Q&A: How to Entertain in a Small Space

I promise, it doesn't have to be hard.

New for 2025, Q&A is an advice column of sorts for paid subscribers. Once a month, I answer a reader’s question about living small and invite the community to weigh in with ideas too.

My husband suggested this image to illustrate this week’s post—it was too funny not to use.

Q: Do you have any advice for how to entertain in a small space with a family? Our place is small, so it’s especially hard to figure out how to have friends over without displacing my spouse and child.

A: I wanted to answer this question because it’s something I have struggled with too. When I was younger, I hosted dinner get-togethers and holiday parties all the time—even though I always lived in small apartments. I figured the more the merrier, and and never limited my guest list because I was worried about my space being too small.

Entertaining in a small space gets trickier though when you also need to navigate around a child, as the reader indicated in her question. I also think we’ve all become a little less inclined to host after we temporarily lost the habit five years ago.

But I think entertaining is worth pursuing–even when it’s hard. Having our friends over to our homes adds richness to our lives. We know that Americans are lonelier, more isolated, more overworked, and more exhausted than ever before. If we’re going to get ourselves out of this mess, we need to build a culture of connection (even the Surgeon General said so!). Getting together with friends to share a meal can be a small way to mend some of what’s wrong. It’s also a very real way to build the community and connection so many of use are craving. So, here’s my advice for how to host in a small space:

First, know that no space is too small

Please don’t let the size of your space deter you from having friends over. I promise, your friends will just be happy (thrilled even!) that you invited them over and cooked for them. I hosted dinners even when I lived in a 225-square foot studio, and every one of those plates-on-knees-around-the-coffee-table meals is a memory I cherish. In my first book, I mentioned my friend Vanessa, who used to live in the tiniest one-bedroom apartments I’ve ever seen, but that didn’t stop her from hosting our book club just as often as our other friends with more spacious homes. When we went to Vanessa’s old apartment, half of us sat on the floor, the rest of us curled up together on her L-shaped sofa—and it was great.

Keep it simple

You do not have to cook a Mastering the Art of French Cooking meal. I advocate for feeding adults more than just take-out pizza, but the effort can be minimal: Buy a frozen lasagna and make a really killer green salad, then pull out five different kinds of ice cream at the end of the meal. Resist the urge to clean your apartment within and inch of its life. Say yes when the guests offer to bring something. In short: Make it easy on yourself.

When Tina Roth Eisenberg shared this photo and explained how she had entertained, a lightbulb went off for me.

Rethink when you host

Last year I saw a post on social media that totally got me to rethink hosting in a small space. It was so simple I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it myself.