Showing posts with label Entertaining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entertaining. Show all posts

Monday, November 8, 2021

Five Tips To Make Holiday Entertaining Go Smoothly

Thank you BabbleBoxx for sponsoring this post.  All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Do you do any entertaining for the holidays? Maybe you host family for Thanksgiving or have friends over for a Christmas party?  No matter what the occasion, holiday entertaining for family or friends can be overwhelming if you aren't prepared.  


We recently received a BabbleBoxx that was full of all sorts of entertaining goodies to help us prepare for holiday entertaining. Today we're sharing a round up of five ways to make holiday entertaining go smoothly. 

1. You know nothing gets the party started like some holiday cheer! Having a variety of wines already opened and out for guests to enjoy and pass around will allow your guests to feel more at home and you to be able to enjoy their company without feeling the need to cater to their every need. Our favorite lately has been Rodney Strong Wines from Sonoma County. Having both a red and a white options available for guests is always a good idea. We went with the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Chardonnay as crowd pleasers! 


2. Easy appetizers and snacks on hand prior to a meal is key!  Everyone wants to have something to munch on and we love yummy nuts as an easy no-prep option. You might just need a game day snack or you might want to make an appetizer board before a meal.  These Frank's Red Hot Almonds are a must! They are made with Frank's Original Hot Sauce and California Almonds so there are no artificial colors or flavors. They take boring almonds and turn them up a notch with the perfect blend of flavor and heat!


3. Whether you are cooking an entire meal or just prepping a few side dishes, when it comes to having guests we like things to be as streamlined as possible. I don't know about y'all, but if a recipe calls for too many ingredients I tend to shy away from it.  The easier the better and we've found the ultimate cooking hack! Dorot Gardens are pre-portioned herbs, garlic, and onions ready to be added to any dish with no peeling or chopping.  Their products are harvested fresh and flash frozen within 90 minutes to ensure freshness. Crushed Garlic, Crushed Ginger, Chopped Basil, and Chopped Parsley are just a few of the pre-portioned options they offer. 


4. Everyone loves the favorite sitcom Friends, and this new book combines a cookbook with entertaining tips for Thanksgiving and the holidays. Friendsgiving: The Official Guide to Hosting, Roasting and Celebrating with Friends by Shoshana Stopek not only shares recipes, but also entertaining tips and activities.  This would make a fun gift for any of your friends who love to entertain or for yourself to help with preparations for hosting! 

5. Ending the night with something sweet is a must! These Dewey's Cookie Thins are baked in a southern hometown bakery in Winston-Salem, NC. They are made with real ingredients, no artificial flavors and no preservatives.  The Sugar and Ginger Spice cookie thins are perfect for serving, but the adorable tubes are perfect for adding a bow to and sending home with your guests as a little gift. You can shop HERE and use code: DEWEYS10 to get 10% off site-wide November 10-December 10. 

What are some of your holiday entertaining tips and tricks?  Share them with us in the comments! 

Follow us on Pinterest HERE.
Follow us on Instagram HERE.
Follow us on Facebook HERE.
Follow us on Twitter HERE. 

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Coton Colors Atlanta


Last week we had the pleasure of meeting some of the ladies behind the amazing brand Coton Colors. We are long time fans of this brand, and you have seen us use our Coton Colors and Happy Everything pieces over and over in our posts and social feed. When they reached out to us about collaborating together on some projects and getting a flagship store tour, we leaped at the opportunity!

And we will confess...we had no idea that there was a flagship store here in Atlanta. Not only that it is located in Sandy Springs/Buckhead - literally our backyard. This could be a dangerous dangerous thing. 

At least in our husband's eyes. ;) 



ABOUT COTON COLORS

You can learn all about the brand on their website, but here's a quick run down. Coton Colors was founded by Laura Johnson with the inspiration of her family and the idea that all moments should be celebrated in life - big and small. 

As you see across the brand she puts extra special touches and thoughts into creating pieces to celebrate life. They are bright, fun, happy, and interchangeable for any moment or holiday. 


Not only that, her business is a tightly knit family affair. And reminders that this is a family owned and operated business are sprinkled around all of the Coton Color stores. We learned that each store has this special photo wall to celebrate her family. The photos are favorite ones hand selected and displayed in each family members' own homes, and set up exactly this way. A reminder of what is important most, and that Coton Colors is quite literally a celebration of that. 


THE STORE TOUR

That Atlanta store is owned by Laura's niece Taylor, and she is just as darling as you would imagine. We loved chatting with her and getting the inside scoop from her team about upcoming events and trends that will be seen over the next few months. 



The store has all of the amazing products you see online onsite. But then goes the extra mile to put a little local spin on it. The Coton Colors brand does a lot to support local makers and artists, and that is shown throughout our tour. 




