There are probably as many recipes for a successful party as there are for potato salad. New York interior designer Elsie de Wolfe recommended “more men than women, cold drinks and French cuisine”; photographer Lee Miller went for showmanship, serving blue spaghetti or a gilded meatloaf; and London’s Savoy Hotel would seat a wooden cat named Kaspar at the table to ward off bad luck whenever only 13 guests turned up for dinner. Autumn – and goodness, is it really September already? – marks the beginning of party and event season. Don’t worry: amid all the revelry, we’ll make sure there are quieter moments, too. After all, Shakespeare already knew: “If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.” |