There are few people on the planet who give better dinner party vibes than the legendary Ina Garten. The Barefoot Contessa writer has made a career out of her reputation as not only an incredible cook, but also as the consummate host. So when Ina Garten gives any kind of advice about dinner parties, we're sitting patiently in our seats, ready to listen. And we're nodding along vigorously with Garten's recent advice on the two things you should never bring to a dinner party as a guest.
Garten sat down for an interview with TODAY host and longtime friend Willie Geist recently at City Winery at Pier 57 in New York City for Geist's Sunday Sitdown segment when the subject of dinner parties naturally came up. Geist noted the importance of arriving at a party without a "gift that messes with the plan of the evening," asking Garten for her take. She was ready with two items that she considered big no-nos.
“There are two things that I don’t think you should ever bring to a dinner party, and they’re so common, is something that the host feels like they should serve. I mean, starting with, like, Jell-O salad,” Garten said to laughter from the crowd, adding “What are you going to do with that?”
Garten went on to note that she was not a fan of bringing a loose bouquet without a vessel for the host. “And don’t ever bring flowers that aren’t in a vase,” she shared, with Geist noting, “Oh, that’s the worst! You’re there. You’re like, everyone’s arriving and then all of a sudden, you’ve got these flowers and you have to figure out what to do."
This is by no means Garten's first foray into sharing dinner party etiquette advice. House Beautiful ran an advice column of Garten's in the early 2000s, and she made her thoughts clear about pressing issues like nonstick cookware; she's not a fan. "I’m not so crazy about nonstick. Although nothing works as well as nonstick pans, I’ve always avoided them."
Garten also gave helpful advice on how to deal with a late dinner guest, telling a reader to "wait for up to 30 minutes for the latecomers to arrive. If they’re still not there, I quietly rearrange the table setting to remove their plates, glasses, and chairs, and put them aside in case they do arrive."
The real question is this; what if they arrive with loose flowers and a Jell-O salad? We'll have to ask Ina Garten, she'll know what to do.
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