Whether your home is a tiny apartment or a suburban sprawl, the view from your front door is likely to include friends and family straggling up the walk sometime over the next few months. Whether it's Aunt Margie and her Chihuahua come to make a claim on your guest room or a crowd for cocktails, you just want what any host wants: to make people welcome and comfortable. That, and to send them away still talking about your hosting prowess and flawless sense of style.

We're here to help. We've pulled together our current favorite ideas for entertaining. Add one to your repertoire and send 'em home happy — and a little jealous.

--Cindy Dampier, Tribune Newspapers