Five Holiday Entertaining Tips

I think it is so important to embrace the seasons and apply them to as many aspects of your life as you can. Apply it to your home, food and fashion. So much time and energy goes into daily life and just keeping things running. The routine is endless for us all so that is why it is so important to celebrate the seasons and moments of life. Make it fun and mix it up.

Have traditions but add an element of surprise. Combine the best of your family’s traditions, and your husband’s family’s traditions, and then add your own to create your family’s memories. Little shifts and changes can lead to big profound changes.  We are approaching the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. Light the candles and fireplace and make some homemade  popcorn the old fashioned way and introduce your children to a movie that you grew up with and just be cozy together. You will all start to look forward to the shortest day of the year.

Five Holiday Entertaining Tips:

1. For a gathering of the ladies,  take one of your favorite quotes and make copies on elegant paper, choose a font that suits the quote and then roll it up,  tie with a pretty ribbon, and put them on a beautiful tray. Share the quote with the group, and then,  give one to each of your guests to take home.

2. Welcome in the new year with warm, delicious food, wine for the soul and the fire burning. Give each guest 6 little pieces of paper for: 3 wishes and 3 things that they want yet need to let go of. No one needs to share, it’s just a nice private moment. Once it’s done, everything goes into the fire. People feel uplifted..men & women alike.

3. Choose a petite wine decanter for each guest at your festive dinner party. It serves two purposes-It will hold a few flowers as a part of the decor on your table and as a parting gift for your guest. It is something that they can use and enjoy in more ways than one and it will remind them of the special evening at your home. Small wine decanters are a wonderful thing for people to collect.

4. For a sit down dinner, it is fun to have people switch places for dessert. This gives people a chance to talk to someone new and adds great flow  to a dinner party,  a chance to “break bread with others”.

5. After a beautiful dinner party it is fun to gather several stunning bowls and fill them with favorite colorful candies from childhood. For example: red Swedish Fish,  one color of M&M’s, or Hershey kisses. Everyone likes to feel like a kid again. People discuss their favorites and it brings back memories that often lead to funny stories. You can put them on the dinner table,  but then pick them up and retire to the living room by the fire for anight cap. A perfect ending to a party.