holiday party

DIY – Holiday Snow Globe Place Settings

| The Bee Life

Spoiler! I love decorating and hosting get togethers and I especially love transforming our house into a Christmas wonderland.  Included in that Christmas wonderland is playing around with our dining room decor and making a statement with our tablescape. I love shopping on Pottery Barn, we registered for our wedding there and I always find a few gems, especially seasonal ones that I grab when they’re on sale or occasionally splurge on. So long story short, I saw these Village Snow Globe Place Card Holders and was about to splurge — until I was like, wait it would be super fun to make those!
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What You’ll Need:
– Plastic ornaments
– Mini wire brush trees, animals or houses – shop Christmas Village decor at Michaels. I bought (2) mini white trees and (2) green tree set
– 12×12 Glitter scrapbook paper/card stock, silver glitter and glue
– Craft sparkle pipe cleaners, same color as glitter/paper, I used silver
– Cotton balls
– Uline knife
– Hot glue and mod podge

Estimated total project cost: $25

Step-by-Step:
1. First things first, you’ll need to cut a opening in the bottom of your plastic ornaments. This was a bit tricky to figure out, and should be done very carefully!  I used a sharp mini philips head to poke a hole in the bottom. Once I had a hole, I used a Uline knife to cut a smaller circle for the opening, go slow and wear gloves to protect your hands. Repeat based on the number of place settings you’re making – this is the least fun part of the whole project!
SnowGlobeDIY-beelife(1)2. Woo! We have our openings, so now it’s time to cut our our bases and start planning our wintry scene. I used thicker card stock, that I ended up painting and putting glitter on — I would highly recommend buying scrapbook 12×12 glitter paper. This would’ve saved time and a mess. *smiles*  So using your thicker paper, trace a circle using a drinking glass that is rounder than your ornament, trace and repeat to cut the same number of circles as you have ornaments. These are your bases!

3. Working from the center of your circular base play around with your mini trees/houses or animals. Once you have your scene figured out it’s time to glue in place! I started with my larger wire brush tree in the center, and flanked either side with smaller ones. Pull a cotton ball apart and shape around the base of the trees and glue into place. Wah-la, snow! Repeat, or switch up to have different variations.

Pro-tip: Don’t go to far from the center, so that you’re ornament can fit around your wintry scene especially the cotton ball snow

4. Once you have your bases decorated, glued and secured — place ornaments overtop, making sure everything is fitting within the ornament.  Glue and secure the base of the ornament with hot glue!
SnowGlobeDIY-beelife(2)5. Now, depending on if you bought glitter paper or not, this step may not be needed.  Using mod podge glue I painted the top of the white paper bases and then covered in silver glitter over a paper plate to catch the excess. I had to touch up a few spots once the glue dried and I dumped the remaining glitter off to see emptier spots.  If you bought glitter paper, you are 10-steps ahead of me!

6. Time for finishing touches! Get that hot glue back out and glue the pipe cleaners around the base where your ornament meets the base. You’ll most likely need to trim for an even meet at the back.  I then used the left over scraps of the pipe cleaner to create a circle to loop into the top of the ornament to hold place cards for guests! I used old place cards that we didn’t use from our wedding, but you can cut and customize as you want or not include!

7. Once your mini snow globes are created, it’s time to set the table and get ready to host a delicious meal with close friends and family!

This was such a fun DIY and I love how they turned out. For $25 I created 8-mini place setting snow globes compared to spending nearly $60 at Pottery Barn — plus I made them! I must admit figuring out how I was going to cut and create this using ornaments had be puzzled for a while, and it took a few trial and errors before I figured out how to cut the hole in the bottom. And I really wanted to use ornaments vs. mason jars or other types of glass cylinders I saw online.  So once I figured it out and put it all together I was so excited! The best part is you can keep and use year after year or send home with guests as a little keepsake <3.

Happy Holiday Hosting!

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Bee’s Holiday Party Check List

| The Bee Life

It’s no secret around the bee life that I love planning and hosting parties! We’ve slowly started a tradition of hosting a Christmas Party each year, that started in our old apartment hosting a Christmas Ale themed shin-dig and has turned into a larger party now that we have a home to entertain in.
HolidayCheckList-beelifeblog(2)With hosting a Christmas party nearly 4-years in a row (last year we substituted B’s 30th surprise party in place of it) — I have a lot of the fundamentals down that are my go-to party planning check-list.

