How to Set a Festive Atmosphere

One way to guarantee a top-notch holiday dinner party is to dish up a gourmet feast. But good food, experts agree, provides only a fraction of the fun quotient. Ambience plays an equal or even greater role. Here, three quick and simple ways to create the perfect atmosphere for this year’s celebration.

Proper lighting is like an in-home Instagram filter: It can cast a softening glow over a meal. (That’s one reason lighting is so important to restaurant design.) Dimming the lights—but preserving a warm quality—may automatically make your home feel like a four-star restaurant, according to researchers at the University of New Orleans.

Bonus: Turning down the music and lights may curb overindulgence. Subjects in a Cornell University study who ate in those conditions consumed 18 percent fewer calories than those in loud, bright settings.