The rehearsal dinner can be as simple as potluck or as elaborate as a champagne and caviar, spare-no-expense feast. The trick is to choose the right theme for your budget, number of guests and entertaining style. Here, some local chefs give their ideas for how to entertain with panache this year, whether you plan a restaurant bash or a do-it-yourself sit-down dinner at home.

Mark Filippo, executive chef at Cafe Meze in Hartsdale, often cooks for private parties in clients' homes but also does parties in the restaurant. He likes to plate some dishes and serve them to guests once they are seated around the table, and to have other offerings in the center of the table, family style. "One party that I did last year involved rabbit risotto, braised guinea hen leg and roast goose," Filippo recalls. "Everyone loved it. In general, you can't go wrong with a roast for a festive event."

His advice for home cooks preparing the party foods themselves is to skip dishes that require last-minute preparations. Instead of a time-consuming risotto that requires you to stand at the stove and stir it for half an hour, make a simple pilaf instead. Rather than a pan-roasted fish, plan to make an ovenbraised fish because it will hold for awhile once you remove it from the oven if your guests are lingering over cocktails.

"Don't try to do fancy restaurant plating in the kitchen or the dishes may get cold and overcooked," Filippo says. "Keep things simple and concentrate on flavors. The idea is to have a good time."

Greg Gilbert, executive chef at the Kittle House in Chappaqua, recommends a variety of party themes. "One of the easiest is a cheese and wine party," he says. "There are so many cheeses available now. Get maybe 14 different ones and a nice variety of red and white wines."

An all-finger-foods party requires more work but is a great way to encourage guests to mingle. Have a couple of different stations, Gilbert says. "You might have an Oriental station, an Italian station, and then one with all grilled dishes - beef, lamb, chicken and scallops all cooked the same way."

Finally, if you want to go all-out, consider a champagne dinner with several kinds of champagne. For clients at the Kittle House, Gilbert has occasionally prepared an all-caviar dinner, with each course showcasing a different kind of caviar. In a private room in the restaurant that seats 16, he's also done a truffle dinner, a burgundy wine dinner (in which the menu was created to go with various wines).

Peter Kelly, chef-owner at Xaviar's in Piermont, likes the formality of a sit-down dinner.

"People want more luxury, so we have dinner, hors d'oeuvres, dessert and wines," Kelly says. "Parties these days seem to be smaller but more decadent."

Tracy Assue, pastry chef at the City Limits Diner (with locations in White Plains as well as Stamford), has some ideas for quickie desserts for hostesses to try. She recommends making pumpkin cheesecake and pecan bars (using slice-and-bake sugar cookies as the base of the cake) or reducing maple syrup to use as a sauce over ice cream.

You might also serve vanilla bean ice cream over oven-dried fruit. To do this, sprinkle fruit such as sliced pears and apples with super-fine sugar, dry out in 250-degree oven until soft but not chewy, and allow to cool. Another easy, popular dessert is a fudge pie. Prepare a "ganache" by mixing equal parts melted chocolate and heavy cream, Assue says.