Christmas Time in July

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ho ho ho. Welcome today, everybody to Holiday Harmony, your
guide to a joyful and stress free holiday entertaining season.
It's one of my favorite times of the year, and
if you're listening to this, then it is probably one

(00:20):
of yours as well. Whether you're hosting a cozy family dinner,
a big holiday bash, or an office secret Santa party,
entertaining can be as stressful as it is fun. But
don't worry. I've got you covered. The first thing I'm

(00:41):
going to tell you to do to make it easy
is have somebody clean for you. If it's at your house,
spend the one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars
and have a cleaning company come and clean your house.
Then you can decorate and get ready for your party.

(01:03):
Start with a plan. The secret to stress free entertaining
is planning ahead. So create a guest list. How many
people do you want? Do you want a big party
or a small intimate dinner party? Listen. Big parties can
be amazing, obviously expensive, but fun to look around and

(01:27):
see everybody that you love and enjoy all around your
home and outside of your home. But the downfall is
you don't get a lot of time with each individual person.
So make the choice. Do you want a big, fun,
loud party where everyone is just having a holiday blast,

(01:54):
or do you want an intimate dinner with twelve people
with a really beautiful table setting. It's your choice. Set
a budget, and of course the budget has a lot
to do with how many people you have. These days,
entertaining taining is expensive, but there are ways to do

(02:15):
it less expensive. Go to Costco, Go to Trader Joe's.
They have the best appetizers. Holiday magic doesn't have to
break the bank. Decide early how much you want to
spend on food, drinks, and of course holiday decor. Choose

(02:36):
a theme. I am not much of a theme person.
I have got to be honest. I hate dressing up
for Halloween. I'm not a theme person. But when it
comes to Christmas, I love to decorate. I love my
Santa's I love my felt garland, I love point SETAs,

(03:01):
I love the sparkles, I love tinsel on a Christmas tree.
I like white lights, I like colored lights. How about
an ugly sweater theme, a winter wonderland theme, or cookies
and cocoa. They are all fun, So choose a theme.
People would appreciate that and know that you put some

(03:21):
time into that. We once did My husband and I
once did this Polar Express day for our kids where
we put up We borrowed a big screen projector screen
and put it up outside and we had a couple
of fire pits. We did s'mores and we asked everybody

(03:44):
to bring beach chairs for the kids and blankets, and
we had hot cocoa, and of course the parents had
adult beverages and it was just so much fun. We
did it right after things giving, the first week of
Christmas or I'm sorry, first week of December, and it

(04:04):
was so fun. So there's so many themes. Pick one,
and of course the menu. The menu matters. Are you
hosting adults, are you hosting children? Food is the star
of the show. People come to a party for beverages
and drinks, but there has to be food. Here is

(04:26):
how to nail your holiday menu. Keep it simple, Choose
dishes that can be prepped ahead, Ask people to bring dishes,
think pass roles, sharcoo tree boards, or make your own
taco bar with a festive theme. There are so many options.
Make sure you accommodate people that have special dietary needs.

(04:49):
I have a shellfish allergy and a gluten allergy, and
probably a dairy allergy as well. So I am very
a tune with people and their allergies. So ask ahead,
don't ask ahead, but plant ahead drinks and desserts is
an option. Excuse me. You could just have cocktails and

(05:15):
then a dessert bar, and that way you know people
are eating ahead. But make sure you put that on
your evite or your invitation that it is just going
to be dessert and not a full menu. Offer a
signature cocktail like cranberry mimosas. Oh my gosh, they're so
beautiful with the cranberries at the bottom. You can even

(05:36):
float cranberries in some ice cubes. You freeze the cranberries
in the ice cubes and so as the ice cubes
are melting in your drinks, the cranberries sync to the bottom.
So beautiful. For dessert, you can't go wrong with cookies
and fudge, and of course, please for me, put some

(05:56):
sprinkles on your cookies. It's really the only time of
year that we eat sprinkle cookies. Deck the halls without
you losing your mind. Your home doesn't have to look
like a Hallmark movie. Excuse me. People just want to
see people. They want to be with their friends and

