Lauren Bank Deen, author of Kitchen Playdates was a guest on the Today Show yesterday morning.

Kitchen Playdates: Easy Ideas for Entertaining That Include the Kids is all about how to throw a dinner party for entire families: both the adults and the kids get involved, have fun, and eat some delicious food.

From the introduction of Kitchen Playdates:

So what exactly is a kitchen playdate? It’s a playdate that includes the grown-ups, complete with great food and if you’re up for it, a cooking project with the kids. I realized that many of the old entertaining rules are outdated and don’t reflect the way we really live now. With such busy weeks, we want to see our friends and our kids. Now Saturday night includes everyone; we don’t send the kids to bed and get a sitter. Granted, things start a bit earlier, but it’s just as much fun. I invite the parents and their kids over at three so we can all relax and enjoy each other before the young ones melt down. When you entertain other families, you can have everything prepared beforehand, or ask friends to pitch in. You can cook with the kids or without. There are suggestions for tasks that are child appropriate, and the rest is up to you, depending on your schedule and state of mind and the kids’ moods and ages.

These are get-togethers you actually get to attend. The kids help, and the adults help. When you want a little time with just the adults, send the kids into the other room to snap beans, twist pretzels out of pizza dough, or do an art project. It’s a fresh change from stressed-out entertaining or ordering in the same old Chinese food.

As far as I’m concerned the words “perfect” and “parent” just don’t go together. And there’s nothing wrong with that. These informal get-togethers with friends and family are low stress and are meant to be loosey-goosey.

On the Today Show, Lauren shares some of her ideas and recipes.
Click here to watch the video on MSNBC.