8 Last Minute Fixes for Party Disasters

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You’ve planned your event down to the last detail. You’ve got everything on a schedule. The guests are on their way over and…disaster strikes!

We’ve all been there. Fortunately, a creative host can come up with a solution to just about any disaster. Broken oven? Missing ingredient? Picky guests? Don’t stress, you’ll find a way to fix it. And if you’re really stumped? Below are some solutions for 9 of the most common last minute party disasters! 

PROBLEM #1: Your oven is broken.

This one is a bit of a bummer, especially if you’re cooking something like a roast chicken or rack of lamb. It’s very hard to make those presentable without a fully working oven.

It’s best to check your oven the night in the morning. That way you’ve got time to prepare if it is broken, and a greater chance of getting it fixed before cooking-time. 

But there are times when even taking preventative measures won’t prepare you. What’s worse, sudden-oven-death always seems to happen when you’re cooking some really impressive holiday roast. Or about an hour before your guests are supposed to arrive.

But don’t cancel the whole party. All hope is not lost!

SOLUTIONS

Try to find an electrician

Most people throw dinner parties on weekend evenings. Which makes it especially difficult to find a working oven-repairman who will take time away from their family and help you on a Saturday night.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Call your go-to or try a few new places. Who knows, maybe someone will be trying to avoid dinner with the in-laws or looking for some extra work.

At the very least, you’ll be able to schedule a repair as soon as possible. Even if not that night.

But don’t spend hours looking for someone to save you. Give it a try and if nothing helpful happens, move on. You’ve still got guests on the way!

Ask your neighbors for help

This does require that you be on good terms with your neighbors. (It also might leave them wondering why they weren’t invited to your party in the first place.) But hopefully they’ll be understanding and willing to let you borrow their oven for an hour or two. Who knows, maybe they’ll even have a back-up something in their freezer that you’ll be able to cook instead.

(Pro Tip: Invite them over to join the party. If they refuse at least bake them a really nice dessert as a thank you.)

Change your cooking method.

Most foods you serve at dinner parties can be cooked a variety of ways. Really the only dishes you’re stuck with are roast chickens and large meats like roasts or shanks. These are fairly difficult to cut up and cook any way other than the oven. (You can fry a chicken or grill a roast, but not everyone is equipped for those adventures.)

Presuming your stove is still working or you have a fifth burner, move your cooking from the oven to the stove! Cut up your lamb rack and sear each chop with some butter. Slice up your giant salmon fillet and pan sear it. And did you know even whole fish, especially small ones like trout, can be pan fried?

Get a little creative and come up with a new recipe. Sure, it will be new and you won’t be as confident serving it. But chances are it will work out and nobody will notice. And you’ll have a new recipe to your repertoire!

Obviously slicing and dicing won’t be as impressive as rolling out a full fillet or rack. But you can dress up individual servings which have their own charm.

Can you cook salmon in the dishwasher?

If you’re panicking for solutions to a broken oven, I’m sure you’ve come across the “steam your fish in the dishwasher” method.

Personally I’ve never tried, but in theory it should work. According to Bob Blumer on the Food Network, you can wrap your salmon up in tin foil and run a regular cycle on your dishwasher. Essentially, you are steaming your salmon, albeit unconventionally. 

Christine Gallary at The Kitchn tried the method and was thoroughly impressed by the results. She claims, if you wrap your salmon tight enough, you can even run a load of dirty dishes as well. Talk about a no-fuss dinner party!

Cook a back-up

A broken oven is a real argument for always preparing a back-up plan. As annoying as it is to buy a whole second meal just in case, you’ll be so relieved if anything terrible happens to the first one. Choose something that freezes well and can be cooked a variety of ways: fish, shrimp, steaks. Even spaghetti and meatballs will work! Most of us always have those ingredients on hand. Just make sure you buy an extra package of ground meat. 

Pop your back-up in the freezer as soon as you get home. If you end up needing it, you’ll be grateful. If not, you’ve got a lovely dinner ready to cook whenever you defrost it!

Order delivery

Obviously the least attractive option, but if every cooking appliance has failed and all the power has gone out in your apartment…no one will complain if you order in. At least you’ll be making fun memories for the books.

