Hosting Made Simple: Tips, Tricks, and Hacks for Any Gathering

Episode Transcript
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Sarah Zubiate Bennett (00:08):
The holidays are here, which means
parties, gatherings, and lots ofplanning. I'm Sarah Zubiate
Bennett, and I'm so excitedyou're here for the very first
special edition of Let's TalkLocal. In this episode, I'm
joined by my executiveassistant, our producer, and
good friend for a fun chat aboutentertainment tips, tricks, and
some amazing localentrepreneurs. Spoiler alert.

(00:29):
Things take a hilarious turn,and my friend, Sarah Beth's
reaction is absolutelypriceless. Get ready to laugh
until your cheeks hurt. We'rethrilled to have you with us.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe so you never miss an
episode.
Hi there. We're so excited foryou to be with us today in the
month of December wheneveryone's talking about holiday
planning and hosting, but wewanted to do a little bit of a

(00:50):
different take today. Theselovely, lovely women here all
entertain differently, myselfincluded. And I thought it'd be
really fun to share some reallyneat hosting hacks from
different perspectives. I'mSarah Zubiate Bennett, the host
of Let's Talk Local. This isSarah Beth Christy. This is

(01:12):
Shanon Murphy, and this is RickiCasper, who you all have seen.
Actually, you've seen Shanon insome prior episodes, too. She's
the producer of our, Let's TalkLocal show, and Ricki is my
executive assistant, andSara Beth is just a dear friend.
All the different takes that wehave whenever it comes to
entertaining, I think will beuseful. Useful holiday or

(01:33):
entertaining tricks in general.So I am going to cover and not
really cover, but I'm going tospecialize more in the big bash
basics area.
Shanon is going to be high classhot mess hostess. Sarah Beth is
going to be Poised and PolishedParties and Ricki is Cozy

(01:56):
Hosting Hacks for Small Homes.And I think all of us at one
point or another have livedlived in a small home and so
we'll all kind of weigh in indifferent segments and sections.
Let's just start with thecocktails if we can. Sarah Beth,
why don't you start us off herebecause I know that you were the
one that talked about theseCostco finds. Will you tell us a
little bit about how you foundthese?

Sarah Beth Christy (02:18):
Sure. So we were on YouTube one day and this
was a recommended video for meto watch was a sommelier that
had, gone through all the Costcowines from champagne to Malbec,
to Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir.And he gave his rating after

(02:41):
each one of them. And, ofcourse, after watching this, I
had to go to Costco to get eachyou know, as many as I could
find. I think the highest priceone at this point in time is
probably about $20 for thechampagne. And tried tried
everything they had available.Loved some of them, maybe not

(03:01):
all of them, but everyone has adifferent palette, so I'm sure
that people could find somethingthat they like.

Yeah. And that's what I thought was so
interesting. Whenever we went toCostco, the Mabac, I believe, is
the one that sells out within anhour. Oh, Gigondas. The
Gigondas. Yes. Yes. Yes. So wedon't have that one here, and
that's the one that sheinitially had indicated as part
of the sommelier's recommendedlist. So 2 of us today are

(03:28):
indulging in alcoholicbeverages. That is Shanon and
Sarah Beth. I, momentarily,probably for a few years, am
going to be stepping away or Ihave stepped away from alcoholic
beverages, so I can't wait totalk to you about my assortment
of everything over here. But whydon't you, if you can, just
start pouring this for you andShanon to try. Alright. You're
good. Talk about it. And thenwhile you're doing that, I'm

(03:49):
gonna talk a little bit aboutwhat it is that I have set up
over here. So like I said, I'vetaken a break from boozing.
I'm doing this in solidaritywith a friend, and there's just
so much on the market nowadays.And and, honestly, the alcohol
industry has taken a huge hitsales wise because there are so

(04:10):
many different types of infusedCBD or mushroom based
alternatives that are supposedto allow you to have a good fun
at night or during the day andto not indulge in alcohol. So
they're these little, like, CBDgummies, they're Feals, and I
absolutely love them. I don'thave the bag out here because

(04:32):
it's super crinkly and it looksbad, but I don't know if you all
would like half of 1 or what.It's just supposed it just like
I mean, you can try it.

Ricki Casper: Gives you the feels? (04:40):
undefined

Well, it's just relaxes you, but you
can try half of 1 or 1. I don'tknow if you all want any. Yay.
Cheers! Okay. And this is alion's mane drink. This, I

(05:04):
really like to mix with thingsas well as the Nowadays, which I
just recently tried over theholidays. You did too. Right,
Shanon? I did. And this one is aBrez drink. It has adaptogens,
botanicals, and a can. So I'mjust gonna pour myself some of
this. I can let you see theingredients. Ricki has a

(05:25):
different one over there, butshe'll be indulging in this fun
CBD hemp drink and it's justnice. Nice to take a little bit
of the edge off. Oh, and alsothis. This u relax.

