Borrowed in Real Life: Apres Ski Girls' Night
A fondue dinner for 13 in a Manhattan townhouse — cheese, chocolate, mulled wine, and every piece of tableware from Collect Sisu — for $39.75 a head
By Collect Sisu | Borrowed in Real Life Series
The concept was simple: apres ski, indoors, in Manhattan. Everyone cooks. Everyone splits the bill. Nobody goes home hungry.
Thirteen women gathered in a friend's home — a townhouse with leaded glass windows, floral armchairs, olive trees in the corners, and the kind of candlelit atmosphere that makes a fondue dinner feel like you're actually somewhere in the Alps. The table was set for a proper sit-down: white tablecloths, black dinner plates, green-tinted goblets, ski-themed napkins, wooden serving boards running down the center, and two fondue pots on portable burners — one cheese, one chocolate.
Total food cost: $39.75 per person. Every piece of tableware: borrowed from the Collect Sisu community, at no cost.
The Table
The table was the party. A long dining table set for thirteen, dressed in a white tablecloth with burgundy linen napkins folded at each place. Black matte dinner plates. Green embossed goblets for wine, clear glasses for water. Votive candles down the center. Wooden serving boards laid flat with the dipping items arranged on them — bread cubes, vegetables, sliced fruit, peppers. A large wooden bowl of bread cubes at each end. Clear glass bowls for the smaller items. And the silver three-tier tea trays holding palmiers and strawberries at each corner.
At the center of it all: the fondue pots on portable burners. Two of them — the cheese pot with its wooden-handled whisk, the chocolate pot ready for the second course — sitting on the table surface so guests could reach in from their seats. The ski-themed napkins — printed with skiers and alpine scenes in soft watercolor — were the single detail that made the apres ski theme feel fully committed rather than gestural.
Every item on that table — the hot pots, plates, wine and water glasses, napkins, tablecloths, wooden boards and bowls, glass bowls, and the silver tiered trays — was rented from Collect Sisu. The rental cost: $0. Borrowed from within the community.
The Fondue
The cheese fondue came first. A proper Swiss-style blend melted into the pot over the portable burner — the whisk visible in the photos, the cheese smooth and molten, just the right pull when you lifted a piece of bread out. Bread cubes were the primary vehicle, but the vegetables and fruit alongside added variety: broccoli, peppers, the brighter flavors cutting through the richness of the cheese.
The chocolate fondue came after — the sweet course, served with the same dipping spread plus strawberries and the palmiers from the tiered trays. The palmiers in particular — the flaky, caramelized pastry spirals stacked on the bottom tier of the silver stands — were the detail that elevated the dessert fondue beyond what you'd normally serve.
Mulled wine ran through the whole evening: red wine spiced with cinnamon, star anise, orange, and sugar, served warm in glasses alongside the cheese course and well into the chocolate. In the photos you can see the dark wine in clear glasses and green goblets scattered down the length of the table, the candles reflecting off them. It was the right drink for the theme, the season, and the room.
The math on group cooking dinners Thirteen people. $39.75 each. $517.75 total for a full sit-down dinner with two fondue courses and mulled wine all evening — in a beautiful townhouse, at a proper table, with rented tableware that looked like it belonged there. The group cooking model works because the food cost splits, the effort splits, and the result is better than any restaurant dinner at that price.
The Rental List
Everything on the table, rented from Collect Sisu:
| Item | Source | Cost/Item | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot pots (fondue sets with burners) | Collect Sisu | $15 | $30 |
| Dinner plates (black) | Collect Sisu | $1 | $13 |
| Wine glasses | Collect Sisu | $1 | $13 |
| Water glasses | Collect Sisu | $1 | $13 |
| Napkins | Collect Sisu | $1 | $13 |
| Tablecloths (white) | Collect Sisu | $10 | $20 |
| Wooden serving boards | Collect Sisu | $6 | $24 |
| Wooden bowls | Collect Sisu | $8 | $16 |
| Clear glass bowls | Collect Sisu | $1.50 | $7.50 |
| Silver three-tier tea trays | Collect Sisu | $10 | $30 |
| TOTAL RENTAL VALUE | $179.50 |
Full Cost Breakdown
Food and drink: $39.75 per person x 13 guests = $517.75 total. Cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, all the dipping items, and mulled wine all evening.
Tableware rentals: $179.50 value — hot pots, plates, wine and water glasses, napkins, tablecloths, wooden boards and bowls, glass bowls, and silver tiered trays, all from Collect Sisu. Cost for this party: $0, borrowed from within the community.
Total per person: $39.75. For a sit-down dinner for 13 in a Manhattan townhouse with a full fondue service and a properly dressed table.
Hosting Tips from This Party
The group cooking model works best with one communal dish. Fondue is the ideal group cooking format because everyone contributes to a single shared pot and table, rather than coordinating multiple individual dishes. The shopping list is focused, the cooking is straightforward, and the eating is inherently communal — everyone reaching into the same pot creates a natural conversation rhythm that a plated dinner doesn't.
Rent the tableware. The table in these photos looks like it was styled by a professional. Green embossed goblets, black matte plates, white linen, wooden boards, silver tiered trays — none of it was bought for this dinner. All of it came from Collect Sisu. The tableware is what transforms a group dinner in someone's home into an event. Renting it means you get the look without the storage, the cost, or the commitment of ownership.
Two fondue courses structure the evening. Cheese fondue first, chocolate fondue second. The transition between courses is a natural pause — the table gets reset slightly, the conversation shifts, the tone of the evening changes. It gives a group dinner a shape that a single-course meal doesn't have. For thirteen people at a long table, that structure matters.
Mulled wine is the right drink for this format. Warm, spiced, endlessly refillable — mulled wine works with fondue in a way that cold white wine doesn't. It keeps the apres ski register going through the whole meal. Make a large batch at the start, keep it warm on the stove, and let guests refill throughout the evening.
The tiered tray is doing real work. The silver three-tier tea trays with palmiers, strawberries, and banana slices served as both a serving piece and a centerpiece. Height on the table creates visual interest and makes a spread of dipping items look intentional rather than scattered. The tiered trays are available on Collect Sisu — borrow them rather than buying.
Ski-themed napkins make the theme. The apres ski concept could have been gestural — a name and a vibe, nothing more. The ski-printed napkins at every place setting made it real. A single thematic detail at each seat — visible in every photo, referenced by every guest — is enough to commit to a theme without overdoing it.
Rent hot pots, plates, glassware, linens, wooden boards, tiered trays, and everything else for your next dinner party at collectsisu.com →
Borrowed in Real Life is a series featuring real events from the Collect Sisu community. Want to see your event featured? Get in touch.