How to host a healthy celebration dinner at home

Here’s the dilemma: you want to get together for a January celebration but all your friends and family are doing a detox. How do you celebrate a birthday or milestone when everyone’s on a health kick? Here are our tips for healthy home celebrations…

Food & tableware

The important thing to remember is that nutritious food can still be delicious. You don’t have to serve cabbage soup and carrot sticks. Prepare something tasty which is beautifully presented and your guests won’t think anything other than, ‘wow!’ For recipe ideas, first see what’s seasonal. If it’s a January celebration, think beets, broccoli and leeks, as well as zingy citrus such as grapefruit and mandarin. This beetroot, broccoli and chicken salad is stuffed with superfoods and tasty as hell, while this leek, broccoli and cauliflower bake is vegan and makes a show-stopping centrepiece to serve family-style. Serve either dish with crusty rye bread and olive oil for a filling feast. To finish, jewel a citrus fruit salad with mint and pomegranate for a dainty desert, served in your prettiest serveware. 

Drinks

There’s nothing wrong with cutting down on your alcohol intake, even at a celebration. It used to be that if you didn’t drink at a party that you’d have to stick to elderflower cordial, but the non-alcoholic and low-alcohol options available now are tantalising. If you’d like to pop a cork and enjoy something fizzy to get the party started, Fortnum’s do a sparkling rose tea which packs some pep despite it being 0% alcohol. Serve it in our prosecco stand for extra wow factor. Lucky Saint beers are just as delicious as the real thing, and a low-alcohol drink such as Mooze 12% is delicious while being lower in alcohol (and calories) than other spirits. As ever, make the drinks look beautiful so you feast the eyes as well as the tastebuds, and no one will feel as if they’re missing out. You could make a low-alcohol cocktail, and serve it with sliced citrus and ice in one of these natty drinks dispensers on a stand, or pour from a beautiful pitcher into quality glassware with crushed ice and edible flowers. For more Dry January drinks ideas see our blog.

Decorations

Celebrations are about so much more than food and drink; create the right atmosphere and your guests will instantly relax, whether they’re drinking alcohol or not. Bring the outside in with some pretty seasonal foliage, herbs and dried ‘bunnies’ tails’ in these tiny glass bottles. Play with light and shade, by lowering the lights, adding some twinkling LED lights to your tablescape and lighting tea light candles in sparkling jars. Of course, no celebration is complete without a big centrepiece. If it’s a birthday party, make a statement with one of these milestone balloon bundle or personalised banner to delight the guest of honour and create a fun photo background. Need more decorations? (NB - the answer to this question is always ‘yes!’) look no further than our bunting and garlands, which always bring extra health-giving cheer!

Activities