PROBLEM #2: You forgot to turn on the oven.

Hopefully you’ll notice this one before your guests arrive. If your kitchen never gets warm, you never hear sizzling and you never smell cooking food, that’s probably a good sign the oven isn’t on.

Your best bet here is prevention. Get into the habit, before you do any food prep, preheat your oven. You can make it a routine: check that you have ingredients, check that you know the cooking time, check that you know the cooking temperature, turn on the oven. 

If you were in a rush and forgot or your routine got thrown off, there’s one last chance for redemption. Check your food halfway through. You don’t have to do a full once over, but do walk into the kitchen and peek in the oven. Or, if you have an oven light, turn it on and see how things are looking. It’s never a good idea to throw something in the oven and walk away for good. Make it a habit to check on it once. That way you’ll catch either overcooking or a cold oven.

SOLUTIONS

Let’s say you did your best work putting your dinner in the oven but you were rushed or your routine was thrown off. You walk into the kitchen and…the oven is cold.

Create a cocktail hour

Assuming you caught this mid-way through cooking, just start the oven and let your meal cook. Delaying dinner an hour can be annoying, but use the extra time to whip up some extra fun appetizers or pull together a new mixed drink and make a cocktail hour. As long as your guests have a drink, something to snack on, and your company, they’ll forgive a little later dinner.

Use your Back-Up Plan

• If you’re cooking something that takes time, (think slow roast, 4-hour turkey, overnight crockpot dish) even discovering half-way through can be disastrous. Check your timing, is there a way you can eke out the extra 2 to 3 hours needed to catch up? If so, do it. If not, turn to your back-up.
• Maybe with the stress of kids and pets or even another sort of disaster (see #3), you just didn’t have time to get back into the kitchen. You discover, 30 minutes to serving, that your dinner has been sitting in a cold oven for 2 hours. Rather than make your guests wait for 2 extra hours (even appetizers won’t last that long), use your back-up plan.

PROBLEM #3: Your plumbing breaks down.

The ultimate disaster. You have guests arriving any minute expecting a fancy dinner and an evening of luxury…and the toilet is clogged.

If you live in a house with many bathrooms, this is less of a calamity and more of an inconvenience. Direct your guests to a different restroom and all is well.

If you live in an apartment or the water is shut off in your home, you’ll need some major damage control.

First step: if there was a flood, clean it. Stop what you’re doing in the kitchen and clean the bathroom. Guests will forgive a delayed dinner. Guests will not be thrilled stepping over toilet water or being smacked in the face with sewage smell.

After that, it’s time for a fix.

SOLUTIONS

Call A Plumber

Unlike oven repairs, many plumbers do provide emergency services. So make that your first step, especially if you find out early in the day. Obviously having a plumber come in in the middle of your party is a little disruptive, but better to have a working toilet.

Try a Neighbor

If you’ve invited a neighbor to your party, let them know what happened and ask if they’ll donate their bathroom for emergencies. (Only if you’ve already invited the neighbor! It is rude to ask someone else to allow your guests to invade their home.) This obviously doesn’t work if the plumbing in the whole apartment is broken or somebody shut the water off.

Tell Your Guests Before They Arrive

If it doesn’t look like things are going to be fixed in time, let your guests know! Few things are more uncomfortable than arriving at someone’s party, needing to use the restroom, only to find it’s broken. Give guests a heads up so they can stop off somewhere along the way. Assuming your dinner party isn’t beverage heavy and doesn’t go for 6 hours, most guests will be okay. Just let them know ahead of time and apologize for the inconvenience. You can even suggest places to stop if they are already headed over.

PROBLEM #4: You realized you don’t have a key ingredient.

I am the queen of this problem. I get halfway through cooking something and realize I don’t have the lemon for the sauce.

Or I set everything out to bake and realize I ran out of vanilla a week ago.

If they gave out medals for this sort of thing, my wall would be covered in them.

Pretty irritating, especially since the only person you can really blame is yourself.