  1. Simple but inclusive menu. For our parties, I really like to stick with the basics and easy snackable items. Like a nice charcuterie board, pizza, peanuts, popcorn, and chips and dippy items. Also work to be conscious of dietary restrictions, since I’m an offender of that and have a few friends who are meatless.
  2. Don’t forget the booze. We always like to have a variety of beverages for our guests available, as everyone is always good about BYOBing. So we always have plenty of options and variety for everyone!
  3. Something Sweet. It is important to ALWAYS have dessert – especially something chocolatey. I love having m&ms around in little dishes and then other yummy treats like brownies, cookies and even a few Christmas cookies if I really get my butt in gear.  Let’s be honest — I’m going to be drinking champagne and eating desserts.
  4. Party Games. With our holiday party, I like to bring in some of my family traditions and games to our friends.  As we’ve had these parties over the years, games have been requested and even demanded and it’s fun to see these new tradition started.  We even do a white elephant ornament exchange!

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I’ll be a busy bee elf next week getting ready for the party, especially with Thanksgiving falling so late in the year — our house is not yet Christmased. So it will be fun getting everything set come December 1st for our party! Do you have any party planning hacks that you swear by? Do you stick to the same general game plan when you host parties or switch it up each time? Leave me a comment below, telling me your hacks!

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5 Hosting Tips for Fall

| The Bee Life

It’s getting to one of my favorite times of the year – the time for holiday parties and plenty of opportunities for hosting friends and family.  Whether you’re planning an intimate sit down dinner or a more festive party, these five tips will help cover your bases, wow guests and have a fun night to remember!
Party Hosting Tips - the bee life
These tips will also help you relax as a host while still having those finishing touches and taking your party to the next level.

  1. Consider a Bulk Signature Cocktail. Signature cocktails can be fun, especially if it’s more of a seasonal drink for the fall and winter months.  As a host pro-tip, make these in bulk ahead of time in a pitcher or shaker – that way you won’t be stuck making everyone a drink as they come in.  Don’t forget the garnish and a fun cocktail napkin to top off the full effect!
  2. Make a Killer Charcuterie Board. This can serve as your focal point and will cover the bases on a variety of food categories from meats and cheeses, to breads, jams, nuts and fresh fruit that will make guests want to dive right in.  Check out Skinnytaste or Spend with Pennies on some tips to making a killer board.
  3. Don’t Forget the Dessert! It’s easy to get caught up figuring out the main dishes for the evening and overlook the best part, dessert!  This is something to keep simple whether it’s buying some more expensive chocolate bars, baking fresh chocolate chip cookies or asking friends to help bring this, so you can check it off the list!
  4. Plastic vs. Non-Plastic Plates. The great debate on which to use continues! I often shy away from plastic because I prefer the aesthetic look of plates – but depending on which type of party you’re hosting, one might make more sense than the other.  For example a more intimate dinner party or smaller guest count may call for plates to add that extra touch, but if you’re having a large party that is a bit more casual save yourself the end of the night clean-up and grab plastic bowls and plates!
  5. Create Welcoming Smells. This can be an easy victory – if you’ve been prepping food all day, your house might have a mixture of smells, so to clear it up light a few candles with similar scents throughout your home (don’t forget the bathroom!) or throw in some chocolate chip cookies right before guests arrive for a homey welcome.

If you’re looking for inspiration to host a fall party and ways to keep it simple read; 5 Reasons to Host a Fall Party.  And don’t forget to have fun and enjoy your own party, as the host it’s easy to get caught up in perfection and making sure everyone else is taken care of – but don’t forget to grab yourself a drink too!

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Image Sources:  Skinnytaste \ The Effortless Chic | Apartment 34

Parties – Festive Cocktails

| The Bee Life

Since I’m SO pumped for the holidays this year – I can’t help but get excited for all the fun leading up… the decorating, the tree hunting, our Christmas party, baking cookies, just all of the things!  One way to customize your holiday party is to have a signature drink, these drinks have me totally inspired for our upcoming holiday party.
Festive Holiday Drinks - the bee life
Pomegranate Rosemary Spritzer: This drink just looks light and refreshing especially with the garnish of rosemary to top it off.  I think substituting out the pomegranate for cranberries would also be a great option if you wanted to make it a little more affordable and easier to create. This would also be a great drink for a NYE party!

