Casita Marita Dinner Party Lottery

Last night, March 17, 2023, I hosted my first post-covid Casita Marita Dinner Party. What fun we had! It reminded me of why I started these dinner parties in the first place: I love to plan a menu, to set the table, to cook, and serve a lovely meal—shared with friends, in our home. My husband doesn’t share my fondness for entertaining—but he does humor me and go along. I take care of all the food, cleaning the house, cooking, and clean up. He makes sure the yard is presentable and that there are beverages the guys will like. At the end of the evening, he’ll respond with a comment like: “That went well. It was better than I expected.”

Casita Marita Dinner Parties

So, just what is a Casita Marita Dinner Party? In short, it is a dinner party lottery.

As I addressed in a previous post, when I first moved to Lubbock, I literally cried to Chuck that I didn’t know enough people to have a dinner party. Now, 8+ years later, I have so many friends, I cannot fit them all around my limited dining space. I realized that I wasn’t hosting the parties, that are a big part of who I am, because I didn’t want to leave anyone out—but I couldn’t fit everyone in.

That is when I came up with the idea of Casita Marita Dinner Parties.

The Plan

Here is what I originally, pre-covid, sent to my friends:

I have had an epiphany! The solution to my problem is so obvious, I feel silly that I hadn’t thought of it previously.

In my childhood, my father was in the industrial food service business. When I was a young teenager, he had a restaurant called Casita Marita. Yes, it was named after me. I’d kind of assumed I would end up in the restaurant business. I waitressed all through jr. high, high school, and college. I spent enough time in the business to realize it was a tough industry and that I really didn’t want to be a restaurant manager. Though my professional life went a different direction, I still have a little longing to have a restaurant—which I fill by hosting dinner parties.

When I lived in New Mexico, I had a great room where I’d host large parties and dinner parties of up to 14 at the dinner table. I created a guest list that I called the Casita Marita list. When I’d get a menu in mind, I’d reach out to that list to see who was available on the date I’d chosen for a party. I aimed to have a dinner party about once a month.

Then, 6 years ago, I moved to Lubbock. After a few months here, I remember crying to Chuck that I didn’t have enough friends to even have a dinner party. That was then.

Fast forward, I still love to host dinner parties, but I don’t do it as often as I’d like—mostly because I have too many friends! I can only fit 12 around the table—and that is really crowded and not terribly comfortable. 6-8 is ideal. But that means I must exclude many of my friends. I don’t want anyone to feel left out. The result? I don’t have the dinner parties.

I haven’t had a dinner party since April when I had a group of girlfriends over for my mother’s birthday. Then, Saturday night, I had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner party of six. I’d started with a potential guest list of 18, but due to COVID concerns and schedule conflicts, only 6 came—and the group was made up of folks who haven’t previously spent a lot of time together. It was lovely! All of us were part of the conversation and clean up was easy.

So, here’s my epiphany! I’ve created a guest list that I am, once again, calling my Casita Marita List. You are receiving this epistle because you are on the list! The list includes my usual girlfriends (plus spouses) and some others I’d like to get to know better and/or those with whom I’d like to spend more time. Occasionally, I may add some one I’ve just met.

I am going to aim to host one 6–8-person dinner party a month. My plan is to literally pull the names out of a jar to create each month’s guest list. If someone on that list is unavailable, I’ll draw another name, and another until the table is filled out. The names of those who do come, will be placed in another jar. Once jar A is empty and jar B is full, we’ll start over. As I meet new people, I’d add them to the jar.

Are you in?

As I recall, everyone I invited wanted to participate. As I was just about through jar A, Covid hit. We had some great times. We got to know new people and get better acquainted with those we already knew. That was, now, a couple of years ago. I got out of the habit.

St. Patrick’s Day

With St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon, I revived the Casita Marita Dinner Parties. I went through my friend list, including my usual group and some I’d like to get to know better, and sent them an email to reintroduce the Casita Marita Dinner Parties. I, again, asked if they wanted to be on the guest list lottery. I believe every single one responded that they did want to be included.

In my childhood home, for St. Patrick’s Day, we always had what we called New England Boiled Dinner—what I now call Corned Beef and Cabbage (though Chuck really doesn’t like corned beef). For those who do not like corned beef (and I know my husband is not the only one), I add a beef and Guinness pie to the menu.

Last night was my first “revived” Casita Marita Dinner Party. We had such a good time, I am looking forward to the next one. It went well, even “better than expected.”

I’ll probably do a traditional Easter dinner for my April party.

In my next post, I’ll include the recipes for the full St. Patrick’s Day menu. Maybe you can save it for next year.

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Marita has spent the majority of her adult life working with women—helping them improve relationships, achieve their speaking and writing dreams, and being the best version of themselves they can possibly be. The author of 20 books, this Living Our Best Life Project is her newest effort—through which she hopes to challenge women to be fulfilled where they are.