Friendsgiving & Holiday Wishes
Last night, with the stroke of midnight, the holiday season was official over. Total bummer, I know. I wish the holidays could last just a few weeks longer... they just feel shorter and shorter each year. But before I completely resign to saying goodbye to the holidays, here's some photos from my absolute favorite annual holiday event... Friendsgiving! It truly is the best way to kick off the holiday season and something I start planning as soon as the summer air turns crisp. This year I hosted the dinner at our new home the weekend after Thanksgiving, and it was the first time any of the guests had seen our new place yet which was really special. Spending a festive dinner surrounded by the people that I am so lucky to have in my life is always so amazing and emotional for me, especially after the craziness of planning is over and all that's left is enjoying it with them.
Because we are still getting settled into our new home, we wanted to keep Friendsgiving more intimate and a little more manageable than years past... so I used this year's celebration as an opportunity to keep it to just the most amazing ladies in my life and it was absolutely lovely! We truly missed some of the most important women in my life who live in other cities (and enjoyed a stunning all white bouquet from Miss Julie in her honor who ended up not being able to make it in town for the party), but they were all there in spirit!!
The decor inspiration started with the Friendsgiving Invitation... Gold. Gold. White. Navy. And more gold. To tie into the wishbone details from the invitation, everyone's place setting was decorated with their own gold wishbone with name flag. On each plate, written in gold, was a holiday wish from each guest. And to pull it all together, the ladies paired up to break wishbones... and the winners each received a pair of gold wishbone earring studs.
The centerpiece featured dozens of glass cylinders lined up down the center of the table, each filled with water and a floating candle. The water levels were filled to different heights so that a fluid pattern of light was created. And faux snow was placed around the centerpieces to really bring in a wintery feel. Initially I wanted to create a long navy canopy to hang above the entire length of the table that would featured twinkle lights to mimic the night sky. However, I couldn't get the piping structure that held it up properly secured (a project to attempt for another event for sure!) so I ended up using it as a table cloth on the dessert table.
Guests brought so many delicious sides and appetizers (and lots and lots of wine) to pair with the turkey and pot roast. And I created a number of desserts that featured my newest obsession... edible glitter!! To tie into the gold polka dot pattern on the invites, I made white oreo ball pops with gold glitter sprinkles and painted white macarons with gold polka dots and stripes. I also made my favorite fall desert, pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing, and dusted them with edible glitter as well. Edible glitter all day long.
Spending the night with such amazing women was so perfect and initmate that I think Girlsgiving may become the new annual holiday tradition! It was a wonderful evening and definitely one of my favorite highlights from 2015!
