Entertaining at home is a very important part of home ownership. Opening up the home, inviting guests to make themselves comfortable, then offering a drink and a good meal is incomparably satisfying to those who truly love it.
Unfortunately, it’s quite common for the person hosting the party to be so busy preparing the meal, greeting the guests and ensuring that the ambiance is “just so” that they don’t get the chance to spend time with their family and friends. That’s why we went in search of some invaluable hosting products that make entertaining a crowd easier and more enjoyable.
Premiere Cookware Electric Griddle – Hamilton Beach
This electric griddle from Hamilton Beach makes it faster and easier to prepare a crowd’s-worth of food fast. It has a 220 square inch cooking surface that doubles or even triples the surface area you might get from a standard frying pan, which means you can cook more at once, rather than in batches.
This griddle is a perfect appliance if you’re hosting a brunch and want to prepare a stack of pancakes, or if you want to prepare a dozen mini grilled cheese sandwiches for a cocktail party.
What really stands out about Hamilton Beach’s griddle is the warming tray mounted just below the cook top. You can keep finished items hot while you prepare the rest of the batch. So everything goes out at once, at just the right temperature.
You’ll also save time on cleanup, because this griddle is fully immersible once the cord is removed.
Our Test Drive: What better way to put this electric griddle to the test than with a pancake party for the whole office? We set the griddle up in our break room and supplied the whole office with a basic pancake batter and loads of different add-ins and toppings to create the pancakes of their dreams.
Our coworkers made everything from banana and Nutella, to blueberry chocolate chip, and of course good old-fashioned plain pancakes slathered with butter and swimming in maple syrup. This incredible workhorse of a griddle cooked batch after batch of perfectly golden brown pancakes, and cleanup could not have been easier.
The Premiere Cookware Electric Griddle from Hamilton Beach is definitely a crowd-pleaser.
Here are some other items that add ease to at-home entertaining
No need to prepare drinks for your guest, or even think about how to entertain them really, because the Somabar is the world’s first app controlled cocktail maker and it is literally all anyone at your party will be talking about. Simply fill the 6 cylinders with your choice of beverages and your guests can order up their perfectly prepared drink right from their phone.
Cook everything together and then keep it all warm for buffet-style serving with the Thermal Pro electric fry pan from Breville. This skillet’s massive cooking surface and powerful, butterfly-shaped element make it a wiz at cooking things quickly. So, you can get more done, faster, which means more time for you to enjoy your get together.
August Smart Lock and Doorbell Cam
No need to stop stirring that risotto when the doorbell rings because the dynamic duo of August’s Smart Lock and Doorbell cam will allow you to see who’s at your door and then let them inside, all from your smart phone. The only thing it can’t do is take their coat.
Bose SoundTouch 10 Wireless Music System
This compact, yet powerful sound system ensures that your dinner party sounds just as sweet as it smells. You can stream internet radio or a carefully crafted playlist from your personal library. Plus, because this sound system is discreetly-sized and completely wireless, you can place it just about anywhere in the house. This means no more awkward tête-à-têtes beside a poorly placed speaker.
