shabbat shalom guys shabbat shalom - shabbat shalom guys welcome back to my channel if you're new to here my name is Mary and I make videos about being a Jewish month and minimalism with kids and today I have an awesome video for you guys all about how I host Shabbat dinner so I hope you guys find these tips and tricks helpful if you do please make sure to give this video a big thumbs up and subscribe to my channel to see more I have lots of videos about Shabbat Jewish holidays all things like that so you do not want to miss those and don't forget to watch until the end because I'm going to reveal my a most embarrassing tip / trick that my husband hates but all my guests left okay so my first tip for you guys is to make your guests feel welcome this is actually a really important component of Judaism having guests over to your home and welcoming them into your home and it's also an important part of Shabbat so all the things I like to do to achieve this is I make sure to have my house clean and nice so that when people walk in they feel comfortable and I like to make sure the dinner is fully cooked and ready to go and I have appetizers out and ready and then when people come in I like to offer them wine or a drink to select make them feel comfortable when they first step in and if I'm having kids over I really make sure to have the space baby proofed I mean our house is already made with because I have one and a half year old but I just like take a look around and make sure there's like nothing dangerous out and about because the worst feeling as a parent is when you walk into somebody's home with your kid and you're like oh my god they're gonna destroy this place so if you're having little ones over just do a little glance around and move things away that they could possibly break I also like to have I'm just little toys even like stuff from the dollar store or my son's toys that he's grown out of if it's a little baby out and about just to make those younger guys still welcome to the second tip I have for you guys is to set the mood and by the I mean Shiva is a special holiday and the way that I sort of like signifying this in my house is I really like to have fresh flowers to make the house feel nice and special we don't have flowers out usually the rest of the week I mean it'd be great if we did maybe one day when I'm an adult but for now I just at least try to have them fresh ABAT you were just an expensive one there once for my garden which is really nice and then I'll like just like some candles around my house I have some like fairy lights in the fireplace they're just things like that to make the house feel nice and warm and comforting for people to walk into the third tip I have is to prep the night before so steam is it's the night before right now I'll show you guys let him do okay so this is everything I have laid out for tomorrow and I'm going to show you guys what it all is and what am I like necessary things always make sure to have if I'm hosting first Shabbat so of course you got to have your Shabbat stuff and by that I mean challah kiddush cup and candlesticks so this is my Holland coverer that my mother-in-law made for us when we got married shoutout and then this is my challah board it's by Annie glass I'll see if I can link it below it's really beautiful and I do have an everyday challah board that I use for other Friday nights but I thought well I'm taking everything out I'll just show you guys it looks like this comes with a knife but yeah there's so much beautiful Judaic out these days you can find it at like Bloomingdale's and or shams at places that net or used to have that kind of stuff so yeah obviously you don't need to have fancy stuff but it is nice if you're going to invest in something or get it as a gift to use it on Shabbat and I always make sure to have our candlesticks and candles and some matches out ready to go I have keifa's out for the guys that are coming over and then wine and finished cup out for the kiddush by the way this wine is actually proof my son's bris about a year and a half ago and we've used it little by little each Shabbat so it's just like kind of a beautiful you know special traditional yada-yada you get it okay then I like to set out the wine glasses knives and forks and plates ready to go as well as well as the water pitcher flower vase and this is another tip I shared in my how to host Seder video I take these little note cards and write out the dishes and I'm going to be serving and then put them in the serving platter that way I make sure that I have enough of everything I need great to go out and about and then sometimes I'll use a nice white tablecloth sometimes I'll just use these you know what I'm talking about placemats as soon as I just use the placemats and then I like to put appetizers in this is another Annie glass piece and then I'll use the same thing for dessert just kind of like cuts down on the amount of serving dishes and I also usually ask my guests to bring dessert that's the one thing I kind of farm out and then over here I also like to keep out our sadaqa box on Shabbat and just we put our like loose change from the week in there so it's just like a nice thing to remind ourselves you know what's important in life and by giving sadaqa and then if I have kids coming over like I said I like to have some stuff for them so here I have the Shabbat is coming booked Shea Bhat and of course the classic one-two-three Shabbat and then this is just something we wanted to form carnival this past year it's just like a cute foam puzzle for Shabbat so yeah just a little cute things like that and if they're Shabbat themed even better I usually do my grocery shopping the week before and what I like to do is write out in my planner why I'm going to make for the week and what I need to buy so for my Shabbat my new I like to keep it really simple and I'll usually do the same type of thing which for appetizers I have comments pita chips and sliced veggies for Shabbat and make sure to have the candles challah and wine and then for dinner I usually do roasted chicken and roasted potatoes and then a salad and then I just have guests bring dessert having chicken is just a traditional thing to serve on Shabbat and it's super easy because you can bake it in the oven the night before and then just heat it up before your guests come so that's what I plan on doing I'm gonna cook the chicken and potatoes tonight and I'm gonna chop everything for the veggie appetizers and the salad and then before people arrive up with the chicken and potatoes back in the oven to warm up and I'll set up appetizers and set everything is ready to go and then I usually ask my guests to bring a non-dairy dessert even if you don't keep kosher at home it's nice to have a kosher style Shabbat dinner just to like you know keeping the theme of Shabbat it'd be kinda strange to serve like a giant ham on your Shabbat table let you do you okay I promised you guys a secret tip and here it is hot this is actually just a Bacolod but it's basically a Jewish like song book that has the Shabbat prayers in it I like to have the prayers either printed out or in these books ready to go for people even people who celebrate Shabbat often you know sometimes can forget the prayers and it's really helpful with people who don't celebrate Shabbat often or have never celebrated it before to have the prayers written out for them so they can participate and here's the really big thing that my husband sometimes gets embarrassed about but we always do and we're hosting friend is we start off our Shabbat prayers by singing Shalom Aleph M you can pick any song it doesn't even have to be a Hebrew one but it's nice just pick like the Schmo or any prayer that you know or a super easy Hebrew song or an English song or whatever but having all your guests standing together singing just totally changes the mood and it makes it such a different experience than any other dinner that you might host so I absolutely love doing this sometimes it those people off and they're like little if it's a little bit awkward but that's fine you know they get into it and I just find it one of the best parts about hosting Shabbat dinner is getting to share that special moment with friends and family before getting into the Shabbat prayers and the Shabbat dinner so I hope you guys like this video and found my tips helpful if you did please make sure to give them a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel you see more I'll see you next time bye