Photography: Kristy Noble
Stylist: Katie Phillips

Albert Hill, The Modern House co-founder; Flowers, Mountains etc founder
Plan for everyone’s dietary requirements. People are happiest when they have the food that they want.
Get things in that you know people particularly like – a particular brand of beer or type of biscuit or tea.
On the day, speak to people who don’t easily speak up.

Katy Cox, Wasted Kitchen founder and recent podcast guest
Relax! Remember it's as much about you enjoying the event as your guests. Guests will pick up on your energy and relax themselves. Always have good cheese and chocolate in the fridge. Great for impromptu sit downs and entertaining and a kitchen bonus into the new year.

Ben Tish, food writer and chef
Informal is so much better and easier and I actually think it looks very cool. I've taken to preparing a hot buffet in the kitchen. Let guests queue, chat, grab a plate and serve themselves with whatever they want and then take to the table. I just make sure everything looks wonderful and abundant and easy to self serve. It’s more than a novelty and you’ll get some fun conversations whilst people queue. It's easier for the host and guests.

Zoe Anderson, Senior Prime Specialist, The Modern House & Inigo
Don't ask people to take their shoes off if you're expecting people to dress up. There’s nothing worse than being handed a pair of ill-fitting slippers to wear that don't go with your outfit!

Russell Davies, Marketing and Product Director, The Modern House & Inigo
When my son was little we would stage a fake New Year's Eve for him and his friends. We'd move all the clocks in the flat forward four hours and invite everyone with kids round to ours. We'd convince them it was midnight at 8pm and do all the over-excited New Year stuff, shouting, singing, dancing. Then everyone could go home, put the kids to bed and have a peaceful New Year.
“And remember: departures are as important as greetings. We always make sure we have a moment and a gift when everyone leaves. Even if it's just a hug and a Quality Street.

Zac Inwald, chef
My go-to format for a great canapé/snack for hosting is always something tasty on top of something crispy. This often takes the form of something on toast but I'm also a big fan of a Potato Smile. It’s way less labour intensive and quite fun and playful (not to mention gluten-free). I went to a friend's party recently who served Smiles with homemade whipped cods’ roe and chives and it was a revelation. With that in mind I would like to present:

Potato Smiles with Jamon, Aioli and Guindilla Peppers

1 bag of Potato Smiles (usually has about 30-35 per bag)
15 thin slices of Jamon
200g spicy aioli (I always find Hellmann's mixed with some freshly crushed garlic and a squeeze of fresh lemon does the trick)
200g sweet pickled guindilla peppers

Cook the Potato Smiles as per instructions on the packet.
Very thinly slice the peppers, discarding the root.
When the Smiles have cooled slightly, top with half a slice of the Jamon, a dollop of aioli and a sprinkling of the sliced peppers.
Watch the hungry, slightly drunk masses demolish these in seconds. Put a bottle of Spanish hot sauce out on the side for some extra points, the Espinaler brand is my favourite.

Sebastian Redford, owner, Forza Wine
We host less than we should is the honest truth; when your family is made up of two kids (and a third en route!) an art therapist and a restaurateur, it's tricky to find the time. However, Lerryn and I went through a period of taking it in turns to invite “interesting people who we hadn't seen for ages” for dinner. Generally speaking it'd be a couple of nice bottles of wine from work and a decent piece of fish with something simple, delicious and easy to prepare. The kids are in bed, cooking is happening whilst our friends are sitting down in the kitchen and there's some excellent music playing. Lerryn is an artist when it comes to pre-dinner snacks. She used to have a cafe, so it'll always be Lerryn’s cafe-style snacks pre-dinner (gherkins wrapped in cheese, crisps in bowls, stuff that is simple to prepare). None of it is particularly different or extravagant, just good people with good food in a nice space.

Sebastian Redford’s home is currently on the market with The Modern House

Arne Maynard, garden designer and owner of Allt y Bela
We love hosting close friends and family over Christmas. We draw on pagan traditions and decorate the house with big boughs and branches from the garden and surrounding hedgerows, along with plenty of mistletoe, adorned with twinkling lights. We try to hang a few sweet treats among the foliage for people to find and enjoy after dinner.

The Modern House are currently selling two Arne-Maynard designed gardens at Pine Grove and Oxford Gardens

Albert Hill, The Modern House co-founder; Flowers, Mountains etc founder
Turn up on time.
Don’t offer to help with the washing up – rather just quietly get on with helping when the host is doing it. Asking will oblige the host to say no when they really mean yes.
Bring a gift. Don’t worry too much about what that gift is – it’s more of a symbolic offering than anything else. I try to bring things that you can only get in my local area.