Ricki Casper (05:39):
I love those.

These Yes. Are incredible. If you're
an anxious person and somethingstresses you out, you can reach
for something like this insteadof reaching for alcohol. Mhmm. I
mean, none of these things haveside effects, hangover effects,
anything. I mean, it's allnatural. I love it, and I can
show you what it looks likewhenever I pour it. So these are

(06:01):
some fun things that you can dowhile out and about.

Want me to grab you a bottle of water?

Yeah, please. Thank you. Mhmm. And
it's also great to havesomething available for parties
that is both alcoholic andnonalcoholic. Yep. You know,
even if you have a cocktail, youcan have cocktails. A, add the
alcohol to it yourself. Andsometimes people like to make
their own mimosas, how strong orhow light that they like. So
there there is always nice tohave options at parties for all

(06:31):
of your guests to enjoy.
Yes. To Sarah Beth's point, it is
amazing because the Feals brandthat I was talking to you all
about, they actually have littletinctures so that you can drop
that into a fun mocktail ifyou're not indulging in alcohol.

Oh, okay.

And it's just a way to kind of relax
without the without thebeverage. But okay. So tell me
if you all have not tasted this,what what you think about it.
Are you having any?

Shanon Murphy (07:00):
I don't normally drink wine.

Oh you don't?
You mean high class doesn't normally
drink wine?

Right. You know what? Today, I'm gonna do it.

Cheers. Salute. Here, let me I guess we
can toast. Cheers. Okay. Tell uswhat you think about this.
Cheers. That one that you justhad. Cheers. Okay. Someone who
knows wine and then someonewho's just taking it. Just
trying it, Shannon. Why don'tyou tell us first?

That's strong and I can see myself needing needing
an Uber home after this.

I love it. And okay. Tell us,
Sarah Beth, what is yourthoughts on that?

To me, it's very smooth and easily drinkable
for me.

And it's also this one actually is rated
91 points Oh my god.

From Costco. There is, yes. We saw that.

What?

On this Malbec that we just poured,
It's, 91 points from James SickSuckling.

Is this a sommelier?

I don't know.

Okay. But I don't know. But We will find
out.

I've always heard anything above 90 points
when you're shopping for wine isreally good.

At Costco?

I think anywhere.

Yeah. Got it.

But I've only ever seen them like, I know what
you're talking about. The liquorstores say, like, 92 or 92. Yes.
At Specs, they have them allnumbered.

Oh, yeah. See, I love cabs. Love them and,
like I said, I don't know ifI'll ever have another one again
but, if I do, mine never hadnumbers on them or any rating
system but that's good to know.

Sarah Beth Christy: We like an app called Vivino. I (08:57):
undefined
have it still. I think it willshow you the number of points
it's rated.

Yes. It does. That does. I mean, you
have to look up your star andall that stuff. But I use that
especially because I like toentertain and make sure that
whatever it is that I'm servingcomplements is complemented by
whatever beverage I'm servingwith it.
So, yes, I use that Vivino appall the time. Okay. So, Shanon.

(09:26):
Yes. Okay.
So, Shanon, tell tell us alittle bit about, your parties
and how you prepare for them.Okay. And give us a little bit
of a background and tell us alittle bit about you as a
person. More casual

Function over fashion, obviously. I am not a
very good host. I'm a I'm abetter goer and enjoyer. But
I've learned a lot from myfamily. And, something that my
family does is they personalizea lot of things to make the
person being celebrated or orthat occasion feel special.

Uh-huh.

So there's always going to be like a styrofoam cup
or whatever that's personal forthe occasion.

Yeah.

Or whatever. So I brought some of the items.

Yeah. Show us. That it's a big bag.

You brought some of them?

Just a couple of them.

So we we personalized stuff too. Yeah. So
And I love that.

So for one of my birthdays.

Oh, that's cute.

This is my my nickname. They call me Shan Wow.
Shan Wow. Yeah. We can talkabout why later.
That's one of the reasons I don't indulge in
alcohol very much.

Okay. I didn't know that.

Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Swimsuits? What? Oh my gosh. I (10:52):
undefined
love that. I didn't even knowthey made those.

I somehow ended up with several people's swim
suits. I think this is adorable.I made some
pajamas of my face for Monty.This is so fun!
And my dog.

