If you see pictures of dinner parties in cookbooks, the guests are always smiling and the table is full of dishes that almost smell like on the page.
What you don’t usually see are prep times and cleanup times when everyone gets home.
But hosting dinner parties is still something many of us love to do, even though it can be hard work.
People in the UK have shared the things they find most stressful when hosting a dinner party.
In a OnePoll survey of 2,000 adults who cook for guests, 47% of respondents said they worried about cleanliness in the home before guests arrived.
This is the most common cause of stress, with 38% of respondents saying they worry about how good food tastes.
The third item on the list is something many of us can find challenging, even when cooking just for ourselves: preparing all the elements of a meal at the same time.
Other common concerns were entertaining guests, spending a lot of time in the kitchen while others enjoyed dinner, and having to wash all the dishes later.
Some people also mentioned worrying about who they invite, what you talk to guests about, and people who spill drinks on furniture or break something.
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