Dinner Party Ideas - How to Throw a Dinner Party

Throw a Successful Dinner Party

Dinner Smarties

At your last mealtime gathering, you did everything right: big, pricey steaks; fancy-schmancy china; stimulating conversation cards (what’s your animal soul mate?!).

No wonder the whole thing was so awkward.

Next time, take a cue from Tamara Reynolds and Zora O’Neill, the hilarious Astoria-based hostesses with the mostest behind Forking Fantastic: Put the Party Back in Dinner Party.

In today’s video, the gals, who’ve been hosting wildly popular Sunday night shindigs for six years, walk us through dinner party faux pas — and they’re not what you’d expect (the tips or the ladies).

You’ll feel so inspired, you’ll start planning another soiree immediately.

Just don’t bring your sexy panda friend.

Available online at amazon.com. For more information, go to forkingfantastic.com.

Next Video: Our Inside Look at Liz Taylor's Treasures

Our Inside Look at Liz Taylor's Treasures

Our Correspondent SuChin Pak Gets a Private Tour at Christie's

There’s just no question: Elizabeth Taylor was the most glamorous person to ever grace the face of the Earth — period. That’s why, when DC correspondent SuChin Pak was at Christie’s this past Monday for a Women at NBCU event, we had no choice but to ask for a private tour of the treasures currently up for auction. We’ll take one of everything, please.

For more information about the auction, go to christies.com.

Next Video: Geren Lockhart's Gift-Wrapping Tips, Round 2

Geren Lockhart's Gift-Wrapping Tips

The Clothing Designer Shows Us Her Secret Hobby

Yes, we know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it’s what’s inside that counts, and so on and so forth.

But like the body of Arnold with a Denzel face, a beautifully presented gift never hurt anybody.

In today’s video, we asked Geren Ford designer/founder Geren Lockhart to show us a few of her favorite wrapping techniques from her Los Angeles home. Lockhart, who’s been renowned by friends for her pretty packages for years, showed us two methods: one for a soft package (above) and the other for a boxed gift.

While we were in the zone, a few DailyCandy editors came up with nine neat ways to wrap a present in brown craft paper. (Faux bois stamps? Felt acorns? Check.)

Appearance is all that matters.

For more information on Lockhart, go to gerenford.com.

Next Video: We Talk to Kids About the Holidays

Geren Lockhart's Gift-Wrapping Tips, Round 2

More Ideas from the Crafty Designer

We’re all fans of plopping a gift into a bag with tissue paper and calling it a day. But sometimes you want to do something truly special. In this video, designer Geren Lockhart wraps a boxed gift and gives us all something to aspire to.

For more information on Lockhart, go to gerenford.com. For more gift-wrapping ideas, check out how we jazzed up packages nine ways using brown craft paper.

Next Video: One Night Has It All

We Talk to Kids About the Holidays

What They Like to Eat, What They're Thankful for, and What They Want for Christmas

By the Wednesday after Thanksgiving — already 30-plus hours into the workweek — it’s hard to retain that holiday spirit.

Get it back by watching today’s video, in which we asked a bunch of the cutest kids you’ve ever seen what they like to eat during the holidays, what they want for Christmas, and what they’re thankful for.

We captured the footage during an event with Nourishing NYC, a nonprofit that provides healthy meals and nutrition education to low-income residents. On this particular day, children (ages 5 to 13) were learning to make a good-for-you Thanksgiving feast.

The kids’ answers to our questions were equal parts touching and hilarious, especially when they told us how their parents would react if they made the turkey all by themselves (“My mom would faint”).

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

To donate, volunteer, or get more information on Nourishing NYC, go to nourishingnyc.org. For more cute kids, watch our video in which we asked munchkins about love.

Next Video: Lily & the Parlour Tricks Perform "The Poison Song"

One Night Has It All

Dedicated Video: New Year's Eve

Romance. Excitement. Celebrities. Celebration. Anything is possible.

Enter for the chance to have an Ultimate Date Night from the film New Year’s Eve. The winner receives two tickets to the movie and a dinner on the town, plus a Tory Burch clutch to complete your date night outfit.

Watch Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, and the rest of the all-star cast in a film about the holiday’s unlimited possibilities.

Tip: You don’t want to spend such an extraordinary evening with just anyone, so choose your plus-one wisely.

In theaters December 9. Watch the trailer and visit The Sweet Shop to enter for the chance to win the Ultimate Date Night Sweeps.

Next Video: Lily & the Parlour Tricks Perform "White Christmas"

Lily & the Parlour Tricks Perform "The Poison Song"

Our Favorite New NYC Band Plays in Our Office

A good test of a band’s worth? Bring its members to your office, get them to play an acoustic set next to your boss’s desk without proper notice, and see if you get fired.

At least that’s what accidentally happened with NY-based rock and rollers Lily & the Parlour Tricks last week at DailyCandy. And as soon as they started playing, even our most serious computer-starers ditched the Internet and ran over to bop along.

For proof of the band’s draw, watch today’s video, in which they play “The Poison Song” from their eponymous EP. As a bonus, they gave us their rendition of “White Christmas” to get us in the holiday spirit.

The six-person group channels an old-timey vibe that makes us want to dance in a billowing skirt while slinging back the hard stuff.

Which might’ve accidentally happened after the performance.

To buy Lily & the Parlour Tricks’s debut EP, go to itunes.com. Hear them live December 14 at The Bowery Electric. For more ear candy, check out our videos with Freelance Whales, Eliza Doolittle, Karen Elson, and Regina Spektor.

