The Excitement of a Blind Dinner
A blind dinner party is only for the most adventurous guests! What better way to spice up an ordinary meal than to surprise palates with secret courses that people eat while blindfolded? This party is all about mystery. If you have friends who love to be surprised (in the best of ways), read on to learn how to host an exciting blind dinner party that will keep everyone on their toes.
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How to Throw a Blind Dinner Party
1. Create a Sexy Scene
Don’t worry, your guests are only blindfolded when they initially try each course of a meal. So that means you can in fact decorate! This is an event that evokes mystery, sensuality, and sophistication. So play some sultry jazz or triphop to set the mood. Buy some exotic flowers for a fresh centerpiece. Use only low lighting and plenty of candlelight with beeswax candles. Make your home immaculately tidy and optimize your décor. A blind dinner party doesn’t necessarily call for traditional party decorations, but it does call for a beautiful and well-appointed space.
While guests will spend at least the beginning of each course blindfolded, the dining table should be an attractive focal point. Make it count with handsome place settings. If you are hosting a small number of guests, use your most attractive serveware. Or set the table with decorative paper plates such as a set of starry night sky black and metallic plates or black and white geometric plates. Consider covering your dining table with a black damask tablecloth. Keep the look sleek, simple, and elegant.
2. Plan an Enticing and Diverse Menu
Time to get crafty with your menu! When you serve a blind dinner, you want to offer guests an adventure for their mouths. So choose foods that not only taste great but also have interesting textures that people may not anticipate.
The neat thing about stripping one of the five senses is that it forces people to rely more heavily on the other senses. Keeping guests blindfolded during a meal allows them to engage in the experience more fully with their other senses such as smell, taste, and texture. When we look at food, we make an immediate judgment based on its appearance as to how it will taste. Blind dining is exciting because you don’t know whatto expect until the food touches your mouth (unless you smell it first).
Recipes for foods known for their interesting textures:
Wood ear mushrooms
- Slipper wood ear mushrooms with cilantro
- Eggs with cucumber and wood ear mushroom
- Wood ear mushroom vegan stir fry
Water chestnuts
- Crab meat salad with water chestnuts
- Stir-fried snow peas and water chestnuts
- Tandoori coconut jasmine rice with water chestnuts and vegetables
Lima beans
Eggplant
Watermelon
Beets
Know your guests before you meal plan
Before you plan your menu, you must know which guests will attend and whether they have any food restrictions. For people with food allergies, you’ll need to strictly avoid any allergens or foods that may be contaminated with allergens from manufacturing (trusted food labels should clarify this). You also need to heed special restrictions such as vegan, halal and gluten-free diets. Avoid using any alcohol in recipes for guests who abstain. Watch sugars when serving people with diabetes. Check with guests ahead of time to clarify their comfort level with partially raw foods (i.e. sushi, runny egg yolks, etc.) and avoid those if any guests have compromised immunity. It sounds scary (and no one wants to accidentally make someone ill!) but as long as you have all of this information ahead of time, you’ll be able to make informed decisions when planning your menu and securing safe and approved ingredients.
3. Set the Ambience with the Perfect Playlist
Background music is key for a party’s vibe. When you invite guests over for a blind dinner party, you want to keep them guessing and create an alluring ambiance to match that mood. As mentioned above, classy jazz is always a good option. Soapkills is also an excellent choice. Any lofi is a chill option, or a laid-back Spanish guitar. There are plenty of music options that keep the mood playfully mysterious!
4. Establish Guest Participation
Guest participation is optional and depends on how you’d like your guests to participate or contribute to your party. Maybe you invite guests to BYOB, or maybe you want to serve a blindfolded taste of wine to pair with every course. Or you could invite everyone to wear black to add to the mystery and allure of eating in semi-darkness!
Make sure guests know that they will be wearing a blindfold while eating. So they shouldn’t fix their hair in such a way that wouldn’t favor a blindfold. The most comfortable type of blindfold is a soft sleep mask. You may invite guests to BYOSM (bring your own sleep mask) or you may provide them for your guests. The benefit of providing them for your guests is that they’ll have a souvenir by which to remember your awesome party! Also, not everyone owns a sleep mask. But whatever you decide regarding any type of guest participation, make sure you communicate as much when you initially invite people.
Of course, always choose your guests mindfully and with their interests in mind. Prioritize friends who you know would most enjoy the adventure of a blind dinner party. But don’t shy away from others who are simply open to the idea. You never know, you may turn someone on to a new favourite food!
Checklist of Items You Need
These are the things you need for your blind dinner party:
- Ingredients to make all of the various courses for your meal
- Drinks (both alcoholic and tasty non-alcoholic drinks for guests who don’t drink alcohol)
- Disposable serveware or your own (preferably attractive) dishes
- Attractive place settings with tablecloth, placemats, napkins, etc.
- Attractive table centerpiece (preferably fresh flowers)
- Sleep masks to use as blindfolds (as many as number of guests)
- Many candles, especially tapers to adorn the table and provide candlelight mood lighting
- Playlist/speakers
- Sexy black outfit
Preparation Checklist for Your Blind Dinner Party
1. First, confirm that people can come on any chosen date:
- Choose party date/time, and preferably alternative date(s) as well
- Choose guest list and establish minimum number of guests you’d like (to make it worth your effort) as well as maximum number that you can comfortably seat (and afford to feed)
- Six weeks out, confirm guests’ interest in the party and availability on chosen party date(s)
- If your preferred minimum number of guests confirm interest and availability, have them secure calendar date for your amazing blind dinner party!
2. Then, proceed with the fun planning:
- Schedule time on your calendar for each step of party prep (securing and/or making food/drinks, etc.)
- Create invitations with all the details and send them out 4 weeks before the party
- Order any party supplies 3 weeks out (so they arrive in time to use)
- Shop for any party supplies/decorative items you don’t order online, as well as non-perishable food/drinks
- In your planned time slots, acquire perishable food/drinks early enough in advance to prepare in time
- In your planned time slots, tidy your home and optimize/rearrange décor
- In your planned time slots, prepare food/drinks (depending on how long things keep)
3. Day of Party (in your amply planned time slot):
- Prepare any foods/drinks that are too fresh to do any earlier
- Set the table with fancy place settings, and prepare the flower centerpiece with fresh water
- Prepare ambience (music, candles)
- Get dressed in a sleek black party outfit
- Once everything’s ready, meditate or do any preferred self-care to get in a good head space if you aren’t already. You want to be a relaxed, energized, and happy host – both for yourself and for your guests, who will pick up on your contagiously good vibe and automatically be happier as well! You are not only serving your friends delicious food but a unique and playful experience, so be present and enjoy every moment of the process!
Part of the joy of hosting is serving people food that delights and nourishes. With a blind dinner party, you will be doing just that while also entertaining with an element of mystery! When you amply prepare and put time and effort into planning and crafting a delicious meal to the best of your ability, you will have yourself an awesome blind dinner party that your friends won’t forget.