Many gifts in the flagship stores are hand selected to coordinate with the Coton Colors products so that any gift you give or purchase you make goes to support a small local business or fellow up and coming entrepreneur. From hand crafted baby blankets to all the encoutrements needed for your next charcuterie board - each one is a nod to Laura's idea to celebrate all the things and all the people!








We also love that the flagship stores will personalize and wrap your items for free if desired! 



Everything from custom name plates for a wedding gift to a real estate thank you basket - they can do it all. 






We just love that even though this a fast growing global home decor brand, they still put the emphasis on customer service and going the extra mile for their patrons because the backbone of their message is celebrating family. And to them, the minute you walk through that door you are their family. 




FAVORITE ITEMS

Normally we would highlight a few favorite items of ours. With Coton Colors that is hard because there is just so much to love about each and every line. From classic kitchenwares to pet items to interchangeable decorative home decor pieces - we want to take it all home with us! 





















UPCOMING EVENTS AND HOLIDAY RELEASES

Stay tuned for a few local event announcements soon! We have a charcuterie night planned, and they have a holiday reveal party on the calendar, but just want to confirm a few details before we share. 


In the meantime, you can check out their newly released holiday lines online and snag the goodies before anyone else. 


Also keep your eye out for their special limited edition holiday ornament. Each year, the proceeds go to support St. Jude, and we've heard these go fast! 


Do you have any Coton Colors or Happy Everything pieces? Which are your favorites? 


Come spend the day with us on:


Monday, November 30, 2020

How To Host a Supper Club

Every year on the blog we used to share a few goals for the year...anything from reading more, completing house projects, making time for ourselves, etc. One of mine a few years ago was to host friends/family for dinner at our house. I love hosting, but our busy lives just made it hard to find time to do it so that is one goal that didn't really get accomplished that year. 

It may have taken me a few years, but now I finally have a good thing going.  I feel so lucky to have some amazing girlfriends who felt the same way I did so we decided to start a supper club.  It has been THE BEST THING for all of us.  

Once a month we pick a date, call our sitters, and make time to get together without our kids.  We dress up, we set pretty tables, we drink good wine, we eat amazing food, and we laugh into the wee hours of the night.  


Our supper club is something we all look forward to every single month. We've all grown to be very close and these are the friends we do life with. We vacation with these friends, we have a constant text thread going, and our kids are all friends. They hate feeling left out when we go to "the club" but I feel very strongly that time away from the kids is SO good for the soul. 

I know several friends who are also a part of supper clubs and everyone has their own rules, but I thought I would share how we do it: 

Pick a date. 
Unlike some supper clubs that plan to meet the 3rd Saturday of every month regardless of who is available, we pick a date as a group when we know that everyone can attend. You know that old saying is true the more the merrier and honestly we would all have major FOMO if we couldn't make it. 

Set a menu. 
You could decide to divide up the dishes to be prepared and let everyone bring something, but we've decided to let one person do all the work.  Sure, it is a lot on each couple when they are prepping for their month, but it sure is nice for the other couples who can just show up and enjoy the night. Plus, everyone takes a turn so it all works out. 

Buy lots of wine and cocktail ingredients. 
It's a given that the wine consumption will probably exceed what you are expecting it to always get more than you think you'll need. We always plan ahead and Uber! 


Set a pretty table. 
It's so fun to have a reason to pull out your pretty dishes. You know all the things that you don't use on a day-to-day basis, but that you have hidden in your cabinets for the special occasions. Well this is it!  Dust off the china and use it! 



Dress up.
Especially these days finding reasons to put on something other than leggings and sweatpants are far and few between. Dressing up isn't required, but I like to have a reason to dress up and it helps make everything feel a little more fun and festive when you dress for the occasion. 

We hosted the last supper club and we had a fun surprise for our friends. The Mr. had recently gotten THIS griddle for his birthday and we had been putting it to good use.  We did a hibatchi night for the kids one night and they loved it. I immediately knew that would have to be our next Supper Club meal! 


After all of our friends arrived and were enjoying some appetizers the Mr. came in dressed, in character and ready to entertain. I even got him a chef hat to complete the look. 



He put on a good show complete with the egg roll trick, flipping shrimp into the air for friends to catch, and the famous onion volcano! 


It was SUCH a hit and SUCH a fun night.  Everyone not only loved the entertainment, but the food was really good, too!  


We ended the night with fortune cookies and that was the icing on the cake. It was fun (and easy) to have a theme for the night so I might just have to come up with another one for our next time to host! 

Follow us on Pinterest HERE.
Follow us on Instagram HERE.
Follow us on Facebook HERE.
Follow us on Twitter HERE. 

Related Posts

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...