Next Video: DailyCandy Interviews Mindy Kaling

Lily & the Parlour Tricks Perform "White Christmas"

The Indie Band Puts Us in the Holiday Spirit

If you live in New York (like a lot of our staffers do), you know a “white Christmas” really means a “dark gray slush Christmas.” But that won’t stop us from dreaming, especially when NYC-based band Lily & the Parlour Tricks plays the old Bing Crosby song on our office couch.

To buy Lily & the Parlour Tricks’s debut EP, go to itunes.com.

Next Video: Inside Story: Mindy Kaling's Closet

DailyCandy Interviews Mindy Kaling

The Actress and Writer Talks About Her New Book

It’s a simple truth: If you were always the cool, popular kid (especially in middle school), you’re probably a boring adult.

So though we’re not exactly glad Mindy Kaling, a.k.a. The Office’s Kelly Kapoor, was chubby, deathly afraid of bicycles, and preferred her parents to children her own age for most of her youth, for the sake of her LOL-inducing new book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (out Tuesday), we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In today’s video, editor Lauren Lumsden sat down with Kaling at her L.A. home to talk about the book, from why she wrote it to who would play her in the movie version. While there, we also got a tour of her awe-inspiring closet (Cinderella Miu Mius, anyone?).

All the cool kids will be jealous.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is available for preorder online at amazon.com, $16.

Next Video: Patti Stanger's Online Dating Tips

Inside Story: Mindy Kaling's Closet

The Actress and Writer Shows Us a Few of Her Favorite Things

Of the many perks of being a celebrity, a closet that’s bigger than most of our bedrooms is pretty high up there. So when Mindy Kaling offered to show us hers, we twirled at the chance.

In this video, the talented Kaling pulls out a few of her favorite pieces — from glittery Miu Mius to the hoodie she likes to write in — and tells us a little bit about each.

Mindy Kaling’s book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, is available online at amazon.com, $16.

Music: Danielle Duval

Next Video: Taxi Driver Confessions

Patti Stanger's Online Dating Tips

The Millionaire Matchmaker Whips Our Editor's Match.com Profile into Shape

When it comes to online dating, we’ve heard some doozies: He lied about his height — by five inches. He wore Velcro shoes and transition lenses. When he arrived he said, “Which one are you again?”

But one success would make it all worthwhile. So for today’s video, we enlisted the help of Patti Stanger, a.k.a. the Millionaire Matchmaker, to critique our editor Karen’s Match.com profile and answer a few common questions.

Stanger’s known for her tough love, so her advice wasn’t always pretty (at one point, she told Karen her profile sounded like Lindsay Lohan). But her assertion that a guy who “says he has three jobs — actor/author/waiter — is actually unemployed” might just prove useful down the road.

Unlike the guy who accidentally texted a photo of his man business after the date. (True story.)

Want more? In our Ask the Office Guy videos, our token male editor has flirting tips, thoughts on what to order on the first date, and an opinion on how many postdate texts make you seem crazy. The Millionaire Matchmaker airs Thursdays, at 9 p.m., on Bravo.

Next Video: DailyCandy's New Spokesperson

Taxi Driver Confessions

We Pick the Brains of NYC Cabbies

Dance Moms alone is proof that fact beats fiction. But for real, unedited tales of weird behavior, just ask an NYC cab driver about his average shift.

For today’s video, we did exactly that — and beyond the usual “People have had sex where you’re sitting” anecdotes, the stories were delightful. Among other insights, we found out what grates on their nerves, who leaves the best tips (including one celeb), and why they like their work.

The video is part of our new, ongoing NYC series “On the Job,” in which we ask local service professionals to sound off about the interesting things they experience. The idea came after we asked bartenders for dating advice and realized those guys were troves of info.

Which is way more than we can say about Bachelor Pad.

Next Video: Show Us Your Best Blue Steel

DailyCandy's New Spokesperson

Welcome to the Team, SuChin Pak

Sometimes you don’t need to put a face with a name. Cases in point: Charlie Townsend, Dr. Claw, and Wilson from Home Improvement.

But when it comes to the DailyCandy staff, we’re not always content being blocked by a tall fence. Which is why we’re proud to announce the hiring of our new on-air correspondent, SuChin Pak.

She was a natural choice: In addition to being a news reporter at MTV since 2001, she’s the founder of New York’s beloved alfresco small biz bazaar, Hester Street Fair. Her duties? Be our woman about town and on TV.

In today’s video, we captured Pak’s grueling interview process. Hard-hitting topics included who she’d be on Mad Men and if she likes clowns. We also closely examined her head shots.

We’re sure you’ll agree she puts the best face forward.

Next Video: Fall 2011 Fashion Trends

Show Us Your Best Blue Steel

Lincoln Center Bystanders Imitate Derek Zoolander

If moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty, then it only makes sense we’d ask people to do their best Blue Steel faces outside Lincoln Center over the weekend. This one’s for you, Derek.

Fall 2011 Fashion Trends

Designers' and Store Owners' Must-Haves for the Season

Ah, fall: the return of hot coffee, big knits, and college football — not to mention the disappearance of upper lip sweat.

Before we conduct our annual cold weather wardrobe switch, we consulted nine of our favorite NYC-based designers/store owners (including Rachel Antonoff, Whitney Pozgay of Whit, and Alan Eckstein of Timo Weiland) to find out which trends they’re most excited about this season. From Chelsea boots to metallic fabrics, the expert picks sparked our desire to shop.

While you’re in the zone, check out a few of our own must-wears: winter whites, polka dots, lace, and animal silhouette prints.

We predict you’ll fall hard.

Want even more? Follow us on Tumblr for New York Fashion Week coverage. We’ll be sharing our favorite looks, runway playlists, and best quotes overheard in the tents.