Creating the perfect romantic evening involves a number of important steps.
First, you need to set the right mood. Second, you need to create a nice menu that fits your abilities. And last, you need to be relaxed and on your game. This is all do-able. Need help? Read on! e
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Step 1: Creating the Right Mood
When you set out to plan your romantic evening, think about all the places you’ve been or movies you’ve seen that create an atmosphere that would make your woman swoon. Creating the right mood also involves all the senses. Get the picture? Click below to get all the help you need.
Smell: The Enticing Aromas
Creating the right mood starts the moment she walks through the door. That means the first thing she notices when she enters your abode is the wonderful aroma of flavors wafting through the air. The nose is very sensitive, especially a woman’s nose, and you may be whetting her appetite for more than dinner before she takes her coat off.
Auditory: Soothing Music
The next thing she’ll notice is the music. It’s very important that music is already playing before she arrives, and the right music at that. Here’s my suggestion on how to proceed with an evening of music: start with upbeat cocktail tunes that are fun and festive. This type of music makes your date feel relaxed yet in a party mood. It gives both of you time to settle in and have some fun without setting any romantic expectations too early in the evening.
During dinner, play some light and easy background instrumental music. This music should make both of you feel like you’re taking a nice warm bath. Song lyrics won’t distract your intimate conversations, plus the soft sounds offer the perfect appetizer for your main musical entree to be served up later.
When dessert is over, you better have your A-list of romantic tunes ready. And don’t make a big announcement that you’re switching tempo by stopping the previous music while you fumble for those dusty Barry White CDs. Instead, have your CDs or itunes playlist ready and then wait for her to excuse herself to use the bathroom. While she’s busy freshening-up, switch the tunes quietly and she’ll probably never know you’ve moved onto the evening’s musical main course.
And what romantic tunes should you play? Well, what are her favorite romantic songs or artists? If you don’t know, try some classic Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. Remember them? How about Nat King Cole, Micheal Buble, Diana Krall, Julie London, or Renee Olstead. If you don’t have any of these kings and queens of romance you need to go out and get them.
Need help in creating your perfect musical repertoire? Click on our Music Checklist under Entertaining Basics and you’ll have plenty of romantic singers and music to choose from.
Sight: Soft Warm lighting
Lighting is essential to setting the right mood. You don’t want to be dining under a surgeon’s flood lamp or feel like you’re cozying up on the tarmac of a busy airport. You want the lighting to offer a nice soft yellow glow that is already set before she arrives. Why? Just read our section Lighting That Brightens Your Chances under Entertaining Basics and you’ll learn why.
Taste: Your perfectly prepared dinner
Now that the lights are set, music is softly playing, and the dinner’s aroma has filled her senses, she’s nearly yours. All that’s between you and the rest of the evening is your perfectly prepared dinner. We’ll tackle the dinner segment in Step 2.
Touch: You’re on your own
If you’ve done everything correctly up to this point, you should be in pretty good hands. (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)
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Step 2: Preparing the Perfect Dinner
Preparing the perfect menu requires a fair amount of lead time and some creativity on your part. But first, do you want to create a 3-course dinner from scratch, including appetizer, main course and dessert? Or, do you want to focus just on the main course and leave the appetizers and dessert to those pre-made grocery items? The answer here is really up to your cooking comfort level, given the other things you have to do such as straightening up your abode, cleaning your bathroom (a must!) and setting a nice intimate dining table. Read on to learn where to begin.
The primary focus of any dinner is the main course. Before you go too far, you must find out if she has any allergies or specific food dislikes. You don’t want to go to all the bother of putting on a nice salmon dinner if she doesn’t like fish. Don’t forget vegetarians. Neither of you want these kinds of surprises when you sit down for dinner.
If you have plenty of time, pick some recipes from a cookbook or online (see Recipe Resources at right) and choose one to make for yourself a week before your date . This gives you an opportunity to see how difficult it may be to make while you’re also entertaining your date. Here’s another tip: chose something you can make in the oven.
There are some awesome chicken or pork braising dishes out there that are very simple to put together and go in the oven before she even arrives. Now all you have to do is put out some simple appetizers, make a few cocktails, pour a glass of wine and let the oven do the work while you’re working on her, I mean, enjoying her company.
If you’re new to cooking, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying simple appetizers or a pre-made dessert from a local bakery, grocery store or specialty shop. Avoid buying those plastic set-ups of shrimp cocktail or cheese and crackers. That ranks up there with the convenience store flowers and cute stuffed bear.
Keep the appetizers simple. Just buy some assorted cheeses, flavorful crackers, some grapes, mixed nuts, and put them on fun or interesting plates. The serving pieces you choose are just as important as the food itself. This goes for all your courses. Presentation is everything. More on this later.
As for dessert, why chance it. You can buy great desserts such as individual chocolate custard tarts that are just as good as desserts at a fine dining restaurant. If you score with a well-made entree, dessert is just icing on the cake.
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Step 3: Relax And Be Yourself
The key to putting on a great dinner party, be it a romantic dinner for two or a fun gathering of 12 of your best friends, is to just be yourself. If you haven’t done a lot of cooking or entertaining, this may not come as easy as someone who’s been doing it awhile. But don’t fret, you can make it easy on yourself from the very start. Read on to learn how.
First, take a serious inventory of your cooking and entertaining skills. If you love to cook and putting on a romantic dinner isn’t a big deal, then the only suggestion I would offer is to create a menu using some of your best dishes that are easy to prepare. This allows you time to up your game on other parts of the evening that you have wanted to polish up on.
If you’re a beginner around the kitchen but willing to give this romantic dinner thing a try, my first suggestion is to read Entertaining Basics (see tab at top of page). It has all the essential information you need to be aware of as you contemplate your dinner plans. Read it often until you have it down cold. Also, use our Checklists to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
After reading the basics, you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and start planning. Plan early. Plan smart. Give yourself plenty of time, as in many days, to determine what you want to cook, what you may need to create your culinary masterpiece, and what tunes you want to play (see Step 1) throughout the evening.
As for being yourself. When you take time to really think all this stuff through, you’ll be much more relaxed, and your dinner will go all that much smoother. And when you take your time, you can add some of the things that make you you. I’m short of examples right now, but you know what I mean. Put your own twist on the evening that shows your personality. Don’t do anything that will make her feel uncomfortable or make for an awkward evening. You get the idea.
When you combine basic knowledge with a menu that’s easy to execute, you’ll be in control and relaxed. Keep this one thing in mind: nothing goes perfectly, so don’t even try to make everything perfect. Just make things go well and you’ll do just great. Just be your engaging, fun and romantic self, and by the end of the evening, she’ll give you that look ….
