Friendsgiving 2017
I usually host a friends-giving party on Thanksgiving for people that can’t get home to their families for the holiday (I became one of them when I started working in retail as a graphic designer 12 years ago). I have lived in Massachusetts for almost 17 years now and I have to say, most of my friends are transplants as well. My guest list routinely includes people from New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and Florida among other places. I typically host anywhere from 2-14 depending on who is around that year. And once the RSVPs are in, I decide on my tableware because I don’t have 14 of every single option!
Decorating with mix and match patterns to create interest is easy if you stay in a monochromatic color scheme.
I was thrilled this year to have a comfortable amount of 8 for dinner which meant I finally got to use these beautiful plates from CB2 that I received as a gift from my way more stylish friends.
I found the tablecloth in the back of the closet and decided ‘old man-pant’ pattern would look great with these plates. And no table is set without place cards! This year I used this really sweet word cloud generator for InDesign from Indiscripts.com for the basis of my place cards and tweaked from there.
The glittery material is something I found way in the back of my supply cabinet. I have no idea what it was or what it was for, but it was glittery. I fought with my Silhouette Cameo to get that thin stuff to cut correctly. Which it finally did, but OH, the weeding was SO PAINFUL. It was halfway through getting the names onto the cards that I realized this stuff was meant to iron on, not stick to a paper card. Ah. Mental note… if you’re going to toss the box, label the material!
But all is well that ends well. I wrapped the top of my candle holders with matching glittery washi tape and used the same tape as napkin rings for a coordinated look.
Sangria + wine serving station..
I even decided to concoct some kind of fall sangria and serve out of my new (to me) vintage punch bowl. I had never used that area as a serving space, but it really worked out well!
I like to have a different look for every holiday I host.. but the best part of this year’s table is that I already had all of these things, I just had never used them all together. So all told, I spent $2 printing out the name cards at Kinkos. Not bad at all… And I heard the food was pretty good too!
Patience is a virtue.
I just had to add this picture in of my dog, Roxie, patiently waiting for dinner. Her favorite is the green bean casserole. After dinner one year, someone accidentally left their chair pushed out and she wrangled her way up onto the table, skipped right past the turkey and went straight for that green bean slop. Ugh. She has the worst taste. I was way too happy to be “forced” to throw it away after she put her face right into the dish!