Akilah Cohen, content creator
Being in the throes of renovation, I am embracing the art of being a guest and usually take an easy-to-share dessert. My roster includes baked cheesecake, tiramisu or key lime pie – they're crowd pleasers and don't give the host any extra work. As I'm without an oven this festive season, I'm pivoting to a party-starting prop box: a selection of wigs, a bubble gun, a portable karaoke mic ... just try to resist.

Francine Raymond, gardener, journalist and host of The Modern House How My Garden Grows podcast
Bring a simple seasonal gift: a small pot of bulbs such as snowdrops, muscari or crocus with moss on top; a jar of pumpkin seeds roasted with sea salt; or a bag of mixed nuts quickly fried in olive oil and mixed spice. Festive packaging using dried flowers, seed heads and string make things like this the perfect present.

Wilhemina Madeley, Area Lead, The Modern House and Inigo
Always bring something as a guest. A gesture is so important and never ever take it back home with you even if it's left undrunk/unopened!

Zac Inwald, chef
Hospitality is a two-way street and my eastern European Ashkenazi ancestors would be rolling in their graves if I ever arrived at someone's house empty handed.

I think the oft-fallback position of bringing a bottle of wine can be a bit fraught though. Tastes are very personal, unless you know the host very well you always risk getting something that's just going to slowly turn to vinegar in the back of their cupboard. I also find that the bottle of wine can sometimes be a bit confusing as to whether it's intended as a gift for later or something that you’d like to quaff at the party. I’ve often seen a special bottle I'd picked out for a host ingloriously smashed back in plastic cups, and vice versa.

As an alternative may I suggest making a batched cocktail. It's more personal (sometimes I even name them after the host), shows you’ve put a bit more thought and effort into it (even if that is just pouring 3 different boozes into a bottle and mixing it around) and is undoubtedly there to be drunk. Also 1000% fantastic if you want to do this when hosting as well. People love it and it makes it much easier than mixing drinks to order when you should be socialising.

A few tips and tricks for the batched cocktail:
Don’t pick something that needs to be shaken, you don’t know for sure if your host has the equipment (or if they do, if they want to use it) and you don’t want to lug it around yourself.
Try to avoid things with a lot of fresh/volatile ingredients, such as lime or lemon juice, that will deteriorate.
Remember to dilute! When cocktails are shaken or stirred down, the room temp booze interacts with the ice and melts some of it into the drink as it chills. If you’re pouring something directly from the fridge into a glass you don’t get that interaction so you need to add a bit of water to the batch.

If your cocktail needs ice….bring it!

Here’s a recipe for a cocktail I made for my friend Hannah’s big shindig. It's a take on a manhattan with scotch whiskey and cinnamon

The Han-Hattan (makes 1 x 750ml bottle)
450ml unpeated scotch whiskey
200ml sweet red vermouth (my favourite is Muz Vermut)
16 dashes of angostura bitters
85ml of water
1 stick of cinnamon (lightly toasted in the oven to wake up its flavour)
Maraschino cherries for garnish

Pop your stick of cinnamon into your bottle.
Mix all the other ingredients together in a mixing jug to combine and then pour into the bottle.
Put the bottle in the fridge to chill for at least 24 hours. Ideally give it a few days for the cinnamon to infuse.
To serve, pour 75ml into a chilled martini or coupe glass and garnish with a cherry.

Sebastian Redford, owner, Forza Wine
How do we show our appreciation? Often with a hastily put together drawing by one of our kids, Etta or Ziggy (if we're strapped for time). Pretty much always with wine, but if we have more time I'll take a loaf of homemade bread too. If we've really thought about it, a bottle of olive oil. Because of the restaurants, we have an excellent line in really good oil, so if we're really trying to show our love, a bottle of great oil from someone like Partanna because it's a similar price to a bottle of wine, lasts longer and is such a beautiful thing to have in your cooking arsenal.

Arne Maynard, garden designer and owner of Allt y Bela
If we’re visiting friends, I like to gift pots of seasonal bulbs or winter flowering plants that can be enjoyed on windowsills or side tables over Christmas - paperwhites, cyclamen and helebores make beautiful gifts - or a generous bunch of garden-picked herbs for hanging in the kitchen to dry and use in winter cooking.