How to Host Great Gatherings — The Girls Night Podcast

IN THIS PODCAST EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

How to make cooking more fun
Cooking and meal prep tips
How to be a great hostess (even if you have a small house or apartment)
How to prepare your home for guests
How to gather people around your table (or the couch) and foster great conversation
Who to invite to a dinner party

(You can also listen right here!👇)

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night!

Our guest for today’s episode is my new friend, Kelly Minter. Kelly is a Bible teacher, writer, speaker, and she recently came out with a beautiful cookbook called, A Place at the Table.

Now friends, if you’re anything like me, you really want to be like Kelly. You want to be the kind of person who invites people into your home, who cooks nourishing food for your loved ones, and who has wonderful conversations around the table that turn into life-long best friendships.

But again, if you’re anything like me, the reality looks a bit different. You’re ordering takeout and heating up the leftovers far more often than you’re cooking, and you’re eating on the couch while watching Netflix far more often than you’re gathering your loved ones around your table.

Is that just me? Anyone else?

Now, I am a forever fan of takeout and Netflix but I also know that if this is all we’re doing, we’re missing out on some seriously wonderful opportunities for connection, community, and really good food!

And so that’s why I’m so excited to have Kelly on the show today.

Kelly is going to teach us why it’s so important to gather your community around the table, and even better, she’s going to teach us how to do it.

Now listen, there are no prerequisites that you need to have covered in order to listen to this episode.

This episode is for all of the terrible cooks out there, all of us who want to like cooking, but aren’t sure we actually do. It’s for all of us who have tiny houses that are barely big enough for us, let alone big enough to host all of our friends. This is for those of us who recently moved to a new city and don’t have a clue who we’d even invite over if we were to have a dinner party, and more.

Seriously, as a terrible cook myself, I asked Kelly all of my questions, and she answered them like a champ. I walked away with some truly doable ideas for how to grow in this area of my life, and I actually have been cooking more because of our conversation!

PIN ME!

In this episode, we're talking about how to be a great hostess, how to make cooking more fun and how to gather people around your table (even in a small house).

LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Steph’s book, The Lipstick Gospel (here’s a paperback copy and here’s a free digital download!)

Steph’s new prayer journal, Every Single Moment

Kelly’s new book: A Place at the Table

Bible Study Kelly Mentions: No Other Gods

Kelly’s tips on how to make cooking more enjoyable:

Have basic ingredients always on hand
Try two new meals per week
Meal prep & do your shopping ahead of time
Save your leftovers
Make a 20 go-to meal list

How to prepare your home for guests:

Candles
Soft background music
Blankets (lots of them!)
Tea - something warm for your guests to drink
Tea lights (for ambiance)

Kelly’s challenge for you:

Have 1 dinner party per month

Quotes mentioned:

"We're losing the art of conversation" - Kelly

"There's something really intimate behind food and table and community" -Kelly

"The heart of God is community" - Steph

“We need to be willing to risk rejection” - Kelly

CONNECT WITH KELLY

Website // Instagram // Facebook

CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE

Facebook // Bookstore // Instagram

WE LOVE OUR SPONSORS!

Go to Zola.com/stephanie today and use promo code SAVE50 to get fifty-percent off your save the dates. You can also get a free personalized paper sample before you purchase.