The Party Dress » dinner party

TPD Magazine: Wine & Dine Holiday Party

Kelly — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:32 +0000

Now that the holiday season is in full swing, it’s time to start planning your holiday dinner parties. This Wine & Dine winter dinner party from the recent issue of The Party Dress Magazine is styled to perfection and is chock full of inspiration for your upcoming holiday parties. Created by Jessica Wilcox of Modern Moments Design and styled by styled by Laura Grim & Lindsey Ter Har of Double Take Event Styling, read on for all of the wonderful ideas as told by the ladies, themselves.

When planning a dinner party, it’s always important to start with a theme and color palette. We selected a Vintage Winter Woodland theme because we didn’t want to do your traditional cookie-cutter Christmas dinner party. By using champagne, gold, and silver tones we were able to achieve a softer look, yet still very festive. The invitation sets the tone of the party, so make sure you select one that compliments the feel you are trying to achieve. Since our style is eclectic, we always try to incorporate vintage pieces. Try to repurpose decor you already have to create something new and fresh.

Here are some tips that we suggest when throwing your own dinner party. First, your table should always have a focal point that draws your guest in. Ours was the beautiful hand-crafted trees. Continue adding multiple layers with varying heights, textures. We incorporated a variety of candle sticks, snow covered branches, and feathers. Integrating multiple props adds dimension and heigh throughout. Bundles of books were used as a foundation for our design. Glittered deers, birds, vintage ornament clips were added as finishing touches. Personalize your party with custom designed graphics that compliment your theme and invitation. Your guests will be impressed with your attention to detail.

Companies like Starbucks have allowed us to create our own perfect drink. Why not include that same concept into your holiday dinner party? A hot cocoa bar is a fun and creative way for you to celebrate the holidays with your guests. Hot cocoa is not only delicious, but it can also double as an amazing dessert display too. Your goal is to impress your guest with creative elements that they will be raving about long after the party is over. By adding an assortment of beautifully styled toppings, your guest can easily customize their own hot cocoa. We took traditional marshmallow, caramel, and chocolate toppings, but added our own unique flare to them. Marshmallows dipped in chocolate become both beautiful and functional. By simply unwrapping store bough caramel squares and placing them in a beautiful bowl, you create a gourmet look for a low cost. By melting chocolate into a decorative mold, you can create a beautiful garnish. You can even create to-go cups like we did to send with your guest to keep them warm and cozy on their way home.

We hand crafted many of the key elements used throughout our dinner party and cocoa bar display. Including the Christmas trees, glittered deer, book bundles, sheet music wreath, and vintage ornament clips. Sheet music is an inexpensive way to give your party a vintage feel. Be sure to create your own personal touches, to make your party one of a kind. For step-by step tutorials, please visit www.doubletakeeventstyling.com. Most importantly, enjoy your dinner party! Though any party can have it’s stresses, remember this is suppose to be fun! Don’t worry if things don’t go exactly according to plan. You will be the only one who notices. Holidays are a time for celebrating.

TPD Magazine: Thanksgiving Dinner Party

Kelly — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:50 +0000

November is a lovely time to entertain family and friends. Whether you are hosting an actual Thanksgiving dinner or not, take it upon yourself to set a gorgeous table, cook a delicious meal, and treat the special people in your life to a great evening. This tablescape was featured in the latest issue of The Party Dress Magazine (the holiday issue!).

To switch things up a bit from my usual, rustic Fall decor and tablesettings, I decided to set this table using a sophisticated neutral color scheme of ivory, pewter grey and accents of moss green. A bead-chain fabric table cloth, crisp white napkins, a pewter grey charger and basic white dishes set the base for our tablesetting. A placecard embellished with ribbon sat atop a ramiken ready to hold veggies. To add demension to the table, I added white pumpkins, votive candles and our moss and pumpkin centerpiece (in a grey wood grain vase). Stay tuned for the DIY centerpiece instructions later this afternoon!

Time to Luau!

Kelly — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:00:28 +0000

Summer is the perfect time to host a luau-themed party! Tropical details, bright colors and delicious food are all you need to wow your guests. Traditional Hawaiian elements such as sand, shells, and floral prints can be used to decorate both an adults and kids table, while these four delicious bites will appeal to guests young and old!

