Get Ready for Holiday Entertaining!

Cookbooks, party planning, and more

This time of year, as we look forward to hosting and attending a slew of festive gatherings, large and small, it brings on a mix of emotions. We're excited to celebrate with our near and dear ones, but we may also be a bit anxious about the work ahead to get ready for this eventful season. If you're feeling the holiday pressure, this roundup of cookbooks, entertainment guides, and more will help you get your plans in order.

Cookbooks

With innovative recipes, entertaining tips, and serving suggestions, these eight cookbooks will help you wow your guests, while still enjoying yourself.

Cooking for Good Times

Celebrated chef Paul Kahan's repertoire of rustic, super-delicious, low-stress food is designed to make hosting more relaxing, fun, and delicious. Recipes like Roasted Chicken with Smashed Potatoes and Green Sauce include serving suggestions like beverage pairing recommendations.

That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life

With her showstopping cheese and charcuterie boards, Marissa Mullen takes cheese to a whole new level. Her simple, step-by-step method breaks the cheese plate down into its basic components—cheese, meat, produce, crunch, dip, garnish—allowing you to create stunning spreads for any occasion.

Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours

For Adeena Sussman, the Shabbat table is a weekly opportunity to feed the soul. Offering smart techniques and sound prep, these recipes include nostalgic, cozy mains like Fig & Pomegranate Brisket, sides and bright salads like Moroccan Carrot Salad, and desserts like Lemon Black-Sesame Bundt Cake.

Harry Potter: Official Christmas Cookbook

Celebrate Christmas like Harry, Ron, and Hermione with over 50 recipes inspired by holiday celebrations in the Harry Potter films! Filled with fan favorites like treacle tart to classic British dishes such as Neville Longbottom's Toad in a Hole. And this gift set would make a great hostess gift for any diehard HP fan.

Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over

Whether an impromptu meal with a neighbor or a dinner party for fifteen, Alison Roman thinks entertaining should be fun, not stressful. This collection offers simple, crowd-pleasing ideas like a DIY martini bar, plus all the tips and sass to pull off the perfect party.

Batch Cocktails: Make-Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occasion

As any entertainer knows, cocktail hour is the most fun part of the evening for guests—but the most stressful for the person in charge of keeping the drinks flowing. The solution is simple: batch it. In this fun collection, Maggie Hoffman offers 65 delicious and creative batch cocktail recipes.

Eating Out Loud: Bold Middle Eastern Flavors for All Day, Every Day

Eden Grinshpan's accessible cooking is full of bright tastes and textures that reflect her Israeli heritage and laid-back but thoughtful style. From whole heads of roasted broccoli topped with herbaceous yogurt to babka that becomes pull-apart morning buns this is the perfect guide to big, boisterous family meals.

Dorie's Cookies

James Beard-winning baker Dorie Greenspan shares from her vast collection of cookies for every taste and occasion. The far-reaching collection includes dozens of ideas for Christmas cookie swaps, like Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops, Pink-Peppercorn Thumbprints, and the internet-famous World Peace Cookie.

Entertaining Guides

Throwing the perfect party may seem like an overwhelming endeavor, but with the right planning and hosting strategies presented in these four guides, it's possible to construct a festive, fabulous event that everyone will enjoy—even you.

Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Ina Garten shares the secrets she has gleaned from her years not only as a caterer but as a dedicated entertainer. Packed with plans for pulling off parties like a pro, stories from her own parties, and tips on assembling food, this comprehensive guide will help you elevate and fine-tune your fêtes.

Celebrate Everything!: Fun Ideas to Bring Your Parties to Life

Packed with planning strategy and original ideas, this is the ultimate guide to making special occasions unforgettable. Party expert Darcy Miller shares hundreds of chic and cheerful ideas for ways to make a celebration personal. It's a blueprint for making the best occasions in life even better.

The Inviting Life

Whether the subject is decor, ambience, shopping, mixing cocktails, or planning menus, Laura Calder shows how beauty, creativity, and delight have the power to change the experiences of both guests and hosts. Her book offers ideas for everything from creating a welcoming living space to putting guests at ease.

The Art of the Host

Along with perfect menus for everything from Thanksgiving to Boxing Day, consummate host Alex Hitz delivers a set of surefire strategies for delightful and delicious occasions. Sharing common-sense rules for hosts and guests alike, he offers skills and confidence to establish their own signature style.

Coffee table books

Coffee table books add an artful touch to any get-together. Not only do they bring a decorative element to your space, they also provide entertainment for your guests. Here are ten books we'd enjoy leafing through at our next hang. (Btw, these books would all make great gifts!)

• The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small—eclectic and tantalizing.
• Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs—Death has never looked so beautiful.
• Houseplants & Hot Sauce: A Seek-And-Find Book for Grown-Ups—A clever, charming diversion.
• Hell in Japanese Art—Thought-provoking, frightening, and wickedly funny.
• 1000 Record Covers—A sweeping look at an underappreciated art form.
• William Morris's Flowers—A wealth of floral designs from the leading figure of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
• The New Black West: Photographs from America's Only Touring Black Rodeo—Honoring the oft-overlooked legacy of Black cowboys.
• The Space Shuttle: A Mission-by-Mission Celebration of Nasa's Extraordinary Spaceflight Program—a rich and beautiful photographic journey.
• A Book of Days by Patti Smith—Deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic.
• Humans of New York—Brandon Stanton's ambitious project capturing the spirit of a city has drawn millions of loyal fans.

We hope you've found something here that will help you plan your holiday festivities. Let us know if you have any favorite cookbooks, entertaining guides, or coffee table books to recommend.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon