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The Hostess With The…

2011 December 12
by WWGD

I am no Martha Stewart, this I know.

But since this is the first real holiday season we are celebrating in our first house (last year I was 10 months pregnant at this point and not entertaining anything but the thought of an epidural) I have wanted to host a proper holiday celebration in proper grown-up style.

And this weekend, I did.

We gathered six dear new friends and had them over for a cocktail-soaked soirée, sans kids, to celebrate the season. And though I may not be the hostess with the mostest, I think I did a pretty good job of being the hostess with the…perfectly good enough.

Here are some of the entertaining tips that I held near and dear as I prepped for the evening:

Flowers are everything to me but I don’t throw everything into the vase. I popped into my favorite local florist and was assaulted by how many crazy mixed bouquets and arrangements awaited pick up. I prefer one, maybe two, flower types, always one color, short and clean, with no filler. We did deep red roses in a tight arrangement with branches accenting the vase.

Music is key. I spent a good part of the afternoon making my playlist for the night and it was worth every beat. We drizzled in some holiday favorites – Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”, Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas” and some good old Bing Crosby – but mainly stuck to some mellow hip hop, classic rock and of course, 80s favorites. I actually got a thank you for slipping Neil Diamond’s “Forever In Blue Jeans” in there.

Candles, candles, candles. Save electricity this holiday season and illuminate your parties with candles (non scented, please), a roaring fireplace (ours was courtesy of Netflix since we don’t have a real one) and the twinkling Christmas tree. C’est tout.

Stash away the silverware for Thanksgiving. We just did canapés and easy finger foods so no one had to balance too much in their hands or worry about losing their fork – and it saved us a whole lot of clean up time.

Kick off your heels. I did. Once the food was out, the iPod was cued up and the drinks were flowing, I sat back and celebrated and laughed and talked and maybe even did a little dance to “Superbass” when the clock struck midnight.

And that, to me, made me the real hostess with the mostest.

*Our guests loved these cocktail napkins from Z Gallerie.

4 Responses
  1. Erin permalink
    December 12, 2011

    That sounds awesome! And I’m jealous of the “no kids” aspect. Trying to wrangle sitters now that all of my friends have multiple kids makes adult parties so much trickier!

    • WWGD permalink
      December 12, 2011

      I know, it’s difficult and required a lot of advanced notice and a lot of willing grandparents, but it was worth it… 😉

  2. December 12, 2011

    Dear God…I crave those napkins. I would hoard them jealously and never let anybody use them.

  3. December 16, 2011

    The cocktails were a little too good 😉

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