Thanks to Alli of Hooray Design for some more summer party inspiration! While we're away in Maine, we take in as many lawn parties as we can up at Dan's family's camp (and we'll definitely be playing this lawn game.) Happy Friday!
Hey everyone, I'm back with another post about summer entertaining. This one is all about some of my favorite summertime party themes...
lawn party with drinks
wine + appetizers party
casual sit down dinner
I'm so excited to have Alli Michelle of Hooray Design on board today and tomorrow as a guest blogger! Alli shares so many simple + pretty designs and entertaining ideas on her blog (a daily read of mine.) And really, summer for me is all about spontaneous, laid-back entertaining. Thanks, Alli!
I'm thrilled that Jen asked me to do a few posts about summer entertaining — it's such a fun time of year to entertain because fresh produce is in season, and decorating can be simple and casual. Ever since our apartment days, I've tried to stock our kitchen and decorate our home with items that have a dual purpose for entertaining, and below I've shared a few things on my list...
[photo 1]
+ bottles, containers, trays, etc: I keep a cupboard shelf full of them (recycled or store-bought) to use for everything from serving drinks to displaying flowers.
+ napkins and table linens: A few drawer fulls of these, even mismatched finds from thrift shops, makes it fun to dress a table. Plus cloth napkins look fancier, save on paper waste, and can be tossed in the wash.
+ string lights, lanterns and candles: As soon as it's warm enough each season, we put up strings of lantern lights in our outdoor space. Having it already decorated means we're always ready for a party (or just a romantic dinner for two.)
[photo 2]
+ accessories, thrift finds, fun serving pieces: Using plain tableware makes it easy to add in different accessories to change the style or mood.
+ flowers and fresh produce: We make a list and stock up at our local farmer's market each week (and gather what we can from our parents' gardens, too). Definitely the best part of summer!
So that's my ideal list for keeping our home ready for summer entertaining. What's on your list?
sources, board 1: photo 1 + 2, bottle, table linens, lantern, string lights
Remember the clever semi-handmade shower invites that my friend Charlotte created? Well, she recently hosted that baby shower at her apartment for her friend Shree. The party looks like it was super adorable in every way. I think the Baby Mama banner in sorbet colors sets a high bar of cuteness. Honestly, this photo is making me want a simple paper garland in sorbet colors to hang above my workspace on an everyday basis (and I'd happily adopt a gorgeous chandelier like Charlotte's any day!).
I love this handmade calendar that Charlotte stamped to create a game of guessing the baby's birthday at the shower. Such a fun keepsake!
Cupcakes topped with little giraffes! (The toppers came from this Etsy shop.)
Love the way this present's wrapped — so simple and sweet. And the paper even matches Charlotte's turquoise chair! Looks like it was a standout shower. Thanks for sharing, Charlotte — and best wishes to the soon-to-be baby mama!
Photographs by Charlotte Jenks Lewis.
My mom was born a few minutes before Valentine's Day. The nurse didn't hand her over to my grandma until after midnight, so my Nanny considers her daughter a Valentine's baby — makes sense to me as my mom is an absolute sweetheart. Our family got together and threw her a surprise party on Saturday night. Seeing the look on her face (she had no idea!) and keeping the party a secret for weeks? So. much. fun. We had a private room — the wine cellar — of a fantastic Italian restaurant. The evening included toasts to my mom, a delicious menu of food, homemade cupcakes (see below), and quite a few moments of getting choked up with love. You know, the good kind of tears.
For the surprise banner, I was inspired by Stephanie's valentine garland — so simple and no need to buy paper. I cut up the letters to surprise using the pretty paper from my 2009 Snow & Graham desk calendar. Then I sewed the letters together with some embroidery thread, punched a hole in the S and E and looped bakers twine through for hanging.
Remember the love cupcake toppers I made last week? On the back of each flag, I stamped happy birthday, so they were double-sided. I made a couple dozen vanilla cupcakes swirled with homemade raspberry sauce — and filled each cupcake with a surprise Hershey's kiss before baking. The cupcakes were simple, once I figured out that my baking powder was expired. (These were the second batch!) I used my handy cupcake carrier to tote them to the party.
The highlight of the evening was one amazing slideshow of photos (starting from when my mom was a baby) that my aunt Karen lovingly created with the help of my uncle Bob. She did an incredible job — even including photos of my great-great grandparents! My grandfather built that house (above) where they lived in New Jersey. And that's my Nanny holding my mom as a baby. Look at my mom all dressed up in that adorable hat!
That's my mom in the pigtails next to my great-great grandmother!
Surprise parties are the best! I wrote my mom a poem that I shared as my toast. Here's how it ended:
I've been blessed
to have her with me
to call her mom
to have been shaped by this woman
it's such a gift beyond words.
Happy birthday, Mom! Love you lots.