My dog. Yes. I've done that too with
Scrapsies.

Yep. And then we have hats. My dog. Can you tell
how much I love my dog?
This was a wedding gift.

I'm from Aspen. Oh. Oh, that's right. You
go to Aspen a lot. So you're notthe one hosting up there.

We went to the beach.

So cute. I love that.

And then another Dog shirt? Hawaiian shirt with
my dog.

Oh, wow.

Oh, that is so nice. To feel special too. This
weekend, I set up a full photoshoot for his 3rd birthday.

Stop. Where did
I Do you have pictures of it?

Yeah. Oh, no. And then I mean, it's just Yeah. So
if you've got something goingon, you might as well make that
person feel special by puttingtheir face everywhere. I know.
So that's how we do it. And thenif if you don't go this big, you
can do little cut out faces andput it on a toothpick and put
those toothpicks in candy jarsor something like that.

Oh my god. We have done that. I said,
we do that too even though I'mmore like big bash basics. I am
all about the memorabilia andthe little the date or whatever
it is that makes that person orthat event special. And okay.
I'm I'm dying to hear this. Soare you big on people RSVP ing

(12:39):
or no?

I'm not good at RSVPing, so I feel like it'd be
kind of hypocritical for me toexpect people to RSVP.

I'm gonna read this because, Sarah Beth

Oh, and I know Sarah Beth is gonna hate me for
this.

No. No. She's not. So okay. I created
this spreadsheet because I wantentertainment from all walks of
life to be featured and feelincluded and happy and all the
things.
But since I do Big Bash basics,it is super important that
people RSVP for me, but a lot ofpeople in my life are like, they

(13:16):
don't show up timely becauseculturally, I'm I'm Latina. So
everyone's always late. I am notalways late, but my family
members of my family are oftenlate. But here is what I thought
was just so lovely that she thatSarah Beth shared. So for the
poised and polished parties,hostess gifts idea. Flowers

(13:39):
already in a vase so the hostessdoesn't have to worry about
finding the vase or cuttingflowers. So where do you find
these? Trader Joe's?

You can go there or I've, also Kroger has
either plants or just, you know,things in a vase already that
you can just buy it and go.Central Market's great as well.
And, you you know, really, it'sall about trying to make it easy
for the host or the hostess sothat they're not having to do

(14:08):
something extra upon arrival.

I love that.
I think that's just always useful and
very helpful. And Ricky actuallyshared about Trader Joe's having
a whole bunch of floralavailable for really affordable
prices.

They have all these, seasonal flower bushels
at by the front door and youjust grab a handful of each and
it it's $8 or something. It'svery affordable.

That makes me happy. So I know that
we did this whole charcuterieMhmm. Board visit.
Boxed Bites was the name. Andthey kind of inspired a lot of
just conversation and dialoguearound charcuterie boards. I do
them all the time just for thisbash that we had for mothers

(14:58):
for, our children's school. Ihad this awesome charcuterie set
up. And how how was it that shecame about?
You recommended her.

Yeah. The board lady. The board lady. In East
Dallas. Mhmm.
Yeah. She's pretty well known. Ilive over there and I see posts
from her. She does classes atthe Arboretum.

Uh-huh.

And I've known her through friends and she did
a massive setup for you. Mygoodness.

She did. And I actually got a few moments
with her. And I want you guys totake a look and see at what it
was that we talked about. She'sso talented. So check this out.
We are so happy to be here. Thisis Alicia. Hello.

The Board Lady (15:38):
I started this. This was my COVID project. I was
bored sitting at home in COVID.Doing nothing, and I was on the
Lakewood ladies page one night.And this lady said, check on my
friend's Facebook page. She'sjust started doing charcuterie,
and my first thought was, Icould do better than that. I
come in. I bring everything in.You have a setup with all of
your cheeses and meats andeverything in front of you. I

(15:59):
explain what's everything that'son your board.
I bring a mock up board so yousee what you're about to build,
and then I explain everythingthat's there, and then we just
start building. I take you stepby step of exactly what you're
gonna build on the example thatI bring. And it's super fun. So
I bring everything. You don'tneed anything.

Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Everyone's gonna be able to see (16:15):
undefined
you piecing this together fromstart to completion. And the
time right now, it's about 2,and the event doesn't start
until 6. Mhmm. Might have atornado. So who the heck knows?
For now, I don't wanna hold youup anymore because...

It takes time.

I know it takes time. It takes time. I
know it does.

You know, as you can see, I've only got some
greenery here, and this isalready the beginning, so it
takes time. It does. It does.