Pink Peppermint Russian: Although I would need to substitute the milk, perhaps with almond milk, this drink looks so pretty and delicious and has Christmas written all over it. Not to mention, it’s a warmer drink which is perfect for warming up your guests from the cold and snowy nights.

Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider:  This is perfect for a party to start up, and let it simmer and cook in the crockpot while you fine too the decorations and prep the food!  Easily add in some whiskey or rum and you have an instant cocktail to keep you warm and keep the festivities going!

My other go-to holiday party drink is getting the party start with Little Beers, or red and green Jell-o shots!

Cheers!

 

Winter Weekends – Parties

| The Bee Life

Christmas parties are in full swing as we are nearly 1-week from the big day! And after this past weekend, I am exhausted although super excited and ready for the Christmas holiday and break.

Thursday kicked-off the start of our holiday parties, starting with my first work holiday party with my new company! It was hosted at a new hip speakeasy, called Magnolia- it’s front is a doughnut and coffee shop, and it smells amazing! With the lights up, and elegant decor this club turned into a cozy and intimate party!

Saturday night, was party number 2 and we hosted! We had a house full of near and dear neighbors and friends.  The premise was to be a game night, mainly playing LRC and then my family’s card game, Pass The Trash all for some extra cash, but the games were a minimum, since everyone was busy chatting, catching up and laughing, snacking and sipping.

Christmas Ale and champagne were the drinks of choice! The ladies were shipping champagne to celebrate, one of my besties A, who got engaged on Friday – YAY!!! I also had my signature party favor – jello shots with pop-rocks. For food, our neighbors killed it with homemade popcorn and bourbon meatballs, along with your standard party snacks. We also did a white elephant ornament exchange which was rather tame but still funny, the highlight ornaments were a framed high-school photo of one of our neighbors, airplane bottles taped together with a hook, and a handmade wooden snowman!
winter-weekends-parties_2winter-weekends-parties_3winter-weekends-parties_4Come Sunday, we were both pretty spent and partied out. But now it’s just a few short days of work until a much needed, holiday break with family!

Cheers!

New Traditions.

| The Bee Life

This 2015 Christmas season is going to be full of new traditions, one of which was this past weekend! So in the past and as I’ve mentioned before, the first weekend in December is usually spent in Upstate NY with my parents helping them get their Christmas tree.  Well this year I broke the tradition after nearly 5-years plus the 20 years prior to that when I lived at home.

One of the reason I wanted to stay was my office company party – this was the first year significant others could join, and the first time in the 3-years I’ve worked there that I decided to go for that reason.  It was a good time! And nice for B to meet a lot of the people I spend most of my time with.


Saturday afternoon we ventured out to the country to this small Christmas Tree farm. Which finding a place to go around a super urban area was a challenge in and of itself! I did not want to pick up our tree at a Lowe’s or Home Dept – I wanted the experience and also a lower price.  So of course once we got to this place, they only accepted cash or check, in which we had neither.  So we ventured back to the town we’d driven through and luckily found an ATM and grabbed some cash and headed back (so typical for us). IMG_9216FullSizeRenderIt was just what I was looking for – handmade wreath’s, cut your own tree’s, hot coco and a gift shop! The search for the perfect tree was cold and long, since when we’d left our house and by the time we got out there the temperature had dropped about 20-degrees and we were dressed for the warmer.  But we FINALLY found the tree, there was a lot to search through, especially since we wanted to get a tree that was significantly taller than 6’6″ B – a selfie was immediately taken.

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After B cut it down, we walked it back to the little hut to have it wrapped up, grabbed a fresh handmade wreath (because you just can’t beat it!) and we grabbed some hot coco and hit the road back to the house. IMG_9213We will definitely be going back next year, armed with cash and dressed warmer!  But it’s those little things that add to the experience and make it that much more memorable.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon putting the finishing touches on the tree and around the house! It really feels like Christmas, and I’m so happy how everything has turned out, I hope to share final photos with you all soon!

I can’t wait to see what other new traditions are in store for us this Christmas!