(06:17):
their family, and they want to hear Christmas music, and
they want to celebrate the end of the year, and
if you're a Christian, the birth of Jesus, if you're Jewish, hanikkah.
They just want to celebrate. And we're all human and
we want to be around humans. So just focus on

(06:39):
the important stuff, and that is being around the people
that you love and care about. I told you the
easiest thing to do is have your house clean before
your friends come or you even start to prepare. But
concentrate on your living room. If you're decorating on your

(07:00):
living room, people are not going to go upstairs. They're
not going to look in your closet. They're not going
to look to see if your teenager's bedroom is clean.
Thank you God. Use what you have. Go outside, find
some beautiful leaves and cut them off of trees and

(07:21):
stick them in the gorgeous vases you have. You don't
have to spend a fortune on custom made center pieces.
If you live in the South, get some palmetto fronds.
If you live in the North, get some greens and
tie them together. Get some pine cones and stick them

(07:42):
in the greens. There's so many options, but I will say,
and this is one of the most important things to me.
There's nothing worse than walking into a party with fluorescent
lighting or lighting that is too bright. Lighting is everything.
Please people, dim your lights, twinkling fairy lights, candles, votive candles.

(08:06):
One candle or two candles in your house that smells
like Christmas is so important. It can't be overwhelming. But
one or two candles that smells like Christmas is amazing.
And of course your tree. That's all you need. Turn
off the lamps, turn off the overhead lights, and just
have your Christmas tree lit up with a few candles.

(08:30):
Everybody looks better under candlelight. And don't stress out. Just
enjoy your people. Keep your guests engaged with fun activities
is another idea. Now you can go on to any
of the social media platforms and find some fun games.

(08:50):
I just saw one the other day and it was
a family playing Hungry Hungry Hippo. They were dragging each
other across the floor by their eat and gathering golf balls.
I think that's hysterical. Set up a DIY station where
people can make their own cookies so you have the
cookies baked, and then they can decorate their cookie as

(09:12):
they're eating it. How fun you can do Christmas karaoke?
I mean that's hysterical because we all know that most
people can't sing, but it is so fun to just
let loose and listen, just belt it out. And then,
of course being the best host or hostess that you

(09:37):
can be is vitally important. Make sure that you greet
your guests at the door. I don't care if you're
having a party of ten or a party of one hundred.
You need to greet your guests. Sometimes it's stressful when
it is a big party to be able to greet

(09:58):
all of your guests. But be prepared. Make sure you mingle.
If you haven't seen somebody at the door, make sure
that you go. When you make eye contact, you go
over and you say hello. Give them a glass of
champagne if you can afford it, hire one bartender that
is pouring champagne for people that walk in the door.

(10:23):
How amazing would that be if you walked into somebody's
into somebody's home with Christmas music in the background and
a waitress or waiter standing there with some bubbly amazing
and don't don't be afraid to delegate to your friends.
If you know you have a best friend or a sister,

(10:44):
or your husband even or wife, don't be afraid to say, hey,
would you mind being a DJ? If you hear the
music getting a little slow? Would you mind getting on
my sons or my Pandora on my Spotify and changing
up the music? If you see people getting kind of sleepy,

(11:06):
pick it up. Don't be afraid to delegate. And of
course everybody, don't don't be afraid to roll with the
punches if something goes wrong, laugh it off. Burn cookies,
call them crispy. Out of wine, start a hot chocolate
bars instead, but don't be out of wine. Make sure
you have plenty of wine. So remember your your guests

(11:30):
are your most important. And of course the last thing
I would say is maybe have a little parting gift
as your friends are leaving, something small, something that you've
spent the time, A thank you note at a little
acorn with a face on it that they can hang
on their tree, something that tells them that you are

(11:53):
so appreciative for their friendship, for their camaraderie, for being
in your home. Something heartfelt. It goes a long way.
So at the end of the day, Christmas holiday entertaining
is about creating memories, being with the people that you love,

(12:17):
and not being perfect. It doesn't have to be perfect.
Focus on the joy of being together and everything else
will fall into place. And if all else fails, just
keep the wine flowing. I said already, don't run out
of wine, because nothing saves holiday cheer like a good murlow.

(12:41):
Thank you so much for listening, and happy holidays.