Okay. So that was absolutely gorgeous.
And looking at this that we havetoday, Ricki, with her
entertaining, she actuallytalked about some nifty hacks
that she has whenever it comesto charcuterie board setup. Can
you tell us about it?

Yeah. I was actually talking to Shanon
earlier when I made it too. And,I have gone overboard on smaller
parties and spent 100's ofdollars and I just thought this
is wasteful and very expensivefor a smaller gathering.

Mhmm.

So I'm starting to lean towards more of, including
more fresh fruits and vegetablesversus, meats and olives. And I
love all those things, but theydon't need to be included every
time. So I was leaning for aboard on a budget.

Board on a budget.

So that's why I included more cucumbers and
fruit because a lot of peoplealso like a low carb option
these days. So I did a minicucumber. You can and those are
mini cucumbers are a littlestiffer. So you can use them
like a cracker.

Oh. See, I would add tahini.

I would have loved that, but I was trying to go
seasonal. So I went, like, thisis this is a fig and olive
cracker.

I'm gonna actually serve myself some.
Okay. Ricki, tell us what wehave here. So tell us about the
different cheeses. I know youalready kinda did, but talk to
us about the price since it is aboard on a budget.

Okay. The the one that looks like a little cheese
ball closest to you, Sarah,
that is just, a port wine and sharp cheddar
spread. So it's not the mostnatural, but I mean, because
it's a spread. The round onewith the jelly on top is a honey

(18:31):
fig spread and then it is ashallot and chive soft cheese. I
don't know what those boursincheeses are actually. Like if
they're goat or...

I thought it was goat. Goat cheese. It's a
goat cheese.

I think it's a blend though. But
definitely it's a blend But ithas goat. I believe. In it.
Yeah.

So that one which I'm I'm really liking the
combination there, and then theother soft cheese is just a
garlic and herb. It's a it's acomparable brand to Boursin so
it's probably also a blend.
But those soft cheeses are realeasy too for quick entertaining
because you can I was tellingher you can just tump it over
and add a topping and it's likeyou did something amazing?

Oh, like the cream cheese with the pepper
jelly dumped on the top!

Yes. So let's talk about planning for a
party. So I have spreadsheetsgalore for the parties that I
host because there's just somuch to consider. At our house
in Dallas, it's a super oldhome.
We've been wanting to haverenovations for quite some time,
but we haven't because it takesus either moving rooms, moving

(19:43):
out, something, and we're justswamped. It's pretty impossible.
Ricki and I have done most ofthe design work. It's taken
years, really, on that, but Idon't know that we're gonna be
completing the renovationsanytime soon. You can see all of
the beautiful decor, forChristmas. And the front of the

(20:04):
house, the interior, the mainliving room, and even the
kitchen all just have suchunique touches, even my office.
Check out what's in my office.And then at the ranch. The
reason I love these type offestive decorations is because I
think it just makes a space ahome. I've always loved it. Even

(20:28):
whenever I lived in my 1300square foot home in El Paso that
I was raised in, it my dad and Iwould just decorate it to, you
know, as best as we could. Justhanging the lights, making it
feel homey was super importantto me. And at the ranch, as you
can see, it's also equallybeautiful, but it's always
entertaining ready ish so thatif we were to have some party,

(20:54):
there's just extra floraleverywhere and cute little
knickknacks to warm up anylocation. But, yes, back to the
whole spreadsheet basics. Do youdo this? Do you use spreadsheets
for your entertaining, SarahBeth?

No. But I want to now. I am a spreadsheet
girl in other ways, but I'm allabout logistics, planning, and
making sure everything is asright as it can be. Of course,
knowing that the unexpected canalways happen.

It always does. Yeah.

And but trying to make sure everything
is as in place and then you canreally enjoy time with your
guests, which is, of course, thereason you're hosting.

See, I did not have a lot of time with
my guests on Thanksgiving. Imade the stuffing, 2 turkeys. I
mean, those 2 turkeys, I mean, Ibrined them. And then the
stuffing, I prepped it the daybefore Thanksgiving. And then
the actual Thanksgiving day, Imean, I constantly baste the
turkeys, so I just had 6 or 7alarms going off, you know, to

(21:58):
make sure that I was staying ontop of everything. But we did a
pot potluck this year. What didyou guys do this Thanksgiving?

Oh, I went over to our my sister-in-law and
my brother's house and theyhosted.

Oh. It's great. But you you don't think
that they had a spreadsheet?