1. caramelized Maui onion dip 2. papaya and avocado salad 3. char siu-glazed pork sliders 4. coconut lime shrimp

Images: pink tablesetting (instyleweddings.com), kids tablesetting (projectwedding.com)

Real Parties: Ball Park Gourmet Dinner Club

Kelly — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:00:44 +0000

Today’s Real Party feature comes from Kate from Studio Lime Designs, who recently hosted her group of friends for a ball park-themed gourmet club dinner party. She thought the theme would be really fun considering their month to host was June and baseball season is in its prime. Also, since it was held on their patio, a fun, simple menu that would work well with outdoor entertaining was a must. The colors navy and brick red were used, because they are “all American” baseball colors and also festive for the 4th of July, which is just around the corner. The menu was designed around typical ball park food – nachos, soft pretzels, hot dogs. Signature cocktails included: “The Grand Slam” and iced tea, which was called “7th Inning Stretch Tea”. Decorations included an old blackboard was made to look like a scoreboard, and was used as the backdrop for this table, vases of baseballs, peanuts and cracker jacks.

I love the classic baseball feel of this party…..I always get requests for ideas for baseball-themed birthday parties and this is PERFECT inspiration!

Polenta and Eggplant Stack

Kelly — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:00:43 +0000

I’m always on the look-out for gluten-free recipes….especially ones that look mouth-watering good! This polenta eggplant stack from Woman’s Day looks absolutely delicious and will be tested out in my kitchen this evening!

Ingredients

1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp olive oil
1 small eggplant (8 oz), halved, sliced (3 cups)
3⁄4 cup chopped onion
2 small zucchini (8 oz), sliced (2 cups)
1⁄4 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
1⁄4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tube (16 to 18 oz) ready- to-heat polenta, cut into 8 slices
1 large plum tomato, cut into 8 slices
1⁄2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 cup marinara sauce, heated in microwave
Garnish: chopped fresh basil

Directions

Heat 1 of the oil in a large, deep nonstick skillet. Add eggplant and onion. Cover and cook over medium-high heat 4 minutes, stirring a few times until slightly softened. Add 1 tsp of the remaining oil, the zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are tender. Remove to bowl; wipe or rinse skillet.

Heat remaining 1 tsp oil in skillet. Add polenta; cook 2 minutes over medium-high heat until bottoms are golden. Turn off the heat, turn polenta and spoon the vegetable mixture onto polenta (it’s OK if some falls onto the skillet). Top each with 1 slice of tomato and sprinkle with cheese.

Place the skillet over low heat; cover and cook 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Top with basil, if desired, and serve with sauce.

Luck of the Irish Dinner Party

Kelly — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:00:30 +0000

St. Patrick’s Day is a HUGE holiday in our family. Always has been….always will be! It’s a great opportunity to gather friends and family during this bland month for a little festive cheer and some delicious food! Whether your celebration is big or small, these recipes from Williams-Sonoma are sure to please!

Image via A Perfect Event

Holiday Table Challenge: Pizzazzerie

Kelly — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:00:14 +0000

The next entry in our Holiday Table Challenge is from Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie. With a love of entertaining and design, Courtney is becoming a well-known stylist in the field of party design and décor. A fairly new website on the scene, Pizzazzerie has quickly grown to be an online force in the entertaining industry, showcasing unique party designs and tablescapes. I’m always excited to see what Courtney has up her sleeve for her next table…..and her entry for the Holiday Table Challenge certainly did not disappoint!

Here are the pictures and description (in her words) of Courtney’s table:

Gold & Cranberry Red Decadent Dessert Table was the theme. I wanted to use rich golds and cranberry reds because those colors are so gorgeous during the holiday season. It just reminds me of cozyness but also decadence.

