In this article we’re talking to the people who want tasty, non-take out food to share with friends.
Sometimes, you find yourself deeply longing for meaningful social connection. But you are also just so dang tired. Long week with kids, but you’re craving being around someone closer to your own age? Burned out from studying, but too tired and broke to go out? Exhausting few weeks at work and you need to recharge your social batteries?
If you feel the need to have meaningful social interaction, but the thought of making dinner or being a peppy host/hostess is just too much and becomes a barrier to having friends over — read on.
Simplify the cooking process – Decide on a low-effort meal such as a slow-cooker, set it and forget it meal. Or perhaps a one pot pasta or soup meal. There are also some pretty low fuss sheet-pan meals.
Use as many disposable products as possible during the prep-stage. Line the sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Use a slow cooker liner.
Let you friends know you’re tired / Set the expectation – I try to give guests relevant information when extending the invite. If you’re exhausted, a text is fine. I’ve texted invites that went something like this “We’re exhausted from the week, but I’ve missed seeing you guys and would love to get together. Are you and John free Friday or Saturday night?”
I’ve also texted invites to girlfriends, and then said “I’m going to be in yoga pants or pj’s, so please feel free to do the same if you’d like. Can’t wait to see you!”
Simplify the prep and clean-up plan – Thinking through, in advance of people coming over, how you will set-up and clean-up will help you calibrate how to use your energy before, during, and after hosting guests.
If certain parts of hosting are more tiring than others, think through how you can mitigate that part. If setting the table and laying out the food in serving dishes seems like too much, consider doing a buffet style from the counter before sitting down at the table. If starting down a sink full of dirty dishes is going to prevent you from having people over, use paper plates.
Decide on entertainment – If you’re craving meaningful social connection then a movie is likely not on the docket. Think through what you DO have energy (physical and/or emotional) for and let your guests know. “We’re going to play charades from the couch!” Or games like JackBox have games that you can do while sitting down. Maybe everyone has energy to sit at a table and play a board game, but even that can be too much for exhausted folks.
Set a (mental) timer – If you know it’ll take 30 minutes from “Well, we should get to bed soon” to when you wave goodbye, and another 30 minutes until you can get in bed – mentally set a timer to say goodbye 60 minutes before you actually want to be in bed.
Post event – Send a thank you note in the same way you extended the invite. If you texted an invite, the next day text them a quick thank you. “It was great to have you guys/gals over and hearing about the project Jane is doing. Thank you for making time to join us for the evening!”
Doing a mental review can be helpful for future events. You can also ask yourself these two questions: What went well? What could have gone better? By answering these two questions you can get a lot of information about what you want to do next time. Everyone enjoyed playing cards! But the slow cooker dinner wasn’t started in time, which meant we ate after a few rounds of cards. So maybe next time we use the insta-pot or start the slow cooker sooner.”
In conclusion – Think through what you can offer your guests, offer it, and enjoy what comes of it!
What is your go-to low effort meal? Please drop it in the comments!
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