No. They do it every year, so it's down to a
science. And so now the onlything we talk about is how good
was the pecan pie this yearcompared to last year. And we
all have settled into what ourroles are and what you bring and
everything. So it's it wasreally good.

I love that.
And what about you, Shanon?

I don't do spreadsheets. I don't just the
only reason I do spreadsheets isif you make me do spreadsheets,
they make me cross eyed. I'm notthat person. I'm a pen and paper
person. You know this?

I do.

I write things down. I make lists. I'm a that's
what I do. If if I can avoid thepen and paper and just keep it
up here, I do that.

I do not trust that at this point for me.
I have too much to I'll forgetsomething.

If that fails me, then it wasn't meant to be.
That's how I feel about it.

But you never let stuff drop.

Usually, no.

But you always take notes too. do.

Yeah. But then again, as a rule, I don't like
people very much, so I don'thost a lot of things. I mean,
that's the truth.

I'm laughing.

When I was younger, I used this is so
nerdy, but I used to host GuitarHero parties.

Really? What? Where are they now?

I love Guitar Hero so much.

I did too.

And I would have people over to my apartment, and
I would battle them at GuitarHero.

Oh, that is hilarious.

And I would buy these cheesy first, second, and
third or place prizes, and Iwould usually end up winning.

So I had to make sure

it was a really good prize. Yes.

And so, that's really the last big hosting
thing that I did, and it wasjust buy as much alcohol as I
could fit in my trash can.That's so funny. I mean,
literally, that's what I woulddo.

But I think that's funny. Okay. So now
how about your partner? Like, isis there something? Love or
hosting.

Loves hosting. We yes. In fact, a friend wanted to
have their birthday party in ourbackyard.
And so we had a princeimpersonator back there and like
60 people.

There's always 1.
I've never met. Always one of them.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yes. Ragan loves hosting.

I love that.

Very much. And I'm just like, I'm a germaphobe.
And so if I'm gonna make acharcuterie board, everything's
gonna be already cut when I buyit because I'm not gonna make
other people touch things that Ior eat things that I've touched.
Yes. I have serious issues.

I saw her anxiety while I was I was making sure to
double, triple clean everythingbecause I saw her. She was like

When I make the girls lunches every day, I'm
washing my hands probably 3times during the process. I have
serious issues with germs andpeople touching my things and me
touching their things.

I would too, but not to that Extent.

It's a lot. Yeah. For me to have people in my
space and me to touch thingsthat are going in your mouth.
But no. On the occasion thatpeople do come over, it's just
light and easy and just ordersome food, pick it up, and make

(25:27):
it as as simple as we can.

Yes. I like that. Yeah. And then what
about you, Ricki? Do you becauseI know I make us function off of
spreadsheets. Do you do that foryourself?

No. I have started a Christmas card spreadsheet
inspired by you. My partiesnormally don't have more than 20
or 30 people, so I just create alittle invite on Canva and shoot
everyone a text. And mine arenormally last minute. I may be
talking about it for weeks aheadof time, but I won't send out
the thing until a week or 2before.
And then I get frustratedbecause the day before I have no

(26:02):
RSVPs. So I'm like, how do Iplan for this? And I'm like,
this is my own fault.

That was gonna be what I asked. Yeah.
What what I was about to ask.How do you all do it if you
don't use a spreadsheet and youdon't know how much food to plan
for?

Fees. I usually have a good head count
of who's gonna come. Yeah. Yeah.And then knowing that it can be
plus or minus a certainpercentage

Mhmm.

And and then trying not to overbuy because I
am definitely someone that wouldoverbuy rather than underbuy.
And I'd rather be over preparedthan not enough. So Yeah. And my
husband prefers to do theshopping probably because of
that.

I love that. So we've talked about
food. We've talked about lists.
What about music? Oh, I grabbedthis. Ricki, when did I give
this to Monty? I think Few yearsago. Like, 2 Christmases ago.
Didn't I put it in a stocking?And so Monty loves to karaoke.
I'm a former singer, so I havesome singing and piano

(27:12):
experience. Classically trainedin both. So when we karaoke,
it's really different.
But we have I mean, we wekaraoke all the time. And I know
Shanon said that you walk aroundand sing. He Monty walks around
this whole house just singing.Shanon pulls out her own Bluetooth karaoke microphone similar to Monty's) Stop

(27:34):
it. Look. They're like littlethat's like the mini. Uh-huh. Oh
my gosh. See? We are alike!

So there's some there are some commonalities
between the big bash basics andthe hot mess, whatever she is.
So the high class hot mess andthe big bash basics have some
overlap.

