Here’s a tip to help you stay sane if you’re hosting a holiday fête:

Rather than rummaging through your kitchen cabinets in a panic at the zero hour for the right sized and shaped serving dishes while your guests politely starve in the other room, plan out ahead of time which platters you’ll use for each dish you’ll be serving.

Go through your menu offerings and allocate a serving dish for each. Slap some post-it notes on the dishes to remind you of the intended contents. You can easily toss these out come serving time.

You can also opt to use slightly more elegant labels (this set of beaded rectangular erasable ceramic place cards is lovely, as are these Martha Stewart place cards).

When it’s time to plate, you can extend the placards lifespan by using them as dish identifiers for your guests. 

So tell me: have you ever tried this tip? Would you? What color are your underpants?

Bye!