The Folio Hire Guide to Home Entertaining

We love entertaining, it’s why we started Folio in the first place!

Distilled from a lifetime of lunches, dinners and cocktail parties, these tips lay the foundation for laughter filled nights and new friendships

Our two guiding principles

Be organised

Keep the stress levels down so you enjoy the process as well as the evening!

Start shopping or getting things in place one, two or even three days ahead if you can and you’ll feel much more in control.

Keep the menu simple

Simple done well and presented beautifully is the goal. Do as much as you can the day before and aim to finish your prep on the day at least two hours before guests arrive. Serve shared bowls and platters of food rather than individually plated entrees and mains and don’t attempt more than one dish you haven’t cooked before.  Have a beautiful platter ready for when guests arrive.

Our tips

Florals

The only rule is you must have florals of some kind! Steer clear of lilies that stain, otherwise let your creativity flow. From single flowers to luscious bouquets or sprigs of bay and olive leaves, just have fun. Folio has a range of glass vases for centrepieces or showcase arrangements.

Caterers

The home entertaining cheat code! Nowadays you can have almost anything delivered. Platters or canapes for arrival while you make the mains? Everything delivered for you to heat and take the credit? Or even fully catered with staff will let you feel like a host and a guest at the same time.

Guest List

French wisdom says half of the guests you should know and love, the other half you’d love to get to know. We’re not going to argue with that.

Drinks

If in doubt, champagne. Set up a self-service bar away from the kitchen bench so it doesn’t interfere with the serving of the food. Have bottles on ice, jugs of water, clean glasses, lemon slices, a bottle opener and a crisp white bar cloth to dry bottles and for those minor spills. Guests will help themselves, meaning you aren’t running to the fridge all night. Have at least one thoughtful non-alcoholic option.

One thing that’s forgotten more than you think is ice. Folio can supply bags of ice, avoiding those last minute text messages to guests asking them to swing past the gas station.

Tablescape

Simple and minimalist? Glam or rustic? Check out @foliohire Instagram for inspiration or visit our showroom for a chat and a play, mixing and matching from our large range of flatware, cutlery, linen, platters and props.

Stick to two or three colours and play with height (candlesticks, food risers, florals) without creating a barrier in the middle of the table.

If you’re not hiring and don’t have enough matching sets, no problem, lean into the purposefully eclectic look and carry it over into your platters, glasses etc.

The Welcome

Does anyone still need to be reminded to have a playlist ready? Make sure it’s long enough to last the night or put it on repeat.  Be dressed 45 min before you expect your first guest, light your strategic amount of candles (by strategic we mean no such thing as too many), start the music, pour yourself a small drink and sit down. Enjoy your beautiful room and the feeling of being so organised. If you’re like us you’ll find some completely unnecessary small adjustments to make to the flowers or styling. This way you’ll be in a great mood when the first guest arrives.

The Small Stuff

As in, don’t sweat it. If something doesn’t go quite to plan (usually in the cooking) go with the flow, don’t bring attention to it and don’t apologise for anything your guests haven’t noticed. Confidence is key - we bet your guests will be having such a great time they won’t be any the wiser.

If something worse happens, laugh it off and remember champagne goes with anything, even delivered pizza

The Clean Up

After a night of exceptional hospitality, watching you tidy up can be a little awkward for some guests. Since a good host never wants their guests to feel awkward, clear the table, but leave the dishes for tomorrow.

Did you know our hire equipment doesn’t need to be washed at the end of the night? Just place crockery and glassware back into the cubes they were delivered in and our team will collect the very next day, saving several dishwasher cycles.