No Group Reservations? No Problem! Have Your Party At Home

Celebrations—whether they be birthdays, anniversaries, or graduations—look much different this year. Just because you can’t celebrate normally doesn’t mean you have to ditch the celebrations altogether. While you may not be able to get a group reservation at a restaurant, you can still host a party at your house. Here are our tips on finding a caterer in Maryland, keeping your party socially distanced, and how to prepare your home for your celebration.

Consider Your Catering Options

Choosing a Caterer in Maryland for Your Next Party

Switching things up to host a house party can still be just as seamless as going out to a restaurant. To keep things stress-free, consider getting your party catered. The Smokehouse Grill offers safe, contact-free drop-off options and small packages that can fit your needs. Additionally, The Smokehouse Grill takes safety precautions to ensure both our customers and our employees remain safe throughout the pandemic. 

Having your party during the day for breakfast or lunch? The Smokehouse Grill offers breakfast and lunch options. The breakfast station includes scrambled eggs, homefries, and freshly baked pastries so everyone will find something to enjoy. For lunch, consider one of our three lunch packages which can feed between 15 and 20 people. From a hot lunch package with our delicious pulled pork to a cold platter with our Smokehouse barbeque chicken salad, you have lots of options. 

For dinner, choose from our array of barbeque package options. We have selections of barbeque chicken, pulled pork, and our Smokehouse pit beef. All of the packages come with your choice of one of our many sides, so no one at your party will go hungry. Everything is made fresh in house and we prioritize sourcing our food locally. 

Keeping things COVID-friendly 

Tips on How To Throw a Safe Dinner Party From A Caterer In Maryland

We can’t ignore the guidelines laid out by the CDC. There are certain safety precautions you must take when hosting a party at home to ensure all of your guests stay safe. 

• Limit your guestlist. Try to keep your guestlist as consolidated as possible. Invite the most important people to the event, but keep other people off the list for a smaller, safer environment. 
• Ask your guests to stay home if they aren’t feeling well. Remind your guests that if they’ve felt sick or have experienced COVID-19 symptoms they should stay home. If they’ve been in contact with anyone who’s tested positive for COVID within the last 14-days, they should stay home as well. 
• Keep it socially distanced. Have your party outside if you have the space to do so. If you don’t, try to keep your party as spaced out as possible. For extra ventilation inside, open up a window. Keep separate household families at least 6-feet away from each other. 
• Provide hand sanitizer throughout your space. Where hand washing won’t be as feasible, set up hand sanitizer bottles throughout the space. Remind your guests to continually sanitize their hands.
• Wear masks. When remaining six-feet away from another person isn’t possible, have your guests wear masks. Ask your guests to bring masks even if there is enough space or provide your guests with masks. 
• Limit who touches or serves food. When it comes time to serve food, avoid a buffet style where everyone grabs their own food. Instead, appoint one or two people to serve people their food to limit contact. 

Preparing your home for a party

Prep for Your Party Early for a Stress-Free Event

When shifting a party to your own house, you’ll want to consider the logistics of how to set up your party to keep everyone socially distanced and comfortable. 

• Host your party in your garage if you have one. This will help you space more people out and may give you more room to set up tables. Clear out your garage space to ensure it’s safe for people to walk around and avoid tripping on anything that may be laying out. 
• Don’t be afraid to move furniture around. If you’re working with a small space, you might want to reconfigure your furniture to make more space for a large table or several smaller tables. If you still don’t have the space for tables, consider using TV trays so your guests can sit on your furniture and still have somewhere to put down their plates. 
• Utilize pillows and floor space in your home for extra seating if you don’t have enough room or furniture to accommodate your guests. Make the furniture open for older people who may have trouble getting up and down but allow your more agile guests to sit comfortably on the floor. Use coffee tables or end tables as makeshift dinner tables for your guests on the floor. 
• Make spaces in multiple rooms in your house. You don’t have to limit your party to one room in your house. Utilize multiple rooms in your house to spread people out. Set up areas for your guests in your living room, dining room, kitchen, and any other common area rooms you may have. 
• Use disposable plates and utensils for easy cleanup after your party. Unless you’re having a small party, you probably won’t want to spend a lot of time cleaning up afterward. When you opt for disposable options, you can throw away or recycle the mess of the night without spending a lot of time doing the dishes. Additionally, set a marker out so your guests can keep track of their drinks. People may forget which drink is theirs or set their drink down and forget it. By marking your drinks, you’ll not only cut down on waste, but you’ll also limit the possibility of drinking someone else’s drink. 

Just because you may not be able to celebrate your next event normally doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate at all. Shift your next party to your house and still stay festive. When you consider a caterer in Maryland, keep The Smokehouse Grill in mind for your catering needs. Contact us today to get a quote.