Top Ten Fall Candles

Meet Katie!

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I'd like you to meet Katie, who has become our event planner extraordinaire! 

Photos courtesy of Katie and Pinterest

If you could raid any one's closet, whose would it be?

Olivia Palermo or my boss'- Kim has great style, it's always fun seeing what she wears to the office!

You describe your style as...

Feminine, classic, and bright.

Where can we find you when you aren't at the RSVP office?

You would probably find me eating! Dallas has so many great restaurants, and I'm always looking to try new places to dine.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Interior Designer

What's your favorite trend of the moment?

Printed jeans

Who would play you in a movie about yourself?

Gwyneth Paltrow is my all time favorite, I wouldn't mind if she played me in a movie!

What are you currently obsessed with?

Coffee table books. I have started quite the collection!

A charity near and dear to your heart is...

Heart House, a non-profit after school program in Dallas.

Tablescape Tuesday: Harvest Heaven

A New Years Celebration Countdown

Who doesn't love Rachel Ray? You can imagine how thrilled I was when I was asked to contribute to the Rachel Ray Everyday New Year's Countdown story called "Happy Hour." It is featured in the December/January Issue on page 138. Here are a few of the highlights! You can read the entire story here: www.rachaelraymag.com.

11:00 - One Hour to Go: Greet your guests at the door and leave a little goodie for them on the coat rack or hanger. As they take off their coat they can get in the New Years spirit by wearing the hat or feather boa you left for them. Place a stack of cards, pens, and a small box on the table and ask each guest to write out their wishes for 2010. Take turns reading them out loud (anonymously of course!) over cocktails later in the night.

11:15 - 45 Minutes to Go: Set out savory appetizers and snap photos and videos of your guests that you can email them the next day.

11:30 - 30 Minutes to Go: Refill the appetizer platters and check on the drinks and punch. Make a round thru your party and pick up empty plates, glasses and napkins. Remember to use small serving trays and buffett trays and refresh the food more often so that it always looks fresh and stays warm.

11:45 - 15 Minutes to Go: Cue the celebration and send subtle hints that it is time to gather for the countdown. Dimming the lights or blowing out candles in the rooms they should move from should do the trick. Get help from a friend to assemble some trays of sweets that you can put out after the countdown. Assembling them now will save you time later. Unwrap a few bottles of Champagne so they are ready to pop!

12 - Celebrate!

One of the hardest parts of a coctail party is figuring out how many drinks will be needed! Below is my cheat sheet to help you figure out your numbers.

# of People	10	25	50	100
Bottles of Wine per 2 hours	5	13	25	50
Bottles of Champagne per 2 hours	3	10	20	40
Bottles of Beer per hour	20	50	100	200
Bottles of Liqour per hour	1 1/2	3	6	12
Mixers for Liqour drinks per hour (1L)	4	9	17	33
Lemons and Limes	3	7	13	25
Ice (lbs)	5	13	25	50
Paper Cocktail Napkins per hour	40	100	200	400
Linen Cocktail Napkins per hour	20	50	100	200

Candle Care 101

• Whether it is a party with friends or a relaxing evening at home, nothing sets the mood better than candles. So here is what I call Candle Care 101:
• A little trick to extend the life of your candle: wrap the wick in saran wrap and place your candle in the refrigerator of a couple of hours before burning. A cool candle will burn more slowly. This is really helpful during a long dinner party!
• Long wicks create black smoke that can mark your ceiling. To avoid this, trim wicks to a 1/2 inch before you light them.
• To remove wax that has collected at the bottom of your glass votive, stick your votive in the freezer and after it freezes, the wax will crumble easily.
• If wax drips onto your fine linens, simply warm up the wax with a hair dryer then cover it with a cloth that you don't mind throwing away. Run a warm iron over the cloth and wax will adhere to the cloth! If that doesn't work, check craft or fabric stores for wax removing products.

Remember to keep candles away from foliage and drapes as well as children and pets.

Table for six....

I love it when you write to me with questions.  Some of them have obvious answers while others, like the one I am about to tell you about, need a little more thought.  Allison from Los Angeles wrote to me about a little problem that she is facing.  She has a dining table that seats 8 but is only going to need 6 seats for her next dinner.  Where should she seat the guests?  This question does not have an easy answer but leads me to another question instead:

Is the dinner going to be formal?

If it is a formal dinner, it might be nice to seat the host and hostess at the head of the table and the guests of honor to their left.  If it is less formal, you might leave the heads of the table empty and sit in the six seats along the sides.  If you do that, you might consider skipping a centerpiece and placing your decorations at the ends of the table instead.  In the middle of the table, place a long but low row of candles that will flatter all of the guests.  This way, all six of you will be able to see each other clearly.

There are so many other tricks to help you with seating arrangements in my new book, Tablescapes, so please order your copy today!

Big Table - Little Notice!

 

One of my favorite Texas Hostesses, Carla McDonald, sent me this fantastic photo of her New Years Eve table.  She did a fantastic job of whipping a breathtaking table together with inexpensive items from Hobby Lobby and Party City!  Here is what she writes:

Here's a picture of my very last-minute New Year's Eve party table, which I did all by myself!  We decided about a week before NYE to do this party so I scrambled!  I took all the Christmas ornaments off of the slim flocked trees and replaced them with New Year's Eve 2009 stuff: noisemakers, crowns and hats, 2009 glasses, streamers, etc.  On the table, I used a silver lame fabric for the tablecloth, Lucite candelabras and lots of votives.  I made a bunch of small arrangements of white cabbage flowers with glitter sprinkled on them to make them festive.  Cabbage is supposed to bring good luck and I didn't want to serve any!  I also put white boas on the backs of the girls chairs so that they could have fun with them all night and flirt with their dates, which they did.  After dinner and a champagne toast, we had the solarium cleared out and turned it into a disco with a microphone for singing along to classics like Car Wash.  It was such a hoot!!!  I always say, I'm never happy unless I'm planning a party!

Thanks so much for sharing, Carla!!!  Send us more of your fantastic celebrations!

The perfect tool for your holiday tablescapes has arrived: The Fruit Candle Carver for Tea Lights. I know it sounds a little bit corny but just take a look at the beautiful results this nifty little tool can help you achieve.  It is a great tool for this season because you can truly save money by skipping the expensive florals and just carving out some fruit.  It is fun (I tried it!) and easy (If I can do it, so can you!) so please invest in this handy little tool and let your imagination go wild.  Send me photographs of your fantastic creations!