With 3 small kids under the age of 7, my wife and I have found that it's awfully hard to host (or attend!) dinner parties these days.  But we host an awful-lot of brunches.  It's great to have people come over around 10am; the kids have a nice play-date, the grownups catch up, and everything is cleaned up by 2-3PM.  I love the Banana French Toast recipe, paired with a fresh fuit platter.  Nice hit with kids as well as adults.  Usually we have this along with a large assortment of bagels, juices, mimosas/champagne for grownups, and plenty of coffee.