It was high time to throw a housewarming party, as we moved into our place in July! (I can't believe Thanksgiving is already almost here.) We pulled it together in a week, and thankfully a bunch of our friends could come on short notice. I quickly mailed out invitations the week before (after a strategic "save the date" on text.) The stamps were my only cost for the invitations. I grabbed a bunch of (free) paint color chips from Green Depot to be the paper, and then I used my typewriter to type out the invites.
The theme of our housewarming party was Color Me Happy. Basically, Dan and I were a sad, frustrated pair at our last apartment. The list of things making us unhappy there was long: mice (so awful!), cramped quarters, no decent closet space, poor plumbing, smallest kitchen in the world (with no dishwasher), the nearest washer/dryer being a 6-block walk away, neighbors above that you could clearly hear (and didn't want to, trust), and below us was one cranky, crazy man. We had to get out.
The new place makes us so happy. Everything about it works for us. We also love the new neighborhood and are surrounded by nice, creative people in the building. I think Dan and I feel lighter in general because we don't have to deal with all the everyday pull-your-hair-out annoyances we had in our last place.
My friend Erin (above) came early and was an amazing help. I'd made three dips that morning from my new favorite cookbook, Pestos, Tapenades & Spreads. I whipped together curried hummus, beet tapenade, and a roasted red pepper spread. We put out an assortment of vegetables, breads, and crackers for dipping. I picked up some extra radishes and apples from the farmers market that morning that I nestled around the serving bowls as decoration. Dan picked up a bunch of cheeses that were finished by the end of the night. The menu was super simple, but the homemade dips were on the unusual side and turned out to be a crowd-pleaser.
For dessert, I made rainbow cupcakes, inspired by this rainbow cake that looked so cool. The cupcakes were simple to make — just a little time-consuming. I followed a recipe for vanilla cupcakes and vanilla glaze from the book Cupcakes. After making the cupcake batter, I divided the batter among glass bowls and added the gel food coloring. Then I spooned the colors into the cupcake liners one by one. Erin made the vanilla glaze and iced the cupcakes while I showered. Team effort!
I took photos of our friends before they headed out. I set out my moustaches on a stick that I'd picked up from Renegade with my friend Sue-Anne (above.) I love these photos of everyone! I did put rainbow fabric in the background, but you can't see the fabric in many of the shots. Next time I want to set up the camera on a tripod, which is something I need to buy anyway.
Sue-Anne brought a homemade apple pie that was so good. I love how she always wraps up her food gifts in fancy tissue paper.
The second batch of rainbow cupcakes was definitely better because I used a vanilla bean along with the vanilla extract.
I want to make an intention to take photos at every party we host. I often forget to bring out my camera once I get wrapped up in a party, so it helped to designate the photos as an activity. Look at my friend Kevin channeling the serious side of a moustache, even though he's moustache-less. So fun.
This may not be the prettiest table shot, but I would write its photo caption as "a good party was here." We had a great time, and I let go as soon as friends starting arriving. I plum forgot about what wasn't put away and didn't notice what looked messy and didn't mind that I'd run out of time to make the rainbow ribbon wands that I was planning to give away as favors. Instead, I just soaked in the joy of having a bunch of people we love in our happy apartment for the first time. And ate a lot of rainbow cupcakes and curried hummus (not in that order.)
Last night we had our first guest. My friend Sara came over to check out the new place and enjoy a long-overdue visit.
To put it simply, our apartment is still far from housewarming ready. One space is just a pileup of tools + stuff as I prep to makeover my $60 dresser find from Maine. Jeans + pants are in piles on the bedroom floor (awaiting the finished dresser.) We have 4 shoeboxes worth of cords (most of which we don't know what they're for!) spilled out in the middle of the living area that need to find their plug-in match. Shoe organization is non-existent. My craft workspace is still looking like craftapalooza. The pegboard is so far the only thing on the walls. But it's coming along. We have a walking pathway from bathroom to bedroom (something we didn't have 3 days ago.) And Sara's a close friend who's seen my apartments (and me) through all stages since college. So no pressure — just fun.
I didn't feel like cooking. Blame it on the stifling 90-degree soak-through-your-tanktop heat yesterday. So I popped by my local cheese shop and picked up two cheeses (one hard, one soft, both yum), a baguette, and rosemary crackers. I warmed up some mixed olives and added prosciutto, roasted almonds, popcorn, and olive oil for dipping to the spread of noshy bits. Couscous was courtesy of Fresh Direct. I'd made bolognese sauce two nights ago and warmed up the leftovers with penne for a hearty finish. Sara brought butterscotch brownies she made that were super delicious. They're gone. As is the bottle of white wine we polished off.
My lesson learned from the evening: If you don't feel like cooking everything from scratch, don't sweat it. Cheese and wine are always welcome. What better way to catch up with a dear friend. Another trick: put everything in cute serving dishes and even nuts look fancy. Two of my favorite servers: my bread board and my patterned melamine bowls. Do you have any tricks for impromptu entertaining?
