The holidays take on a whole new meaning with kids; I love that there’s magic in the season from seeing Jane get excited about the lights and decorations. Now that she’s starting to understand the specialness of the holiday season a little bit more, I’m eager to start some new holiday traditions that she’ll remember. One tradition that I was thinking would be really fun to try with her this year is decorating gingerbread houses. She’s very into arts and crafts, and let’s be honest, she’s veryinto eating cookies and sweets.
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Of all of the times to entertain throughout the year, I think that summer entertaining is my favorite. It’s typically casual and laid-back, means we get to fire up the grill and eat outside, and often uses my favorite color palette: red white and blue! The easy DIY chambray napkins I have to share today are perfect for all of those elements that make summer entertaining so special. This set that I made for upcoming Fourth of July celebrations has a patriotic twist, but they could be customized with monograms for bridal showers, dates for anniversaries or birthdays, or even some simple shapes for a graphic design. 
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I spent this past weekend up in Portland, Maine celebrating one of my best friend’s bachelorette weekend. We had a blast — eating lobster rolls, taking in a baseball game, soaking up the most gorgeous summer weather, and of course, enjoying some cocktails and bar hopping. I’m still recovering — apparently it takes 3-4 days to recover from bachelorette parties once you hit your thirties — here’s hoping I’m back to normal by Thursday of this week. The good thing about bachelorette parties in your thirties though is that we have quite a few of these girl’s weekend celebrations under our belt. All of that experience adds up, and makes it much easier to put together perfect activities, itineraries and party swag! 
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Over the long weekend we had several barbecues to attend, and I got the idea to make a little homemade hostess gift to bring along to each party. I felt like a real rockstar for coming up with the idea, some homemade limoncello infused with a lemon thyme simple syrup, and getting them packaged up in pretty glass bottles tied with baker’s twine and fresh thyme sprigs. Let me tell you what was not a rockstar move: forgetting them all in the fridge before we embarked on our day of BBQ-hopping! I didn’t realize until I got home that night, that all of my cute hostess gifts were still chilling in the fridge. The good news is, the recipe won’t go to waste — you can find it below to DIY yourself — and the drinks won’t go to waste either. I’ll be pouring myself a limoncello and soda spritzer tonight! 
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Can you believe Easter is next weekend? It snuck up on me, which means this week I’m making sure Jane has a cute dress to wear, finishing up her Easter basket, and figuring out what I’m going to bring to my in-law’s dinner! One item already marked off my Easter prep list is coming up with a cute (and oh so simple!) hostess gift idea made with egg cartons and some chocolates. 
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My mom asked me recently what I wanted for Christmas, and I jokingly said that as the mom of an infant, all I really want is an afternoon where I could sit on the couch in silence for a few hours. She laughed and asked if there was anything else that I wanted that might fit under the tree better. I got to thinking about it though, and it actually is the perfect gift idea – not just for me, but for any friend that would love a cozy winter day of hibernation and relaxation. I’m not cool enough to use the term Netflix and Chill, but this my friends, is definitely a Netflix and Chill kit. Here’s what I put in it in my hibernation-themed gift:
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My friends at Garnet Hill are hosting a wonderful campaign this holiday season to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. To participate, Garnet Hill is asking people to post a photo of a beautifully wrapped gift with #StJudeShareAGift on Instagram (or upload directly to the landing page here) which will trigger a $10 donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, up to $15,000 total donation. In the spirit of the holidays, and participating in this great charitable campaign, I’m sharing a fresh idea here today to make your holiday gifts look beautiful with DIY faux-malachite gift tags.
‘Tis the season for holiday parties, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m grabbing a bottle of wine every weekend this time of year to bring to a friend’s house, a family party, or another seasonal celebration. A bottle of wine or prosecco is everyone’s go-to hostess gift, and for good reason, it’s useful and delicious! I often struggle though with which wine to select, and how to make it stand out among the sea of other bottled hostess offerings.
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You’ve cleaned the house, you’ve ordered your groceries, the apron is on and all that is left to do is prep the holiday meal. Of course there’s one other item on the list that you forgot to tackle: putting together a Pinterest-worthy tablescape for your beautiful meal and gracious guests. I can sense the eye-rolls as you read this, because with everything else going on with holiday preparations, who has time for that?! That’s why I have four easy DIY ideas to dress up your place settings for the holidays that should take under 5 minutes to make and use simple household supplies:
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I’ve been blogging for almost 9 years now and in that near-decade span of time, I’ve never once written a post about Halloween entertaining ideas! Halloween, as a holiday, seems to lose a little bit of luster in those years between college-style costumed celebrations and when you pick it up again as a mom on the trick or treating route. After my post-college hiatus, my interest in this spooky holiday has been reignited as we get ready to celebrate it as parents with Jane.
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I'm Kate, and I like to
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