Dinner Party, Come On Over

Tomorrow evening I'm hosting a dinner party. And I'm very excited about it. That's because dinner parties are my favorite thing in the entire world. Especially since it's freezing cold out, and I get to stay inside and cook while everyone else braves the cold on the bus or subway to come over. Normally the night unfolds in this not unusual way:
1.) Have several cocktails, and get a little (I mean very) happy
2.) Bring out appetizers
3.) Share any new music that I've acquired since the last time I had people over
4.) Wrap up any last minute cooking (i.e. bread in the oven, or make a salad)
5.) Sit down to the meal, and eat more and more until we are stuffed
6.) Redistribute fresh cocktails
7.) Sit and chat for a bit (and let the meal digest)
8.) Move on to some board games (the best!), or possibly a movie. Since my dining room is also my living room, this can all take place in one motion, which is nice.
9.) Play with Gus (my friends' Yellow Lab, who I always love to have over as well)
10.) Refill cocktails (notice the trend here)
11.) Start talking extensively about raunchy things (thanks to free-flowing liquor)
12.) Everyone is tired and should head towards home. And I should clean up and go to bed, myself. (**Optional alternate for #11, depending on the mood: Everyone decides to head to a club and be wild until the wee hours of the morning.)

So tomorrow, the 6 of us are having a simple and easy menu. The appetizer will be some dried fruit and dates wrapped in bacon. Dinner will be spaghetti and homemade meatballs, garlic bread, and a tomato-cucumber-feta salad. Someone is bringing dessert, so that will be a surprise. Yum. I'm hungry already, just thinking about it. I always take tons of pictures as well, and sometimes everyone gets up to bust a little move if the music's right. Well, usually that's just me. The playlist for the evening is something I take a lot of time to put together. Compose is more the word for it. I try my best to estimate how much time the proceedings of the evening will take, and match the music to it. It usually begins with some classic R&B, jazz, or lounge through dinner, then by the end of the night we are cranking up the old school, classic house, and funk.

Dinner parties are always the most memorable times for me, because they are so candid, you don't have to deal with crazy drunk people who you don't know, and everyone always loves good food! Of course it's good, because I cooked it!

So what about you? Any good dinner party tips, stories, menu items, or the like?