If you are in Nigeria, especially if it’s any of the busiest cities in Nigeria, you’d agree that the best time to party is at night. It comes with its constraints, but most of the time, you have your guests both willing and available to grace the occasion.
Whether it’s a housewarming, an engagement, or a newly signed contract with family, friends, and colleagues, you must put in efforts to enjoy a great party.
Remember that saying “proper planning prevents poor performance?” It is correct in every way. If you want the most out of your party, you’d need to put in the effort to enjoy that output.
Luckily for you, this article is focused on helping you plan a great dinner party in Nigeria with ease.
Table of Contents
Things You Should Consider When Planning a Dinner Party in Nigeria
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The purpose of the party
One may think that this sounds cliche. Why do you need to have a reason to host a dinner party? Now, you may not even be the host. You could be the event planner whose job is to ensure that everything turns out great.
How can you achieve this if you do not understand why your client is calling people together? In Nigeria, some people want to party, not because they are celebrating anything specific, but probably just to hang out and be around friends – that’s the purpose.
The amount of effort put into planning for that gathering would be the same as a business dinner party, though the strategy and method of planning can differ.
After you’ve figured out why you are trying to bring people together, the next thing to figure out is:
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Your guests
Who are the kind of people you’re expecting to attend that event? You cannot call a dinner party a “business dinner,” yet all the people on your invite list are your cousins and parents. Inviting your colleagues at work, competitors in the industry, partners, sponsors, and investors would be ideal.
Because, apart from wining and dining, you’d need to discuss business, expand your network and get connections, and not just you, your guests too. Also, consider the number of guests you expect, their work time, etc. This information will come in handy while making other plans.
Read also: Fun birthday party ideas for Nigerians.
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The venue
Please don’t pick a location extremely far for everyone, except you’d be providing accommodation for them. Pick a convenient place for almost everyone and a venue with enough capacity to accommodate them. You wouldn’t want your guests choked up in a room where they can barely move, let alone dance or communicate.
A room where everyone is expected to be seated until it is time to leave because the whole place is jam-packed. Do your checks and recheck, and while at it, remember that it’s a dinner party, and in Nigeria, people don’t usually go for dinner parties alone. Make plans for the extra.
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The setting
What do you want the venue to look like? Will it be a round table setting or a long table setting?
Will it be outdoors or indoors; what kind of tables and chairs do you want to use? You might need to discuss this with an interior decorator.
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Food and drinks
Plan for enough. What do you intend to be more – drinks or food? What kind of food is suitable for the party? Most people would rather do more wine than food. While at this, it’s necessary to consider the method of serving. You could hire a waiter or just let the guests serve themselves.
Make sure that whatever method you choose, there are enough food and drinks for all.
Read also: Owambe party in Nigeria: Food, vibes, dressing and cruise.
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Party agenda
Draft out how you expect the dinner party to go. There are a variety of activities you can engage in while at the dinner party. Welcome speech, sharing the purpose of the gathering with everyone. It’s not as if they don’t know why they are there, but it’d be appropriate to mention it again, in case they have forgotten.
Will there be game time? What kind of games would it be? What of introduction of guests? This session will be necessary to help everyone connect and network, and as many as you can come up with.
It’s important to be clear on how much time the party would be for and plan your activities to suit that time frame.
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Souvenirs
Now, this is totally up to you. Decide whether you’d like to include souvenirs and the kind of souvenir it will be, based on the personality of your guests. There are no specific souvenirs. Whatever item you decide to give out works.
It could be a cup, travel towel, hand fan, or iPad. Ensure that you have enough to go around.
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Outfit
This is a very important point that must not be ignored. Gentlemen do not bother so much, but they should. Imagine a bride on her wedding day dressing shabbily and not looking her best. It’s your event. You should look better than everyone else, or at least try.
There is a high level of confidence that exudes when a person is comfortable with what they are wearing and trust me, your guests will “dress for the occasion.”
If you aren’t good at combining colours, that’s okay, get someone who is. Go for attires that compliment your skin tone and wear the right thing. Read that again, please. The dinner party has its dress code, and sometimes a colour code is attached to the event. Work with it so that you don’t appear different in an odd way.
Read also: 10 Stunning outfits you should have in your wardrobe.
Conclusion
Generally, you shouldn’t put on native attire to a dinner party. Keep your wrappers and traditional cap at home. Put on a nice tuxedo if you’re a man and a very pretty black or red dress for the ladies. Ok! You are not limited to wearing only these colours, but what I’m trying to say is; look good, dress right and enjoy the party.
I know some people are introverts who just want to be by themselves. Please, do all you can to be in the moment and enjoy every bit of the party.
Thank you for reading, and please, feel free to engage in this article. If it has been helpful, let us know; if you have other points to include, we’d be excited to read them.
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About Author
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Hi there! I'm Ann Okoroafor, but you can call me ZY.
ZY is a lover of God, Storyteller, Voiceover artist, Moderator, and Content Creator.
Passionate about showing young people that they could be the best version of themselves through Creative content.
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