Ring in the New Year

The countdown begins to 2015, and you still have time to be the home family and friends gather in to watch those seconds tick down to midnight.  A New Year’s Eve party can be simple and casual or glitzy and glam while being festive either way.  Do you want to ring in the New Year as the ultimate holiday hostess?  Send out the call, and get prepping. 

Holiday-specific and colorful paper goods make picking a theme and having ready-made décor on display pretty easy.  For New Year’s, some of the most popular options are black and white and combinations of gold, silver, and champagne.  A party, craft, or supply store is likely stocking those aisle end caps with both dinner and dessert plates, dinner and cocktail napkins, paper hats, and noisemakers that clearly convey a New Year’s Eve party theme.  Take your pick, and your theme is established.  You can also buy some of the plates and napkins marked with New Year’s and beef up your stock with solid colors of each that coordinate. 

If you start your party later in the evening, like 9 pm, you’re not hosting a six hour long event that would require dinner and snacks later on as well.  With many parties winding down after midnight (or the ball drop for the sleepy), you’d be perfectly set with a nice spread of appetizers and finger foods.  Can you get creative and fancy with dressy little nibbles?  Sure.  But it’s not required to have a great party.  Classics are often favorites: pigs in a blanket with dipping sauces, meatballs on toothpicks, chips and crackers with a variety of dips, a veggie tray, and cookies and brownies will all be gobbled up.  You can make it quite simple for your set-up when you turn to the frozen section of a warehouse club store and plate up eggrolls, potato skins, wings, mini quiche, and just about anything in a little phyllo dough cup like you made them yourself.

Keep your beverage service uncomplicated by choosing a signature drink or punch that can be offered in a punch bowl or series of carafes kept chilled in the fridge.  Frozen and fruity bases topped off with ginger ale or lemon lime soda are quick and easily replenished.  Have your champagne and sparkling cider ready to serve just prior to the ball drop or midnight.

 A little party atmosphere is set with good music in the background and tabletops with lit candles for some sparkle.  Use your hats, noisemakers, and bulletin board number cutouts to add some flair around your serving area, coupled with shiny tinsel and votives. 

Special touches like round sugar cookies decorated to look like clocks, groupings of balloons, and milk and cookies for the kids at the big finish can all go a long way to create a memorable, celebratory night surrounded by the people you will be happily sharing 2015 with.  Have a safe and Happy New Year!     

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star December 28th.

                         

Checkin' It Twice: The Christmas List

Here we have arrived at the week of Christmas.  It has likely been a holiday whirlwind since Thanksgiving with gift buying, decorating, wrapping, party attending, travel planning, baking, and hosting galore.  So take a deep breath, grab that to-do list, and decide to go ahead and check it twice.

Ideally, these tasks are all complete:

You’ve bought gifts for everyone you intended to.  You’ve wrapped or shipped every one of them.  You baked the goodies you wanted to share with a select few and delivered them.  You’ve mailed your Christmas cards.  If you’re preparing Christmas dinner, you have your menu planned and your grocery list ready.  If you’re hosting family in your home, you are wrapping up your preparations in anticipation of their arrival.  If you’re traveling, you have your flight or driving plans made and your luggage at the ready.  You’ve accomplished everything necessary to finish up the kids’ school days before the break. 

Is it any wonder we make it through such a bustling season with so much on our plates?  But the best news is that all of these things – the parties, the gift giving, the time spent with family – is all meant to point us back to the reason for this season.  We’re joyful and celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus.  When we get bogged down by trying to accomplish a seemingly insurmountable list, we have to stop and remember why it’s all worth it and what it should all stand for.  We give because we’ve been given the ultimate gift.  We share because we have an abundance that overflows to our loved ones.  We relish Christmas because it means we have a hope greater than any to-do list task could offer. 

So as we enter this week of Christmas, let’s give ourselves a little gift each day to help the true meaning of Christmas stand out above the rest.  Today, give yourself the gift of reflection.  Remember your best Christmas memories of years past.  Share stories, look at old pictures, or just take some time in thought to remember what has made this time of year special and memorable for you.  Tomorrow, focus on the gift of thankfulness.  One of the fastest ways to banish an overwhelmed outlook is to count your blessings and dwell on the things you’re most thankful for now and all throughout the year.  Tuesday, give yourself the gift of quiet.  Maybe you can only garner a few minutes, but deliberately remove yourself from the commotion and relish a little renewing silence.  Wednesday, give yourself the gift of breathing – you know, that thing we do naturally in short spurts when things are hectic.  Instead, take some intentional deep, slow breaths.  It will be Christmas Eve, time to wind down, making sure you’re enjoying that slide into Christmas Day. 

