Entertaining

That’s wrapping paper?!

I don’t know about you, but we are still a young family- I don’t have a huge amount of disposable income to throw at all the beautiful home decor trinkets my heart desires. I don’t want to let that get in the way of making our house a home, so I am always looking at ways to make entertaining, celebrations and our home beautiful for less. One of my favorite things to use is wrapping paper! Let me share with you three different ways I utilize wrapping paper…

  1. As art!…There really are so much varieties of wrapping paper out there. I had been looking for a piece of art for my son’s room. We went to a boutique toy store and they had sheets of specialty wrapping paper. They had beautiful options! I loved it so much I framed it.
  2. As a table runner!… I’ve used rolls of wrapping paper cut into a table runner several times for different occasions. I don’t have a collection of beautiful linens I can pull out for several occasions, so using wrapping paper really opens up the options to create a beautiful tablescape. There are so many options on color schemes and patterns to choose from, and I know I can find beautiful rolls of paper at Tj Maxx or Homegoods. Click here to see details from this Thanksgiving tablescape
  3. To make party decorations… Specialty craft paper can be expensive, and paper decorations can add up if you want to have a big amount to make an impact. For my baby’s first birthday, I wanted to make paper decorations mixing and matching different patterns and colors. I found rolls of wrapping paper on clearance at Michaels for $0.75 a roll!!! I used it for table runners as mentioned above and to make the background for the cake table. I used the paper to make fans and wrap her name. The possibilities are endless all you need is a little creativity or Pinterest! Click here to see more from her first birthday party

Have you used wrapping paper for something different other than wrapping gifts or from the ways I already mentioned? Please feel free to share with me in the comments.

Thanksgiving Decor Details from 2014

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Here are the details from my Thanksgiving tablescape from last year. (You can read more about it here). Keep in mind our gathering was in the afternoon, so I wanted the mood to be casual.

The long table is actually my dinning room table, a banquet table and a card table all pushed together.

Tablecloths: Paper lined tablecloths from VanityFair (the company that makes napkins).

Table Runner: Wrapping paper roll cut in half, I purchased this wrapping paper at Homegoods. They always have a great selection of wrapping paper especially near the holidays.

Floral Vases-These glass bottles are actually recycled Tejava bottles. (The hubby and I went through a Tejava Ice Tea addiction. I save any glass container bottles or jars because I have all these ideas that I will be hosting tons of dinner parties-I can use the different bottles and jars for new tablescapes). Once the flowers where arranged in the glass bottles, I zigzagged the vases down the middle of the runner so when your eye went down the table you could see the alternating flowers.

Flowers: Yellow Roses, Red Carnations and a type of flower, whose name I do not know, that had shades of red and yellow and orange to tie everything together.

Pumpkins: I used a big pumpkin and a smaller pumpkin and spaced them in the middle of the table. These were from our little family outing to the pumpkin patch.

Table-settings: My everyday black dishes with my small square white dishes placed on top for dessert and clear drinking glasses

Place cards: Butcher paper cut into small rectangles hand written names with black marker

Chairs: I alternated my beige upholstered dinning room chairs with clear and chrome chairs from Ikea.

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Casual handwritten butcher paper place cards and a wrapping paper runner

The gallery wall was made from handwritten signs on butcher paper and alternating wrapping paper cut to fit the frames.

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The signs were hand written by my niece because I have the penmanship of a doctor, basically chicken- scratch.

The chalk wall: We had a wall painted in chalk paint. I wish I would have cleaned the wall a little better, but by this time I was probably worried about not burning something that I was cooking.

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A little message on our tiny chalk wall

Hosting Thanksgiving: First timers

The table setting: fresh flowers in glass bottles and pumpkins from our pumpkin patch outing.
Casual handwritten butcher paper place cards and a wrapping paper runner
A little message on our tiny chalk wall
Hand written signs over our gallery wall
The signs were hand written by my niece because I have the penmanship of a doctor, basically chicken- scratch.
Appetizers by my mom
Hubby and I made the two turkeys, cranberry sauce from scratch, sweet potato gratin, roasted green beans with walnuts and cranberries
Sparkling apple drink
No bake pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin roll, pecan pie cookies

Last year was our first thanksgiving as new parents. Nothing like having a baby to make you feel all kinds of “we need to make memorable moments” and  emotions of “let’s make our own family tradition.” What is more equivalent to traditions than holidays? …So the hubby and I decided to host the Thanksgiving celebrations at our home for the very first time.

With much excitement, and  no previous experience for Thanksgiving cooking, other than the eating of the food and the yearly making of a casserole to share, we set out to create a  midday feast. You know, something “simple” for the 15 family members we were hosting…

  • two herb roasted turkeys
  • three home made from scratch side dishes
  • three different desserts that were to be thanksgiviny with a twist
  •  a festive fall drink
  • planned out personally styled, casual, comfortable but stylish decor

All this while while nursing a 7month old teething baby!..And you know, with that Pinterest thing, I hardly felt any pressure at all to whip up a meal straight from Rachel Ray’s kitchen and style a tablescape ready for a 3 page spread in Martha Stewart magazine!  No pressure right? Can you hear the sarcasm?!

I may have been substantially stressed and definitely sleep deprived, considering I went to bed at 5am or some ridiculous time. Even though the results may not have been quite Town & Country ready, we most certainly had a very warm, memorable and tasty thanksgiving-the love and gratitude of our family abounded for each other, and especially for our tiny human.