The Swell Dressed Party

I'm 35, I love socializing, and I'm pretty picky when it comes to what I like and don't like. I thought this book had fabulous ideas, and I read it cover to cover! I bought this book based on a review in Cosmo magazine, and was not disappointed. I'm surprised at the harsh reviews it has received!

This is a fabulous book!! Not only is it FULL of rockin' party ideas, but it has the greatest pictures and is a great book to have on your coffee table. I have every single book that these ingeneous women have written and have bought them all for each of my girlfriends. My favourite idea is the "Sweet Birthday Suite" idea- an intimate bday dinner w/ good friends and then, unbeknownst to the bday girl, a blow-out upstairs in the penthouse- GREAT IDEA! Thanks for the great book- you've helped me become a best hostess!!

I tend to like to entertain in different ways and was hesitant to take tips from a book when I got this as a hostess gift. Was happy to see some of my standby tricks like ordering in all the food, hosting clothing swaps and having a bash at a just moved in apt before the unpacking -- but some of their suggestions are just brilliant, like having a hangover brunch or bribing the ice cream truck driver to stop at your place or setting up a champagne cocktail bar. And I can't wait to make their Gazpacho which you can boozify by passing around a chilled bottle of pepper vodka. Yum.

This is a really good book! As I was reading it, I found quite a lot of ideas that I would actually use - which says alot! I love party idea books but can't stand it when you can't actually put into practice the advice - that is not the case with this book. I was glad to see that recipes were included at the back of the book as well. I would recommend this book.