SOLUTIONS

Plan ahead

Planning is boring and time consuming. But if you’re hosting a dinner party, planning is so essential. You’re probably already writing out your menu, but take it a step further and make an expanded menu. Add in all the ingredients for each and every dish. When you check your cabinet, lightly cross off the ingredients you have. Then take this list with you to the grocery store to ensure you don’t forget anything.

Set out everything you’ll need before you cook

This can be hard to do, especially on busy cooking days like Thanksgiving. But it can make all the difference. Before you make a certain dish, pull out every ingredient you’ll need and set it on the counter. This way you can see what you have and what you may need. You also avoid the panic when you’re halfway through cooking something and realize the essential ingredient for step 3 is missing. And it’s so much easier to add fresh thyme to your dish if it’s already on the counter when you need it.

Budget a little extra time in case you need to run to the store

This is probably my most-used solution. I always give myself an extra 30 minutes. Because no matter how much I’ve prepped, there’s always that one thing. But I live in New York City, so running to the bodega or grocery story takes me 4 minutes. If you live in an area where a store is further away, don’t opt for this choice.

If it’s not too weird or necessary, ask a guest to bring it.

Baking something like a pie is done in advance. You won’t be able to ask guests to bring ingredients for your pie. (But since you’re making it in advance, hopefully that gives you a little more time to find any missing ingredients.)

Asking for ice and paper dishware is considered perfectly normal, but so is alcohol! If your guests ask if there is anything else they can pick up and you just realized you’re out of rum for the cocktail, tell them they can bring a bottle. They’ll be happy to help. (Just don’t ask for top-shelf liquor.)

If you’re on very good terms with someone, you can ask for more specific ingredients. Realizing you’re out of lemons that you planned to drizzle on top? Ask your close friend to pick up a few on the way over.

Know what flavors blend so you can find a substitute!

There are a couple of common ingredients that you’re likely to forget. Fortunately, most of these have easy substitutions you can use instead.

• Vanilla – equivalent Maple Syrup; it changes the flavor a bit, but it’s better than plain
• Lemons – ½ the amount Vinegar or the equivalent of dry White Wine; you just need something acidic. If you’re looking for a strictly lemony flavor white wine isn’t identical but it’s better than vinegar
• Oil or Eggs – ¼ cup Applesauce for eggs; equal amount for oil (In college I once used applesauce instead of eggs in brownies. I handed them out to the freshmen boys who claimed they were “the best brownies ever!” So it does work. At least, it does if you’re fooling teenage boys.)
• Cream – ⅓ cup Butter and ¾ cup Milk

PROBLEM #5 The dish did not turn out as you expected.

Maybe your oven cooks too hot and everything burned. Maybe you read 2 cups of butter when it was supposed to be 2 tablespoons. Maybe you didn’t realize how long it would really take to roast a whole turkey.

There are about a million ways things can go wrong in the kitchen. It’s such a devastating feeling when you pull out your triumphant main course out of the oven…and it’s totally ruined. But your dinner party doesn’t have to be ruined too.

SOLUTIONS

Stick with What you Know

Don’t make a brand new never-before-tried recipe for your party. Especially if you are nervous about cooking. New recipes usually have one or two kinks and quirks that need to be worked out before they are ready to be shown off to guests.

But I don’t take my own advice on that one and always seem to pick the hardest recipe that I’ve never attempted.

Back-Up!

I know I’ve said this before but…Have. A. Back-up. Something easy, fast, that you know how to make and make well. I know it’s irritating to buy two dinners. BUT, if things go south, you will be so grateful to have that meal already in your fridge. And if everything goes off without a hitch, you’ll have a yummy dinner for the next few nights already waiting for you to make it! Or, you could always throw it in the freezer and save it for next weekend.

If you have no main course back-up and everything is ruined…don’t panic.

Your guests are probably close friends and will understand if cooking goes horribly wrong. We’ve all had those moments. Keep these thoughts in mind:

• Serve the sides/vegetables as the main dish
• Serve dessert a little sooner than usual
• Put a bigger focus on the cocktails, drinks, and alcohol
• Check out the fridge for any salad materials or pasta and whip up a quick additional side

If all else fails…

• Order food/take out and turn it into a more casual party

Maybe it’s not as ruined as you think.

