People have gathered together for feasts and other food-centric celebrations since time immemorial, but until about the 20th century, the formal dinner party was largely reserved for royalty and those who could afford to feed lots of guests — and had enough servants to ensure that they were all appropriately taken care of. In Victorian England, those events were frequently governed by a strict code of etiquette, which regulated exactly when each course should be served and how the napkins should be folded.
But as times changed and more and more people found social mobility in the early 20th century, the dinner party flourished. The middle class was growing, in the United States and beyond, and its members were impatient to show off their homes and (their wives’) cooking and entertaining skills. Dinner parties were the ideal way to do that: Invite your colleagues into your home, serve them fancy cocktails and beef bourguignon, and they’ll see that you’re truly living the American dream.
Considering the enduring popularity of the dinner party, it is perhaps not surprising that there have been a slew of books written to advise prospective hosts on how to throw the perfect shindig. Their tips range from the mundane — make sure you have enough food, don’t run out of booze — to the absolutely absurd. Here, written between 1880 and 1987, is a sampling of some of history’s most unhinged entertaining advice.
Your napkins need to be folded in a way that suggests you hold a degree in structural engineering.
Published in 1888, How to Fold Napkins by Jessup Whitehead remains a comprehensive guide to the most maniacal folded napkin designs. “The eye must be feasted as well as the palate,” Whitehead wrote. Within the book’s pages, you can learn how to fold crisp linen into a fleur-de-lys, a crown, a bridal serviette, or a Double Horn of Plenty (whatever that is). Notably, you will need a lot of starch to make most of these feats of napkin architecture happen.
Your lighting must not throw your guests into an unbecoming shadow.
For most of the 20th century, the magazine Good Housekeeping was a key arbiter of dinner party taste, a tradition that dates back to 1905, when the magazine published The Good Housekeeping Hostess, a compendium of hosting tips, dinner party theme ideas, and strict rules for entertaining. The book takes particular interest in setting the appropriate vibe for your party, especially when it comes to the table.