My No. 1 tip for entertaining is whatever you do and pay for and plan and invite people to will be a mitzvah in these days when personal entertainments are few and far between. My pal the movie director Joel Schumacher always says: “Just put some WisPride on a cracker and put it on the window sill and they will come.” So the invitation is, I think, everything.

And I agree with Candice: Informal is best, and of course you follow up with interesting food, drink, music and the best guest list you can muster.