Party Invitations, Party Planning & Event Ideas

Baker McLovin'

The holidays bring out the creativity in bakers, but alas, some of us are gifted and others have to purchase.  I recently discovered Two Sugars from the Fancy Flours blog, and they are truly gifted in their holiday cookie creations. Wouldn't a plate of these at your next get-together be divine? Or maybe you see them as party favors for your holiday gathering, either way, they won't make it out your home! Not Just a Mommy!

Holiday Decorations with Natural Elements

Take your Christmas decorations one step further by incorporating natural elements.

There are plenty of beautiful plants, berries, flowers and twigs you can use to embellish your Christmas tree, garlands and wreaths. Here is a list to get your creative juices flowing:

Flora

• Berries - Cranberries, holly berries, Christmas berry, green hypericum berries

• Dried Flowers – White English statice, bleached baby's breath, white and deep red roses, dried white peonies

• Branches, Leaves & Twigs - Ethereal skeleton leaves, birch branches, curly willow, silver dollar branches, small bleached Manzanita branches, bleached bell cups, preserved amaranthus

Fauna

• Feathers - Feathers of any kid, shape and color can make beautiful additions to your holiday décor. For easy decorating, buy pre-assembled feather sprays that you can insert in various places on your tree.

• Birds - Birds in general have been making a decorating comeback. From wallpaper prints to furniture fabrics, birds are back en vogue. Incorporate small, lifelike birds purchased from a local craft store into your decorations.

"Faux" Naturale

• Icicle Branches - Icicle branches are great to use when creating winter wonderland looks.

• Crystal Sprays - Crystal beading on branches can look like delicate dew drops.

• Snow Flocking - Flocking is a great look when you are creating a winter wonderland or monochromatic neutral color scheme on your tree.

Butterflys & Pine Cones at Asia De Cuba

 

Andrea & Jennifer are at it again - creating fun and creative parties for our friends in Marin and San Francisco. This Friday we created a magical evening at Asia De Cuba at The Clift in San Francisco for our friend Yvettes' birthday. With pine cones straight from Tahoe and silk butterfly ornaments that Andrea made, the table was fabulous and merged some holiday cheer with birthday decor. Each place setting had an ornament on the plate and pink Stretchy Ribbon from The Container Store. Kara's Cupcakes were brought out with coffee ending the night. We reserved a table at the Redwood Room next door after for champagne and met up with our dates. Happy Birthday Yvette!

Christmas Entertaing Class at Pottery Barn

This weekend, I checked out a complimentary decorating class at Pottery Barn -Holiday Decorating and Entertaining, co-sponsored by Real Simple. If you have a PB in your area, you should check it out, but hurry, the next class is Sunday.

They showcase their new merchandise, and at our store, we received a 10% off coupon and recipe cards from events showcased in their book Real Simple: Celebrations. Which, BTW, if you don't have this book, you should, it's one of my favorite guides to a spectacular event. It even has invitation templates online to go with the different party themes outlined. I loved all the ideas and although I couldn't take pictures, here are pictures from the new catalog, and some of the items they talked about.

Not pictured, but definitely worth the mention are the Caterer's dinnerware set. This set is a blank canvas, versatile all year round, although they only offer it during the holidays. It comes packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with dividers, that you can easily store away.

My favorite idea was the monogrammed candlepot as a placeholder and a party favor. You can purchase them with any letter you like and how thrilled would your guests be to receive one?

I loved, loved, loved the mercury glass collection. The silver is between the glass walls, so they'll never chip. They have them displayed just like they do in the book, with the moss and ornaments.

The Reindeer Collection is just too fun. The dinnerware collection consists of 3 sets of bowls, plates and mugs, each set has 4 different reindeer, so you need all 3 sets to get all 12 of Santa's helpers. Napkin holders, linens and serveware round it out. They showcased it with a really pretty red and white polka-dotted runner, which isn't available online.

The capri lanterns are fab in person, they had the large one in nickel with silver glitter candles and pinecones, as a table centerpiece.   Not Just a Mommy!

Holiday Playlist

Thanks Free People for a fun holiday party playlist in your last newsletter! All my favorite holiday songs I will be sure to download onto my iPhone.