~HOLIDAY PARTIES~

When planning your holiday parties remember that being simple isn't being cheap. Allow yourself time to enjoy your guests and your food by preparing simple foods that don't take a lot of prep work or ingredients. If you do want to make things from scratch, try to do most of it ahead of time so the day of you aren't rushed.

Decorations should be easy too! Simple things like branches in a vase are simple yet elegant looking. Candels add a warm feeling to any gathering but make sure to get fragrance free so they don't compete with the smells of the food. Bold colored table clothes look great under solid colored dishes.

For example, if your colors are red and brown, you could have a solid deep red table cloth with solid brown serving dishes on top. The vase could be a pattern using both colors or clear with red and brown craft beads in the bottom with branches coming out.

Decorations in your house don't have to match, but if you use the branch idea you can find some great branch wreaths that you can add some simple red ribbon to at your local craft shop.

Just make sure to enjoy yourself!

Happy Enertaining!