The key to hosting a fun party is to have fun yourself! If you’re relaxed and having a good time, then your guests absolutely will too; conversely, if you’re tense and stressed and rushing around fussing about this and that, then your guests will pick up on that energy – it really can ruin a party! In practical terms, my best trick for feeling relaxed is to do as much of the cooking and preparations ahead of time, as I can, so: I’ll lay the table before everyone arrives; if I’m cooking for a crowd, I’ll focus on the sorts of recipes that you can either just pop in the oven and forget about, or save at room temperature and prepare earlier in the day, or even a day or two beforehand (this couscous salad is a great one for that!).

I’ve always loved doing things ‘family style’: it feels so much more inviting and generous than individual portions plated up on single dishes; it also looks really beautiful on the table, and you’ll find that a nice big salad, for example, with crisp, colorful leaves or a nice, round savory tart set out on a wooden board, is so gorgeous-looking that it almost doubles as decoration; so you really won’t need much by way of flowers (or other decorations) for the table. Summery flavours and ingredients lend themselves particularly well to this way of cooking and serving: tomato and mozzarella; big plates of prosciutto, perhaps with some juicy melon; crisp salads; dishes of peppery, hot pink radishes with a little mayonnaise for dipping or a drizzle of a good, creamy salad dressing…

Well, the most important element for any table is always the food: think bright colors, crisp textures and overflowing dishes. The flowers at this time of year are also pretty magnificent: garden roses and blousy pink peonies especially – they just look innately celebratory. If you don’t want to go wild with the flowers, then buy a few stems, cut them short and arrange in bud vases then dot here and there down the table – bud vases have a quasi-magical way of making a few flowers go a long way. Lastly, I love using summer fruits to decorate the table: a bowl of gleaming cherries or juicy red strawberries, or even stone fruits (plums, peaches and apricots) scattered directly in piles on the table set the tone as relaxed, but also feel spoiling and opulent, like a scene from a Dutch Master’s painting.

Our friends Ben and Charlie have a proper bar set-up in their living room: a tray set on the console table with glasses, ice, drinks and all the trimmings, so they can easily fix you a drink when you arrive without having to dash off to the kitchen to get this and that. It felt very glamorous to be served a drink ‘from the bar’ but I can also see that the set-up has excellent practical advantages too. So, I’m going to try and replicate it at home.

So much of the inspiration for the recipes in my books and columns come from my travels. One of my favorite dishes is something I first tried on vacation in Sicily and I make it so often in the summer months. It’s wonderfully simple, but tastes so fresh, and is a glorious pop of color on the table. You make a watermelon carpaccio, by slicing the melon as thinly as you can; arrange the slivers of hot pink fruit on a large serving dish then drizzle over a generous splash of olive oil and season generously with salt flakes and a few sprigs of fresh mint and basil. I can’t tell you how good it both tastes and looks.

In Venice especially, we tend to cook very seasonally. This is largely for practical reasons: everything needs to be brought in by boat and so you will find mostly only local ingredients to buy at the market and the grocers. You can’t buy melons, for example, at the market in wintertime or persimmons in the summer months. Whilst this might at first seem quite restrictive, the silver lining is that you quickly learn the joys of cooking largely seasonal and local ingredients. Food always tastes best when the ingredients are in season and haven’t travelled far, so it really is a blessing in disguise.

I love a bit of music when guests are arriving and everyone is still milling around, and even after the meal it can be nice to put on a good playlist to keep the party mood going; but I must say that I don’t love playing music during the meal. I find it distracting: the best thing about sitting down to lunch or dinner with friends is being able to chat properly, so you want to really focus on that. That said, my go to soundtrack for hosting is classic, cheesy Italian Pop (Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Mina, Umbrto Tozzi, and the like).

I do love a splash of good olive oil: it lifts everything. Obviously, you’ll want olive oil for your salad dressing (and I eat a lot of salads, especially in summer); but it also lifts other dishes. Tomato and mozzarella, for example, is transformed by a drizzle of grassy oil; or bruschetta (chopped tomatoes on toasted, crusty bread) crave good oil; same for a plate of simple grilled veggies. Even bread tastes better when you dip it in oil. And I even like a little splash of olive oil with many deserts: drizzled over vanilla ice cream (with a sprinkle of salt flakes) or over a slice of flourless chocolate cake, it transforms an otherwise slightly unimaginative pudding into something unexpected and even more delicious.

Skye McAlpine is the author of three cookbooks, including the bestselling A Table for Friends, a manual for joyful, effortless hosting whether you’re cooking for two or twenty. She writes a monthly recipe column for the Sunday Times Magazine in the UK and the popular lifestyle Substack, The Dolce Vita Diaries. Follow her on Instagram @skyemcalpine.