Hosting a Cocktail Party: Planning

The last party I hosted was a DIY evening of Chinese dumpling making, which I totally want to do in 2020 again to celebrate a new year and to wish people a long life with noodles.  At that February celebration, I bought eggroll or wonton skins, prepared up a filling of ground pork and vegetables, served noodles, served wine, and then cooked up what my guests rolled for our meal.  I sent home the extra dumplings home with my guests.  I had lots of fun of crafting a different kind of party and connecting with my neighbors & friends, and I think they enjoyed the evening as well.  

This Saturday, I'm throwing an impromptu cocktail party, last minute because I just sent out this invitation yesterday, which I downloaded from a free invitation site, customized it with my details and colored it with magic markers because I've only a black and white printer at work.

I know for sure I want to spend my time in the kitchen mostly before the party, and so a couple of cheese boards for sure.  I've already got a couple nice wooden boards, acacia and olive wood, which I'll oil up plus I'm borrowing a slate board from a friend.  I've an aged gouda, for which I'll need a knife like below, and I'm definitely down with being grown-up and owning a cheese knife.  

Below are the kind of knives you need for soft cheeses like Brie, but I can wait on getting this specialty tool.

And I always seem to have semi-soft cheeses on hand for which I'd need a slicer like the one below.  And maybe I'll be fully grown up when I finally have a whole set of cheese knives.