If I know if I know that the opportunity is
gonna be there, this stays home,and I'll bring out my big setup.
My big DJ setup.

Do you have pictures of it?

I mean, I have it at home, so I can get pictures
of it if I needed to.

Uh-huh.

But like, I it's not my full setup, but I have a
speaker that's this tall, and itliterally could blast AT and T
Stadium probably. And we canplug a microphone into it, and
sing karaoke until the policeare called.

On the streets of Dallas.

I'm sure that we would too. It's just no
one can hear us. Yeah. Becausewe're out not in the kind of in
the middle of nowhere.

Yeah. Same.

But we go till like 4 in the morning.

Well, our limit is midnight usually with the
neighbors before they getfrustrated. Yeah. So, yeah,
karaoke is so much fun. It'sdefinitely my favorite.

Oh, I love and then I told you that
even, J-SI like, was out of thehouse that mimicking karaoke.

Oh, I taught him. We would sit in the studio
during breaks when I was doingthe morning show, and we would
do acoustic versions of Eminemand any rap song we could think
of. We would sit there and wewould work it out with him
playing guitar and me on thevocals, and we were amazing
together. You should you shouldhear us.

Oh, my gosh. Well, I told him I wanted
to battle. You know that we weretalking about Eminem? And I told
him that I wanted to battle myfriend Jojo, who can rap Eminem
better than any walking humanalive I've ever known. Wow.
And she's like this she's likeyou. Like, she's very she's like
blonde and really thin, elegant.And then and she can out wrap

(30:02):
any person I've ever known. Andthen I heard J-Si and I was
like, I need a I need a duel.That hasn't happened. It's been
years. But okay, so back to themusic.

Okay, I'll go up on the duel.

You will? You can rap?

Yes, of course.

No. Okay. Okay, people. If you did not
watch our kind of the episodethat we did together, Ricki, one
of the main things, I hired herseveral years ago and she can
build anything. She's a formerprofessional oh, no. She's a
she's a semi pro pool player.She used to deal poker. So she

(30:37):
made Molly's Game look like likerags. And so but she used to
hold these really high stakes,incredible poker tournaments in
Houston. That's where she'soriginally from.
So the fact that she can rapEminem , I am not surprised at
all. But what? Depending on ourkaraoke night, sometimes I'll
sing the Ave Maria. I swear. Sowho was there? That's, Oh, it

(31:02):
was the Lieutenant Governor. Iwas like, who was there? And he
was like, it was freaking Monty.He was like, Sarah, get up there
and sing, get up there and sing.And I was like, fine. I'm only
singing Ave Maria because that'sthe one song that I have sung
and the national anthem.

That's your go to?????

No, I think my go to for classical
dance songs. That is what I havesang the most in my life in any
performance venue, have beenthose 2 songs. But in karaoke,

(31:42):
no, girl. I have other songs. Ihave a whole freaking karaoke
list on my Spotify. Ready to goanytime. Yeah. You know what?
Yeah. I'll, like, let you scrollthat karaoke list. It's good.

Oh, I wanna know.

Do you have a karaoke list?

Yes.

On what app?

On my paper.

Oh, oh.

I told you I write every thing down.

Oh. You walk around with a karaoke list?

I walk around with a microphone.

No. You don't. Oh my god.

I have a little compartment in the back of my
car.

Okay. I'm gonna pull up my karaoke list on
Spotify. Hold up. You you youread some of your list to me.
Hold on. Wait.

Let me take a drink of water, and

Then I'll figure out what song I'm gonna rap.
This is taking an awkward turn.

But I love it. An awkward turn. I
know. Hold on. Oh, see, the headof Girls Just Wanna Raise Funds?
You you go. You go. You go.Crazy. Oh, okay.
So yes.

Shanon Murphy: Crazy *****. Buckcherry. Hey. You're (32:51):
undefined
a crazy.

I know the song that is not on my
karaoke list. What? Oh, Stop. Ohmy god. What the hell?
Okay. Let me let me read some ofmine. Yeah .

(33:16):
Don't Stop Believing. DancingQueen. Living on a Prayer. Girls
Just Wanna Have Fun. I want it.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Oh, I love
that. I wanna feel the heat!
Yes. Sweet Caroline. Tell me. You
don't know these songs, Shannon.

How Many Licks?

Hold on. Do you not know any of these
songs?

Oh, I know. Everybody knows those songs.

Exactly. Walking on Sunshine, Sweet Home
Alabama, Hey Soul Sister, Shotthrough the heart, and you're to
blame. Come on. All of this youknow. Okay. So what other songs
do you have? Well, How will Iknow? I will yes. How will I
know? Only Happy When it Rains.
Up Closer to 9 inch nails.

