When attending a dinner party at someone’s house, it is customary to bring something, and for most people that “something” is a bottle of wine. This is perfectly fine, as long as you understand that you may not get to drink any of it.

I personally believe everyone should know three origami folds: A paper crane, a paper money ring, and at least one fancy way to fold a dinner napkin. The best site to teach you how to fold a napkin is Animated Napkins.

If someone is taking the time to open up their home and feed you, the polite, adult thing to do is bring a gift. Anyone can grab a mid-price bottle of wine with a pretty label, but interesting, thoughtful guests bring amaro.

I am a secret picky eater, so much so that once at a holiday dinner I refused to eat the holiday dishes and instead ate nothing but bread with hot sauce. My hosts are still talking to me for some reason, but other hell eaters out there should take care not to follow in my incredibly rude footsteps.

Imagine a party where everyone has to arrive and leave at the same time, where some guests are only allowed to talk to two or three other people all night, and there’s a mystery price (anywhere from $20 to $80) that every guest pays at the end. You just invented a group dinner at a restaurant!

Holiday parties are often more trouble than they’re worth. By the time December’s half over and you’ve survived a sloppy open bar or three, the idea of leaving the house ever again can be pretty unappetizing.

This year, take a cue from the Russians: Stay in and throw a banging dinner party.

Video: Halloween treats are always the same toffee-apple, grapes-as-eyeballs nonsense. But when film critic Marshall Julius tweeted this image for a spooky dead-body inspired buffet, we were inspired to make our own.

Your intentions are good. You learned long ago that the polite guest never shows up empty-handed to a dinner party and you've stuck by it. You always grab a bouquet of wildflowers from the Coles discount rack on your way to the fete that you thrust magnanimously into the arms of your host on arrival. You're polite! You sweat the details!

In this episode we're talking about dinner: What you should make, how you should make it, and why the idea of "dinner" is fraught for so many of us. We talk with Melissa Clark, staff reporter for The New York Times Food section and author of the cookbook Dinner in an Instant. We also chat with Dave Arnold, the Founder and President of the Brooklyn-based Museum of Food and Drink and author of the book Liquid Intelligence. And we spend quality time with Claire Lower, Lifehacker's food editor and the mastermind behind the "Will It Sous Vide" column.

If you've ever hosted a dinner party (or brunch party, or luncheon) you know that there's more to it than simply cooking a bunch of food. People need plates to eat off of, cloth to wipe their faces with, and furniture on which to set their rears. Though nothing is as important as the food, it's the details that really make the party.

Dinner parties are a great way to gather your friends for a little quality time, but planning dinner parties can be a real source of stress. To cut down on anxiety but still break bread with your besties, consider what The Kitchn calls a "crappy dinner party".

Hosting a dinner party is already a lot of work, but if your dishes require they be served right out of the pan or freezing cold, you'll never get to leave the kitchen. Prepping dishes that don't need any special treatment will let you actually enjoy your company.

Buying alcohol is one of the hardest parts of planning a party, whether it's a barbecue with your neighbours, a sedate dinner party or a raging birthday party that's set to continue into the early hours of the morning. Luckily, this easy formula is a simple way to work out how much booze your guests may be consuming.