I love throwing parties. I really love throwing parties without paying for them because there is nothing more satisfying than spending other people’s money.

I have a few party rules when it comes to food, whIch I’ll talk about in a minute. But if you follow the golden rule and make your guests happy whilst sparing them embarrassing situations, they will invite you to their parties, which is the whole point.

The most important thing is to serve food that can be picked up with one hand. No one wants to put their drink down to navigate a pastry swan. Stay away from messy, slippery things like sloppy joe sliders or mango-wrapped anything. If you’re serving something with a pit or a shell, for heaven’s sake have a place for people to put them. Lastly, don’t try to get too cute because that will just confuse people. Food should look like food, not a child’s art project.

I love to serve grilled pineapple and mozzerella skewers because I like stabbing things and they’re really beautiful. Choose sturdy branches and tear off just enough leaves for ONE mozzarella ball and ONE cube of pineapple. Put too many things on a skewer and you’ll have a couple of lumberjacks trying to shove the whole thing in their mouth at once and end up ruining your bathroom. You want to avoid this for everyone’s sake.

To serve, just place them in a nice design on a rustic looking platter and go pour a drink! Perfection.