I’m excited to introduce our new party styling contributor, Laura Aguirre from Laura’s Little Party. I’ve been a fan of Laura’s parties for some time. Her parties are always vibrant, stylish, and filled with unexpected details. Today Laura is sharing how to put together a budget holiday gathering that you can pull together on the fly. Welcome, Laura!
Holiday gatherings will soon be in full swing! This is truly my favorite time of year — delicious food, beautiful decorations, and spending time with loved ones!
Time is precious, especially now, as we try to fit holiday fun into our already busy schedules. Festive parties don’t need to break the bank. Here are some easy ideas, and fun party inspiration for your next holiday gathering!
Play with Color…
Don’t be afraid to play with patterns and color this holiday season. This year, I’m going with stripes, polka dots, and chevron patterns. Plastic cups, polka dotted paper straws, and festive napkins, all in different patterns, certainly makes for a fun & festive table!
Don’t be afraid of paper and plastic tableware…
So many festive paper plates are out this year. Using paper plates always makes for quick & easy clean up! I found some darling plates at Target. For the table cover, I opted to use a red & white chevron piece of fabric I picked up from JoAnn’s.
I fell in love with these red mustache napkins. I put them at each kid’s setting, and thought they worked perfectly with the plastic Santa cups that I found at Walmart the year before. I covered the bamboo utensils in cute polka dotted washi tape, and added paper straws to the adult cups.
Feel free to mix everyone at the table…
I normally set up a separate kids’ table during our holiday gatherings, but this year, I thought it would be nice to have both kids, and adults, sit together and share in the conversation.
I painted an old high chair in a bright, festive red! I quickly whipped up a JOY banner to help make even the smallest guest feel like he had a special place at our table.
Add a couple of easy store-bought items to your dessert table…
Because my guests typically offer to bring lots & lots of deliciously rich desserts, I usually add a couple of easy, store-bought items to display on my dessert table.
This year I added cupcakes with Santa toppers I found in the dollar section at Target, powdered donuts, red velvet cookies, and mini bubble gum machines for the kids!
And make sure to set out some take home boxes so your guests don’t go home empty-handed. I found these fun polka dotted boxes at Target.
- Styling: LAURA’S little PARTY
- Target: Plates, napkins, red plastic cups, straws, washi tape, Santa head toppers, take home boxes
- Walmart: Santa cups w/straw, black cupcake wrappers
- Michael’s: red polka dotted cupcake wrappers
- 99 Cents Only: Mini bubble gum machines
- Dollar Tree: Mini Christmas tree, colored sixlets, oval trays {sprayed with red spray paint}
Thank you, Laura, for sharing your great holiday entertaining ideas and tricks! To learn more about Laura, find her at Laura’s Little Party and on Facebook and Pinterest.
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