Welcome to the modern dinner party, where fun, frugal meals beat out formality | Canada Voices

Stephen Covic hosted his first dinner party last summer for his 33rd birthday, a kitschy Italian-inspired pizza party in his Toronto backyard. Think classic red-and-white checkered tablecloth on a long table, custom menu cards, Aperol spritzes and a drink station.

In the Instagram reel, the lifestyle creator’s dinner looked polished and picture-perfect. In reality, he said it was fairly low-effort and the most expensive part was the pizza.

“Pizza was the easiest thing to set up and keep it to one main item versus multiple courses,” he said in an interview. The candle-holders and tablecloth were sourced from dollar and thrift stores. Mr. Covic supplied some wine and Aperol that had come from PR gifts he receives as an influencer, and his friends brought alcohol as well.

Mr. Covic said keeping the cost of the party affordable was a “significant” factor. “I personally don’t want to be out that much money, but I also want to make it an enjoyable experience.”

The classic dinner party has gotten a modern makeover. In the era of ever-climbing grocery prices and stretched budgets, the traditional dinner party – a multicourse meal, often with alcohol, provided entirely by the host on their best dinnerware – can feel impractical and costly. These days, potlucks or simple one-dish dinners, BYO drinks and thrifted, low-key decor are in.

“The cost for one person to take on this whole thing can be a lot. As millennials and Gen Xers, that 30s to 40s group, we’ve always grown up with everybody shares and works together [because] all the resources have always been a little scarce,” said Shannon Tatlock, a certified financial planner with Sun Life in Moncton, N.B.

“Most of us have student loans, we’re starting jobs later in life, we’re buying our houses later in life, we’re having kids later in life. We’re constantly under pressure on the paycheque side.”

Ms. Tatlock said she sees it in her friend group, too. In January, she and a group of seven friends got together for brunch. The friend who hosted invited everyone over for French toast. Ms. Tatlock quickly chimed in on the group chat with an offer to bring sausages, and other friends contributed other parts of the meal. “It’s almost unspoken” among younger Canadians that guests will chip in, she said.

Grocery costs have continued to outpace the broader rate of inflation. Statistics Canada reported the cost of food rose 5 per cent year-over-year in December, compared to a 2.4-per-cent inflation rate. Alcoholic beverages bought at a store also rose 5.6 per cent in the same time period.

For Toronto’s Florence Gabriel, 49, themed potluck dinner parties with her seven girlfriends keeps them connected while saving money relative to what it would cost to go out. For example, Ms. Gabriel and her friends have hosted colour-themed nights, where each person brought a dish that was the same colour and dressed in that palette. The host makes the main dish and sometimes a signature cocktail, while guests bring smaller dishes and bottles of wine.

“What we liked about it [is] going out for dinner is fine, but you’ve got to get dressed up and spend a ton of money unless you’re not drinking. It’s dark, it’s loud,” she said. “We started this and have gotten tighter, because you’re automatically supposed to see each other every six weeks, and you’re exercising your creative chops.”

Most recently, their group has been holding country-themed dinners and they selected ramen for the next gathering, with the host making the ramen itself and everyone else bringing a side. “I’m just bringing eggs,” Ms. Gabriel said. “It’s so great, you’re not doing it all [yourself].”

When it comes to going all out on hosting, though, there is no shortage of extravagant and aspirational dinner party content online. Creators flex decadent, multicourse menus, curated aesthetics and activities or party favours for guests. Several have disclosed spending hundreds of dollars per dinner.

In a January TikTok, Toronto hosting and lifestyle creator Sofia DelGiudice detailed what she spent on dinner parties she’d hosted in 2025, including $643 on crafts, drinks, food, decor and flowers for Galentine’s Day, $362 on a sushi night and $665 on a Friendsgiving dinner.

“It gives us all something to look forward to,” said Ms. DelGiudice, 20, in an interview. “And I love executing, thinking of an idea and seeing it in front of me. I just get joy from creating them and also seeing my friends’ reactions.”

Ms. DelGiudice said her biggest expense is often the food: She’ll order in for her group of eight to 10 friends, so that she can focus on enjoying their company, though she might make a charcuterie board or frozen appetizers on her own.

Along with reusing party decor she already has, she noted that as a content creator, she has done some brand deals around her dinner parties, which makes the events “easier to do and not kill my wallet.”

When Natalie Czerwinski started hosting dinner parties at her Toronto apartment in 2024, to bring her friends together and have a regularly scheduled social event in her calendar, she was inspired by dinners she saw on TikTok. “They were pretty formal, making a custom menu, making these very fancy dishes and showcasing their culinary talents,” she said.

Her dinner parties had hand-drawn menus, three-course meals and thematic decor. “I had a lot of fun with it. It was a little costly, though I didn’t mind. You spend money on the things that are important to you,” she said.

It was a lot of work, though. Ms. Czerwinski, an illustrator and digital marketer, enjoyed the creative process of designing her own menus. But the multicourse dinners meant she was often still in the kitchen when her friends arrived.

This year, her monthly gatherings are going to look different. “The goal is not fancy, the goal is not impressive,” she said, adding that she’s looking to make “the easiest dishes” in 2026. “The goal is, even if we have spaghetti at our dinner table, we are eating together, my friends are meeting each other.”