Oh, I wanna **** you like an animal? Animal.
Mhmm. That's a good one.

Okay. I have a funny story, and I'm sure
she's gonna watch this. One timeI was karaoking that at the
ranch. Of course, every all thekids were asleep. I was
karaoking it up there. Myfriend, Rachel Griffin, walks,
walks in and she does this tome. Hold on. She goes, she was

(34:33):
she was so mortified that I wassinging it. But anyways, I I
proceeded to sing it. And, yeah.So we had some of those songs as
well. Monty really doesn't.Well, he walks around. He he's
like Elvis. Okay. Prince.

Like some eighties or something.

Yeah. He loves the eighties, loves
seventies. So he's just, yeah.Just different songs, but this
is his. I don't clearly I saidthat.
Redneck Woman?

Oh, yeah.

I love that she pointed. Redneck Woman.
You know that one. Okay. So wecan karaoke that one together.

Oh, for sure.

I'm the One by DJ Khalid. Yes. I love
certain DJs.

Yes. He's a good one.

Do do you all karaoke at your polished
posh?

Depends what time of the night it is,
probably.

Really? So you guys do that?

I mean, you can who doesn't love music? I
do. I know. I mean, everyone canfind a song. And then also it
can be fun. If you're a goodsinger, it's okay to karaoke.
But sometimes sometimes thereally bad ones make the biggest
impression. So it it's reallyfun anyway.

Oh, yeah. What if you think you're a good singer
and you're not? I think I'mamazing.
And I don't think I am.

If you can rap Eminem and you wanna
take on my friend JoJo, we gottado something. Because I and and
J-Si like, seeing you guys upthere, if you're putting
yourself in that category. Yeah.Okay, girl.

I can just do them. I mean, I don't I don't
have every song memorized, but Ican like if I know the song, I
can sing the whole song. I'm notsaying I have every word of
every Eminem song memorized.

Jojo does. She does. She does. She
can sit there and get down.Yeah. We need to have her on one
of these, like It'd be fun.

We should just do a segue to a battle at the
ranch.

I'm ready. Hilarious.

I was born ready.

Tell me about your music vibe when
you're not rapping Eminem.

It's normally like country rap or some country
songs. We'll just pick aplaylist and let it vibe from
there and then we'll go swap it.Like, you know, the tailored
playlist on Spotify. So if youpick a certain artist, it's
probably gonna stay in thatgenre. So we'll do that. I don't
have like my playlist is myliked songs. I just like a song.

(36:55):
And so it could be so random andnot have any type of flow.

Do you have any slow songs? Do you have
any classical songs?

They're ran all it's all random.

And you'll play the classical songs
in a

Not at my parties.

Okay.

Because I don't have any playlists. I just have
liked songs in Spotify. I guessit's for the

Do you have any liked classical songs?

Maybe. Maybe like 1 or 2. I couldn't tell you the
names of them.

Got it.

I just added them because I liked them.

That's why I could never just all my
like songs because I have awhole classical folder. What's
your classical, playlist? None.

I have none.

Of course. Do you know any
classical songs?

None.

Really?

0.

I'm sure you know them. You just don't know
you know them.

Exactly. Yeah.

You know them. You

Maybe. Maybe, like, a Nutcracker song or
something, but probably not.Without music? Yeah.

Without singing word most of the time. Right?
Not all the time.

Look at her. Look at her score change.

I don't wanna say anything because I don't wanna
offend people. But if I wasgonna list, rank the music that
I like from best to worst,that'd be way down here by the
worst. I love a good pop song,like Sabrina Carpenter.
Right now I'm listening to heralbum all I love Sabrina
Carpenter. And then TaylorSwift, I love Taylor Swift.

I do like Taylor Swift.

So much. And then like Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

Drake.

All of those, and then there's classical. And
there's just not room in myheadspace for that.

What about jazz?

Just right above classical.

What about like big band? I'm talking
Sammy Davis Junior, FrankSinatra, Dean Martin.

That live, not on the radio.

Really? Yeah. I find it calming. My grandfather
always had classical band in mycar. In the car all the time.

Okay. Yeah. I'm talking, like, big
band and all that stuff.

Oh, yeah.

My I was raised on the Rat Pack. So for
me that era is just so burntinto my Mhmm.

My love. You? Yeah. Do you? I like, I
mean, I like everything thatthese are, but I was classically
trained in piano.

So Chopin?

Sarah Beth Christy: Yes. Everything.So that those (39:02):
undefined
would be on my list.