I wish you a genuinely Merry Christmas as we stop to acknowledge Christ’s birth.  After all, that is the ultimate top to any Christmas list.  Merry Christmas!       

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star December 21st.

   

Gifting Goodies

“Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven.”  We’ve all heard that old adage, and it rings especially true at Christmas time.  When you want to give a heartfelt gift or a sweet token this time of year, something from your own kitchen is a very thoughtful way to go.

Choose both classic and new recipes that roll around about once a year and are quite sought after.  Make things that easily translate to large batches to give to multiple co-workers, teachers, or friends.  Great go-to choices include both sweet and salty cereal mix varieties, decorated Christmas cookies, fudge, peanut brittle, and just about anything using baking chocolate. 

Dress up otherwise neutral recipes with holiday flair by incorporating red and green candy or food coloring, lightly tinting white icing an icy shade of blue and adding sparkly sugar sprinkles, topping off with crushed peppermint candy or red and green maraschino cherries, and using seasonal cookie cutters on not just cookies but brownies, bars, and crispy rice treats as well.  You can also make your gift theme easily seen in your packaging.  Use Christmas style takeout food containers, and add a custom gift tag to your treat.  Gift a holiday platter or serving plate under a tea ring, coffee cake, or cheese roll and neatly tie it up in cellophane and a ribbon.  Use a grouping of individual treat bags to offer small portions of a variety of your homemade goodies.

Sometimes a delicious gift just has to be started.  Use Mason jars to layer the dry ingredients of a favorite or family recipe for cookies, brownies, cake, or hot cocoa and include a pretty recipe card that details how to proceed from there.  Smaller glass jars would also be fitting for spiced cider mixes, hot chocolate, or little doses of Christmas candy.  These gifts have more shelf life and can be enjoyed by the recipient even after the holidays have gone. 

Take what you’re known for when hosting in your own home, and come up with giftable varieties to share.  If your cheese ball is in high demand at party time, make smaller versions to give with cute baggies of crackers.  If your famous cake always delights, make cupcakes to offer in a commercial cupcake box or plastic container the way a bakery would sell a half dozen or dozen.   

It is more than the thought that counts when the gift is homemade with love and Christmas cheer.  And the end result, sweet or savory, will be the perfect exchange between friends this holiday season.  

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star December 14th.

Instant Centerpiece Ideas

Without having to totally stock up on all new elaborate or pre-made pieces from a craft or décor store, you can have a wow-worthy centerpiece for your Christmas dining table with some simple elements that come together in an instant centerpiece.

Starting with a collection of glass vases, both square and cylinder and of varying heights, is a great concept starter.  They work for any holiday or season, you build your inventory over time, and new decorations inside give the same bases a whole new look again and again.  You can arrange a neat line or a staggered pattern of glass vases down the center of the table.  If you’ll be using chargers or placemats, arrange these first, which will give you a perimeter to work within for decorating the middle of the table. 

Fitting Christmas fillers include pinecones, which can even be purchased by the inexpensive lot online from landowners up north.  You can gather spindly branches outdoors or bundle together groupings from the craft store and use them to fill vases to various heights.  Empty boxes of candy canes into vases for a tasty treat and a classic red and white pattern down your table’s center.  Use loose ornaments not added to the tree in stacks for a colorful, shiny display. 

Instead of a garland running down the center, cut or pull apart the individual stems from a faux garland and use them as vase filler.  If you’re quite the baker, mix seasonal cookie cutters, spatulas, and whisks in vases for a blend of metal and wood with pops of color.  As the holiday cards roll in, fit the best photos and designs to the inside of cylinder vases and add a battery operated candle to each center for a lighted display over dinner.  The same concept can be repeated with strips of wrapping paper and gift wrap ribbon.  Take some of those small boxes you keep just in case and wrap them up like Christmas gifts.  Ring, watch, pen, and other jewelry boxes make great sizes to stack and stagger. 

For a more perishable, shorter-term, but oh-so-cute vase filler, use gum drops to fill short vases or add a layer as a base for a pillar candle in taller vases.  For a holiday party or dinner, turn your centerpiece into your appetizer or dessert display, filling vases and trays with sweet treat mixes that use cereal, chocolate bark pieces with nuts or pretzel bits mixed in, fudge squares, Christmas cookies, gingerbread men, or individually wrapped popcorn balls.    

Quick and easy elements can come together to keep your table in style this Christmas season with creative touches and instant charm.

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star December 7th.