I’m a little behind on my goal to host 52 dinner parties. But I’m back on the wagon and hosted a dinner party this week to kick off the unofficial beginning of Summer. It was a Plus One dinner party…

The idea is to invite a few friends over and then ask them to bring a “Plus One” that the host has never met. I sent out invitations, asked for dietary restrictions and then waited to find out who was coming for dinner. It was genuinely a surprise and kind of exciting! I also asked everyone to bring a 3 minute introduction of their “guest” where we told each other’s life stories and anecdotes. Towards the end of the dinner we all went around and introduced someone. It was so fun and everyone was laughing at all the great stories. I’m definitely going to do this more often. It was fun to change up the usual routine of who we invite for dinner.

Since I’ve been busy with our new party store I asked my friend Eleanor Gerber-Siff to do the flowers and my friend Andrea Pimental to help with the food. She used the recipes from Simply Organic‘s new site: Easy Summer Eats. It’s full of recipes for entrees, sides, drinks and desserts that make it easy to eat well during the summer months. For this meal, we served Vanilla Mango Mojitos along with our appetizer: Grilled Watermelon Caprese Salad. Then for dinner we had Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce (which we served with tortillas) and this Grilled Heirloom Tomato Salad. To end the night, we had Blackberry Ginger Peach Cobbler with homemade ice cream. All of Simply Organic’s spices, seasonings, and flavors are carefully, responsibly and sustainably sourced to ensure the highest quality. They also give back 1% of sales on their products to support organic farming around the world. Simply Organic also put together a fun quiz that helps you find summer party themes, menus and decoration inspiration. Take the quiz here and share your favorite summer party ideas.

This post is sponsored by Simply Organic: Pure. Simple. Joy.

Photos by Paul Ferney for Oh Happy Day
Food by Andrea Pimental
Flowers by Wallflower Design