Take stock of the situation. 

• Is there a burned crust that can be removed? 
• Does it truly taste bad or does it just look a little strange? 
• Will making a sauce or adding toppings disguise the problem? 
• Could you cut up the meat/fish and add it to a salad instead? 

Before you dump the whole thing in the trash with frustration, try to salvage what you can!

Problem #6: You ran out of wine.

Or you forgot to buy it. Either way, I feel your pain. What’s a party without enough drinks? But like every other situation else on this list…there’s a way around it.

First, as with every other situation, planning ahead will save you. Plan to buy at least 1 bottle of wine per guest and, depending on how many people you have, maybe a few extras. (This is negotiable. If your friends love their wine, buy a little more. If they’re happy drinking tea and coffee, buy a little less.)

If money is tight or you’re tired of supplying massive amounts of alcohol, try a cocktail! You’ll end up spending less in general since the extra ingredients are often cheaper than bottles of booze. Batch cocktails especially are cheaper, quicker, and will make fewer bottles last longer.

Do remember you can always ask your guests to bring alcohol. Wine or booze is a traditional hostess gift, so most people will already be planning on doing so anyway. If the party is already going and you’re watching the wine disappear, ask a late guest them if they’ll pick up an extra bottle. 

A tip: Tell guests to bring their favorite bottle. Everyone will be able to try something new and your guests are guaranteed to like at least the bottle they brought!

If all of these plans have failed you…

Reserve Supply

It’s a good idea to stock up on your favorite liquors and wines in general. A tough day at work is so much easier when you can relax with a nice scotch when you get home. Or sip a glass of wine while you cook dinner. You don’t need to buy cases and cases of the stuff, but most of us will have a bottle or two that we save for ourselves. “The good stuff.”

If you like your guests (and that can be a big if, going by some of my dinner parties) feel free to break into your reserve supply. Your guests will feel special and they’ll understand if the pours come slower since these are your favorite bottles.

Wine delivery service

Big city dweller? You’re in luck! Many liquor stores offer delivery services now. And, even better, there are delivery services dedicated to picking up any liquor you desire within the hour!

Volunteer to go grab more

Again, if you live in a big city there are liquor stores nearly every block. You should be able to walk to one and pick up a bottle if you really need it. Only do this if you absolutely feel it is necessary. And do not drive after you’ve been drinking.

Switch to coffee or tea for after dinner

This is an excellent option in general, especially if you want to wrap up. If you serve people another drink, they’ll expect the party to keep going. But serve a coffee, and it’s a signal they need to sober up and get out soon. If you have any non-drinkers, they’ll appreciate this gesture as well.

Problem #7. You dumped the food on the floor.

This one is actually fairly easy to get out of. As long as there aren’t any guests observing you in the kitchen!

Just scoop it up and put it back on the plate. You’ll have to do a little rearranging of course, but all in a day’s work.

Now, I’m not suggesting you serve your guests rancid, spoiled, or totally disgusting entrees. But presumably since you had guests coming over you mopped the floor, right? Right!

And if not…the 5 second rule (or the 5 minute rule) still applies! 

Of course this does NOT work for cupcakes covered in icing, sauces, salads, or anything that splattered into a million droplets. 

Or if you didn’t clean the kitchen floor… Or you have a pet… Or are generally averse to feeding guests something that dropped. 

SOLUTIONS

Main Course 

Get creative. Maybe there is a way to serve the dish without the sauce? Can you make a new batch of sauce? Or a new sauce entirely? A quick wine butter sauce will go with most lighter recipes! And a red wine sauce goes well with most red meats. You can whip either of those up in about 10 minutes.

If there really is no salvaging it. Look to the freezer and pull out your back up. (Or your cupboard for the pasta!) You’ll need something quick and easy so your guests aren’t waiting for too long.

Dessert 

Icings can be re-whipped fairly quickly if you have extra ingredients! For a full sized cake, survey the extent of the damage. If the cake itself is still structurally sound, either re-whip new icing to fill in dents, or scrape the icing off and give the cake a naked, rustic look.

