Before you plan your next dinner party, barbecue or family get-together, let me help you out with some helpful hacks to make it the easiest event you ever planned. Check out these 12 hacks for hostesses {and hosts!}.

1. Here’s a handy guide to help you set the dinner party table properly. A Downton Abbey dinner party won’t have anything on you!

2. Using disposable tableware is handy for clean up later, but if you want to feel better about it, dress it up like this.

3. Create a wonderful aroma for your guests with a stovetop potpourri. {They’ll never know if you burned the first batch of rolls!}

4. Here’s a fun hack: use colorful washi tape for fun, easy and disposable napkin rings!

5. For me, the trickiest part of hosting a party is trying to figure out how much food to serve. Here’s a handy serving chart to help us all get it right.

6. Just for fun and ambience, get an old movie that suits your party or holiday theme and play it silently in the background instead of music. You’d be surprised how much conversation it sparks.

7. Candlelight is a great addition to a dinner party, but you don’t have to spend a mint on fancy candles. Just get some pillar candles from a dollar store and use Martha Stewart’s method to dip dye them with crayon wax.

8. Having enough oven space when entertaining can be a challenge, but not if you have a three-tiered oven rack like this one found at Amazon.

9. Save yourself valuable time baking and make a donut cake instead. Doesn’t it look amazing? Plus, it’s got built in portion control.

10. For a simple place card that’s easy and attractive, use whole fruit.

11. For a deliciously easy but fancy dessert, serve up a stack of prettily wrapped gourmet chocolate bars.

12. A simple string of white lights creates instant, cozy ambience.