to slice a piece or two of fruit and place them in the dispenser, but it’s one of those quick things you can do to make a visual impact and make it look like you put in more effort than you did. 

You could also try this pretty fruit infused water.

Often, you can make an adult version of a similar drink. You can snag my sangria recipe, try this Strawberry Lemonade and Basil Mimosa,  or  Strawberry Lemonade Spritzer. They are all easy, pretty and yummy!

If desserts are more your style, try this easy berry trifle dessert. It’ll fit in the Chinet cut crystal glasses or wine glasses and look so pretty. 

Tip 5: Use the grocery deli

The grocery deli should be your bestie….if it’s not already. 

Food Lion has a great deli with a selection of pre-made dinners and deli items that make your prep fast and done. Check out the Weekly deals to save some money while you’re at it. 

For this, I used a precut cheese tray and put it on my wood tray to make it look like I went to the effort. I did not. Again, another thing that took minutes. You can do something similar with a 7 layer dip from the deli section and chips as well. Or if you prefer, you can make your own seven layer taco dip or tomato bruschetta. 

Tip 6: Make it fun

While you’re adding things to your cart, add some fun. That is, after all, the point of entertaining. 

I’m usually entertaining a group of my girls friends or another family, so fun looks like Organic Gummy Worms and chocolate! Yum!

Tip 7: Stay organized

That darn mom brain will get me every time. It’s one of the reasons I love organization and the systems I use and teach in my Organized Mom Class. I tend to forget less. 

While working on this post, I went to Food Lion to get all the supplies I needed. I didn’t make a list. Guess what, I forgot 2 things and wasted more time going back to the store. Uugh…That’s precisely what this printable is to designed to help.

I realize it says dinner menu at the top, but you can use it for any time you entertain. 

Write down what you’re having on the left as well as the guests coming. Then on the right side, make your list….and take it to the store with you or use it for popping everything in your cart and having it delivered to you. Either way, that list helps keep mom brain from sabotaging you and making things more stressful. 

Pull it all together

The last thing to do is to pull it all together. 

You can see how all those quick and easy touches pull everything together and make it look special. It is special, and it was easy. That left me time to enjoy the people I was spending time with versus feeling the stress of getting everything together.

Sign in below to get your entertaining printable. 

What are your tips for easy, stress free entertaining? Leave them below and help other moms with even more ideas. ? Thanks!