Cake is totally crushed? Melt some chocolate, smoosh it up and go with the ever-popular cake balls!

Dropping a pie is definitely harder to fix. But if you scoop the useable pie filling into individual ramekins, just add some of the crust, sugar, and butter on top. Broil on high heat for a few minutes and you’ll have individual pie crumbles!

Problem # 8: You’ve made a dish that your guests can’t eat. 

One of my dear friends is allergic to shellfish. I once poisoned him on Thanksgiving. 

I’d gone into it with a plan to avoid any accidental allergies. I’d even made two stuffings: one with oysters and one with just sausage. But I hadn’t had time to label them before everyone arrived. (Lesson in time management.) 

He unwittingly scooped the wrong one…disaster ensued. To be fair, he played it very cool and even powered through a bit of pie later. But I still felt like the worst host on the entire planet. (Not to mention the result could have been much worse.)

Not every example involves near-death. Maybe your friend’s guest recently converted to veganism and forgot to mention it. Maybe they are about to announce their pregnancy and can’t eat certain foods. Whatever the reason, it’s awkward when it happens.

If you asked for any dietary restrictions in the invitation, the blame isn’t on you. That probably won’t make the situation less awkward, but hopefully you won’t feel bad about yourself.

SOLUTIONS

Check the menu off with people beforehand.

Hopefully your guests told you what they could and couldn’t eat when you asked with your invitation. If there is someone who is very food sensitive or has many allergies, it might be a good idea to share your menu idea with them. Make sure there is something they can eat. If nothing works for them, ask if they would be willing to bring something themselves. Most people with severe food allergies are happy to bring something they feel safe eating.

Plan a meal that has some variety

By all means, Serve a meat as your main course. But perhaps also add a heartier salad and a vegetable side. There’s no need to create 15 different dishes. But offering a few different dishes will cover most guests. And makes the table much prettier!

Make food labels for a buffet

Buffets can be tricky for guests with allergies. To help them out, label everything before you put it out. Include a cute name for your dish and then list all the ingredients and bold the ones that are the most commonly allergenic (nuts, eggs, dairy, wheat, garlic). Dress these cards up with some cute decorations and your guests won’t even know these are allergy-avoiders!

Don’t Feel Guilty

If you made every attempt to accommodate your guests, relax. If someone forgot to tell you a restriction or is so picky they refuse to eat your food, don’t beat yourself up about it. Having a variety is good. Going to every length to have every possible allergy or diet accounted for is too much. Guests have some responsibility too.

Have an Emergency Kit Handy

In the event that you do what I did and fail miserably. Have an emergency kit with allergy meds and some poison control or clinic numbers easily available.

BONUS: You’re locked inside your apartment.

Okay. Don’t laugh. This actually happened to me.

Yep. I’d planned a whole dinner down to the second. Romantic twinkle lights were sparkling. The wine was perfectly chilled. I had candles lit and Frank playing in the background.

As I lift the beautiful… (dare-I-say exquisite? I do. I dare…) the exquisite roasted chicken out of the oven, I hear Vasiliy turn his key in the lock. Nailed it.

Except the door never opens.

After a few moments he knocks. I’ll admit some exasperation here. I mean, it’s a door. Can’t he get it open himself?! I have a chicken to tend to!

I unlock it with a huff and pull it open.

It doesn’t open.

Long story short the locking mechanism had broken and locked me inside. Thank heavens I wasn’t hosting a fancy dinner party. I can’t imagine anything more frustrating than planning for weeks and then being unable to let your own guests in. Also, it’s probably a fire hazard.

My Solution?

I tried a DIY lock removal. (Really dumb since I’m a renter in the building and could easily have destroyed the door. But I was just so frantic and mad!) It didn’t work.

After 30 minutes of calling around I finally found a locksmith who could be at my place in 15 minutes. A full 45 minutes later, Vasiliy and I sat down to our delicious chicken dinner with a brand new shiny lock on the door. The best part? The chicken was still a little warm.

No matter what terrible situation or disaster has come crashing down around your ears, I promise, you’re going to be okay. It’s a dinner party! Relax, laugh it off, come up with a new plan, and have a story to tell for years to come.

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