The Party: A Guide to Adventurous Entertaining Review
The Party: A Guide to Adventurous Entertainingby Sally Quinn
Simon and Schuster, Nov., 1997.
Hardcover, 218 pages.
ISBN: 0684811448
Ordering information: Amazon.com.
Political and style reporter for the Washington Post and prominent Georgetown hostess Sally Quinn tells all in this intimate, ultimate look at the Washington party scene. Quinn dishes the dirt on some of the most talked-about parties held in our nation's capital. From the triumphs to the total disasters, the parties described make for vastly entertaining reading. Quinn even shares some of her own party disasters - such as the time guests fainted from the heat in her un-airconditioned Georgetown bachelorette apartment or the time that she overheard two 5-year-old guests at her son's birthday party pronounce the affair, "boring, boring, boring" to the horror of their hostess. Then there was the time that she was seated next to the Israeli ambassador at a dinner party held in a glassed-in solarium in the middle of a snowstorm. Because of a tiny leak in the glass ceiling, the unfortunate ambassador was the only guest who spent the evening being snowed upon. Being a diplomat, of course he was too polite to say anything.
The Party is filled with practical advice for those who wish to embark upon their own entertaining career. Quinn covers all the important details of a good party, for both formal and informal affairs: how to pick the guestlist, the invitations, the setting, the table decorations (make them low enough for diners to talk over), flowers, booze, food, entertainment (never children or pets!) and much more. Accompanied by charming illustrations, told in Quinn's trademark self-deprecating, entertaining style, The Party is just that - a fun party you won't want to end.
Return to the January 1998 issue of The IWJ.
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