Holiday Party Decor Ideas

Yesterday I posted some menu ideas for upcoming holiday parties so today I thought I would share some more holiday party decor ideas.

I love the winter greenery against the brown wood table. I also like the idea of putting candles in empty wine bottles, which is a nice way to use items you already own as part of the party decor.  

Black and gold is one of my favorite  color combinations so I am big fan of this table setting. I also love how the gold ornaments were incorporated into the table setting. I also really like how the sprig of rosemary pops against the black ribbon on the white napkin. 

Photo Courtesy of: Elements of Style 

I love the gold confetti placemats and the gold candles look really nice against the winter greenery. I also really like the gold sparkle place cards.

Photo Courtesy of: Hostess With The Mostess

Nice rustic table table setting.  I love color combination of brown from the wood, white and the pop of green from the winter greenery. 

Photo Courtesy of: Jenny Collier

I really like the mini rosemary wreaths on the napkins. I also like the use of a simple white table cloth and gold sparkle runner. I always am a fan of using a white tablecloth and then having a dramatic table runner. 

Photo courtesy of: Celebrations

Pretty dessert table, which goes nicely with some of the more rustic and earthy table settings I showcased above

Photo Courtesy of: The cake blog

 Beautiful dessert table. I love the backdrop. I also really like the touches of red sparkle. If you look back to my first blog post you will see I tried to copy to the red glitter christmas tree idea and I have always loved the peppermint topiaries, they add a nice touch to your party and are not a difficult craft project. 

Photo courtesy of: Pizzazerie

Another example of mini wreaths, but this time they are on glass milk jars. I'm completely obsessed with this idea!!

Photo courtesy of: Swanky-chic-fete

Where to buy some of the items:

Gold polka dot place cards: Elements of Style

Black & White striped coasters: Zazzle

Gold confetti polka dot placements: carolandcompany.com

Glass milk bottles: Michaels    

Holiday Cocktail Party Menu Ideas

I hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirt and enjoying some quality time with family and friends. I can't believe christmas is a week away! I thought for today's blog post I would give some cocktail and appetizer ideas for anyone who is hosting a party over the upcoming weekend. All my menu suggestions are relatively simple and will be nice and festive additions to your party. Hope you enjoy!

Cocktail ideas:

Pomegranate and Rosemary White Sangria, courtesy of bakeaholicmama.com. I love sangria and the rosemary and cranberries are so festive for the holiday season so this is a win-win in my book!

White chocolate Peppermint Bark Martini, courtesy of willcookforfriends.com

Yum! peppermint bark is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season!

Reindeer Bubbles- recipe & picture courtesy of: HGTV.com. I love the green sugar rimmed champagne flutes. The pomegranate seeds are also a nice addition to the cocktail. 

Peppermint white Russian's,  recipe courtesy of A Beautiful Mess, I took the picture :)

I made these for my roommate and I. We both liked them and super easy to make since you only need three ingredients (baileys, peppermint schnapps and half & half).  The recipe suggests adding a little peppermint extract to give the drink a more minty taste, I definitely will try that next time. 

Appetizer ideas:

Caprese Skewers with Balsamic Drizzle. Recipe courtesy of iowagirleats.com. Sounds fancy and looks pretty, but super simple and only requires four ingredients. 

Baked Spinach Dip Mini Bread Bowls. Recipe & picture courtesy of: picky-palate.com.  Very cute and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser. 

Cranberry, brie crostini, recipe courtesy of: neighborfoodblog.com Cranberries and cheese on bread, what could be better! looks very pretty and nice, unstated way to incorporate red and green into your party menu. 

Cookie Decorating & hot chocolate bar holiday party

Yesterday night I had my friend Anna over for cookie decorating and spiked hot chocolate.  I looked on pinterest for different cookie decorating and hot chocolate bar ideas. Below is the inspiration I based my party off of.

Luckily enough both of the parties I liked the best had free party printables attached to the blog posts so I was able to get all of the labels and signage for my party for free. You can find the hot chocolate bar "baby it's cold outside" signage here  and the labels here.  I loved the chalkboard look of the printables and the black labels looked great with the red bakers twine.  I also used the Hot Cocoa Bar add your fixings signage, which is part of the Cookies and Cocoa printable package that I link to below.

I was very happy with how my hot chocolate bar turned out. I decided to set up my hot chocolate bar in my kitchen because we had to microwave the hot chocolate. For my hot chocolate bar I tied the cup of cheer labels with red bakers twine around my white coffee mugs. I bought green and red straws from michaels, which I put in the mugs as well. I put the instant hot chocolate, white chocolate chips, crushed peppermint and mini marshmallows in mason jars, which I also tied with the labels. I also had carmel sauce, which I tied the label directly to the jar.  I wanted to have the option of spiking the hot chocolate so I bought peppermint schnapps and baileys irish cream. 

Above are pictures of the cookie decorating table from the party. The cookies and cocoa printables can be found here. For the cookie decorating table I had green, red and white icing, white chocolate chips, a little crushed peppermint and green and red M&M's.  I bought gingerbread molasses cookie dough from trader joe's and rolled the dough out and cut with cookie cutters. Using store bought cookie dough is a great time saver when making holiday cookies. I also had Trader Joe's peppermint JoJo's on my table and a brownie pecan pie, which I will discuss in a future blog post.  Stay tuned for more holiday party ideas coming up this week!  What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?