Trees were also a theme using many different shapes and sizes as the decor. The mini doughnuts were hung on a wrapped cone tree and topped with a gold bow. Wooden rosette trees flanked the main sweets display. I made the 3 cake stands by using wooden candlesticks and wooden square pieces which I spray painted metallic gold. Then I hot glued them together, added a ribbon trim, and the gold glittered signs. Laurel of Go Against The Grain sent me 2 gorgeous gold trees to add in that are made from recycled magazines, they are oh so neat and just gorgeous in person.

We kept the “decadent” theme with the desserts which were gourmet mini doughnuts from Dough-A-Deer as well as fabulously decorated fancy sugar cookies from Jimmemmajack Cookies. On top that I added in sea salt caramels, vanilla and chocolate macaroons, pumpkin mouse cups, white chocolate mouse cups, toffee and chocolate covered pretzel rods, and a gourmet chocolate caramel cake. Woo! Lots of sugar but all very gourmet and fancy which fit well with the gold and cranberry colors.

Holiday Table Challenge: Celebrations at Home

Kelly — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:00:49 +0000

Our next Holiday Table Challenge entry is from Chris Nease of Celebrations At Home, one of my daily go-to resources for event planning inspiration. Chris founded Celebrations At Home in the Fall of 2008 with the idea of making the smaller celebrations in ones life, stylish and memorable. She has always had a passion for entertaining, going back to age 18 when she invested in a set of ‘good china’ while in college! Chris has always loved combining her talents and passions to plan and design a multitude of parties, showers, and small weddings for friends and family, taking care of every detail from food to entertainment. She seamlessly showcases her ideas daily on Celebrations At Home, and gives easy instructions on how to recreate her ideas at home.

Now, on to the good stuff! Without further ado….Chris’s Holiday Table Challenge entry (with description from her):

I wanted to create an elegant holiday party that would translate to other celebrations (anniversary, special birthday, wedding) throughout the year. What says “celebrate” better than black & white & silver & sparkle?

The table was layered with an acrylic beaded curtain, a mirrored tray with silver candle holders & shiny ornaments, and silver chargers trimmed with marabou boas. Each guest has a napkin wrapped with ribbon tied to a festive balloon. This adds height to the table as well as adds to the party atmosphere. The white hydrangeas placed on pillar candlesticks, and fluffy boa trim evoke the feeling of a snowy winter’s night, while the ornaments and ornament place card holders convey Christmas and New Years Eve.

At the center of each plate is a mini martini glass filled with chocolate bonbons. The glittery bonbons from Bedazzle My Bonbons are the perfect unexpected touch to serve for dessert or as a take-home favor. More sparkle is added with edible glitter, from Sweets Baking Supply, applied to the rim of the glass, and an acrylic droplet hanging off the side.

This table would be easy to re-create, and I hope you are inspired for your own celebrations! Happy Holidays!

Turkey Dinner: The Night After

Kelly — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:00:51 +0000

Are you entertaining friends or family the day after Thanksgiving? I always find that weekend challenging for entertaining – it’s a great weekend to do it with friends and family in town, everyone feeling the festive Thanksgiving spirit. However, I start to decorate my house for Christmas that weekend, so I always feel a little too dis-organized for entertaining!

One idea I had for making this process a bit smoother, is to decorate with items that work for both holidays! Take the picture above from Pottery Barn – the rustic colors lend itself to Thanksgiving decor, but the twig stars can carry you all the way through Christmas! Natural centerpieces are also a great way to go – a bowl full of artichokes, or pomegranates will add texture and color to your table.

Re-purpose your leftover turkey by serving a turkey pot pie for dinner, add in a side of maple-glazed acorn squash and a delicious chocolate souffle cake for dessert! YUM! Your guests won’t even realize they are eating leftover turkey!

Images: table setting (potterybarn.com), napkin (bhg.com), artichoke centerpiece (midwestliving.com)

Chic Thanksgiving Dinner

Kelly — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:00:45 +0000

Now that Halloween has come and gone, it’s time to start conceptualizing your Thanksgiving dinner and cocktail parties. We have gorgeous inspiration to to share with you over the next couple of weeks….for today, soak in the details of this inspiration board for a chic Thanksgiving dinner.

Images: invitation (tinyprints.com), spinach artichoke dip (horchow.com), table setting (hgtv.com), chocolate mousse (traceylau.com)