The Easiest Party in the House Needs Only Candles, Music and Cheese

Angelica Hicks, the illustrator and creator, has laid out her approach to entertaining at home, and it asks remarkably little of the house itself. Her essentials come down to three: candles in place of overhead light, something playing in the background, and a generous board of cheese. The point is ease rather than ceremony, a guest list put at its comfort from the moment the door opens. For anyone opening a house for the season, it is a template that works as well in a Palm Beach loggia as in a Manhattan apartment.

With reporting from Architectural Digest.