It’s your turn to host a dinner party, and you want to do so in style and with charm but without compromising your principles of doing things naturally and sustainably. And you want to do it without stress – after all, stress will lower your immune system, so anything you can do to lower stress levels will be good for you.

First of all, don’t panic. Don’t get into the trap of thinking that everything in your house has to be absolutely perfect in order for your dinner party to go well. Remember, if you are having friends around, you’re doing it for the company and the friendship. If all your friends wanted was top-notch food (that they didn’t have to cook themselves) and a “perfect” ambience, they’d go to a restaurant. An awful lot of housekeeping imperfection will be overlooked if you keep their attention fixed with great conversation and maybe a game or two of cards.

However, you don’t want to present them with a dump. You will need a tolerably tidy house. However, if you’ve got limited time to get things ready (like everybody else!), then be sensible. You don’t need to tidy everything in the house. Your guests are unlikely to go into the bedrooms and they aren’t going to criticize your laundry. Give the “public” rooms that they’re likely to see (dining room, living room, front doorway, toilet and bathroom) a good go-over. With the kitchen, you’re going to be working in there prior to their arrival, so some dirty dishes and saucepans will remain in view, and if your guests float into your kitchen to help or to talk while you’re doing the last-minute stuff, they’re not going to expect a perfectly organised and clean place. As Peg Bracken said in her I Hate To Housekeep book “If you visit a battlefield, you expect to see corpses.” However, it pays to remove any criminal evidence, such as casserole dishes with burnt-on bits, if you’ve had to do a rescue job.

Keep the decorations simple. A clean tablecloth and a few fresh flowers, plus a candle or two is all you really need for setting a table. If you can’t get flowers, a bowl of fresh fruit also makes a good centrepiece. Resist the temptation to use scented candles or an aromatherapy burner for a dinner party – the smell of the essential oil can often clash with the food. Even worse is Let the smell of the food speak for itself.

Keep the food simple and don’t bow to the pressure to impress people with gourmet cooking unless you really enjoy cooking and like being creative in the kitchen. Serving up a good old roast chicken with jacket potatoes and a salad followed by apple crumble, coffee and cheese is easy and delicious– and you’ll be doing us all a favour by reducing the pressure of culinary competition. You don’t have to be Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay.

Remember that salads (either vegetable or fruit) are dead simple to prepare as well as being very, very healthy. Speaking of salads, if you have your own vegetable garden, preparing a fresh salad from your own garden vegetables while your guests watch (remember to wash the vegetables!) has a certain “swank factor” as well as assuring your guests that that they’re getting the freshest food possible. If you don’t, scouting around a farmers’ market is a fun way to find food for a dinner party – you can plan the menu as you walk around and find things instead of having a menu plan beforehand, which saves stress and panic if you can’t find some essential ingredient for a pre-set menu.

Above all, enjoy the experience and enjoy your friends. Because that’s what’s most important with any entertaining. It’s not about showing off. It’s about getting to know people and having fun.