Ricki Casper: So you just start at white trash (39:04):
undefined
and it just comes out of theway.

And we're like

My aunt worked at, Houston Symphony Orchestra for
years. All my family's rooted inthings musical, but I'm just I
don't know a lot about thembecause it was before Shazam was
invented. So I don't I couldn'ttell you the name of a song or
who sang it, and I could singevery word. Like, that's how my
brain works. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I probablyknow a bunch of songs, but I

Well, I like that. So we have the music
covered. What about the funactivations that we have? What
are some of y'all's funnestactivations that you like to do?
Remember you had talked aboutthe activation in Aspen?

Oh, yeah. Like there was a sushi table, and an
ice sculpture. This wasobviously a huge thing with like
200 people. At her(my nieces) wedding reception,
where you walked into the door,and you rang a bell, and then
somebody with a white glove, youcouldn't see them, they were
behind curtains, but somebodywith a white glove would hand

(40:10):
you a drink based on what bellyou rang. So it's like beer,
booze, and the drink that theyhave at, Texas Tech. I forget
what it's called. But it was socool. I I know it happens
places, but I'd never seen it.

I haven't done it. We've never done that.

You never see anything but the hand. And it
was amazing to me. I just stoodthere and kinda watched it for a
little bit.

The way that I imagine that would be set
up is that that would be on thebackside, someone taking the
orders. Right. But then on thefronts, like, the bar would be
on the other side of it, kind offacing away from that backboard
with people behind it. Sorry.

That's okay. Talking this up. It was really
cool. And it was a small space.It didn't take up a ton of
space, and you immediatelywalked in. You get your welcome
drink, and then you go walk pastthe sushi tower or whatever it
was. It was pretty amazing.

That is neat. Yeah. And we've done,
like, the we've done thedonkeys. We've done the photo
booth setups almost always.

Oh, yeah.

That was so fun.

The those kind of fun revolving ones.

We did a water games in the backyard. Water
games. Like a almost like awater balloon arena to go 1 on 1
because I set it up equal sides,like, if they were having, like,
a battle.

Are there any top tips that you all wanna
share with viewers andlisteners?

I like making everyone feel comfortable
and trying to make sure ifsomeone is coming that doesn't
know someone else that we dointroductions. And sometimes the
most fun parties can be whennobody knows each other. New
friendships are formed, and it'sjust a really good time.

Mhmm. I love that. How about you, Ricki?
For personal or for any of ourparties?

Well, we didn't touch on it much, but I would
say always having, a kidactivity.

If people have kids. Well, yeah. But most
of your parties have kids. So Ijust wanted to mention that.
But it you're right. Okay.You're right. Because we do.

We might moms watching that wanna,

I like that though because we do a lot
of stuff for kids.

We always have an activation at least for the
kids.

Any other useful tips?

I'm not good on the spot. I can jump in and say
stuff, but that's the thingcaught me off guard too. Sing
the song now. I was like, oh.

Can people hire you to help?

It's a good question.

For what? For planning and stuff.

Like, do you do any of that stuff for anyone
other than Sarah?

Not really. We might do down the line when we
have more time?

So we have, because we have so many
plug and play, spreadsheets. Butdifferent events that we've had
hosted everything. A lot of thisstuff, Sarah Beth asked before,
we have it all in storage. Wealways have, I think, stuff for
kids, back to your point. Butthe one thing I would say is

(43:09):
figure out the vibe first. Andthen from that vibe, then you
can kind of back it out from,the budget. Budget kinda
determines everything. It'lldetermine location, how many
people, food, board on budget ornot, and all that stuff. But
aside from that, it's the vibe.And for me, I always place

(43:33):
comfort and warmth first. Mhmm.That's really important to me.
And, yes, kind of the feng shuijust falls naturally from that,
but I love people to becomfortable. And like you'd
said, we do so many differentkinds of events, a lot of
corporate events at the ranch,fun, relaxed events. It's the
vibe that drives everything. Andfor me, it's always kinda

(43:54):
centered around people you youenjoy. Right?

Right. Yeah. And in addition to the vibe, it
is almost like what is the goalof the event? And at the end of
the day, are you trying to,celebrate somebody or just
create a relaxing environmentfor moms and, so there there's
so many different reasons butthen you can build based off

(44:18):
that.

Yep. I agree. Well, you guys. Thank you
so much for being here. I can'twait for everyone to hear about,
WAP and the other I can't waitfor everyone to watch and learn
some useful, fun, practicalthings, depending on how you
like to host. Thanks forwatching.

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