Non Floral Christmas Centerpieces

Welcome and thanks for stopping by!

I thought I would share a few non-floral centerpiece

ideas for your holiday table. 

 There is always so much going on during the holidays

sometimes setting up a nonfloral arrangement

makes sense both because you can

prepare it ahead of time & it saves money!

Such as a Gingerbread House 

on the Gingerbread Girls Night In table.

 I often use items that complement the table theme

or can be used for the table for example

at the Country Christmas table

this vintage red truck that holds extra

napkins and flatware.

For the Furry Tails and Cocktails

table I used this adorable cookies for Santa

plate and a few dog gone good mugs! 

 Here a simple arrangement of 

candy canes and ornaments in  a silver

bowl is lovely.

 If you collect Santa or Snowman

figures they would be a nice addition to your table.

 Here I've used a set of vintage ornaments

in a silver plate.  These are always a favorite

of mine as they remind me of my grandmother.

 I used an arrangement of silks, dried babies breath

gold and silver ornaments in this

antique ironstone wash bowl.

Finally a few glass containers filled

with festive red and green ornaments!

Shop your house this holiday to find what you can use

to decorate your table this season!

Furry Tails and Cocktails with Santa

Welcome to Grandson Date Night!

Tonight it's Furry Tails & Cocktails

with Santa.

 Okay maybe we're not having cocktails

but rather hot chocolate in our

Santa mugs.

 This table was inspired by these

adorable doggie and Santa paper napkins.

 Using this cookies for Santa plate

and my set of Scotty and Westie mugs

for a centerpiece kept it easy

and boy friendly.

I also sprinkled a few

dog trinket dishes around.

 We served BowWow BBQ sandwiches & Pawtato chips

for dinner.  Afterwards we visited a local

pet store to pick out a gift for our grand dog!

 I ordered dogs from Amazon

similar to the animals I used 

in the recent birthday post,

however this was an epic fail

because they were teeny tiny!

 This familiar

paper check runner & red paper plates

were also used in the Country Christmas table.

 We all need to keep things simple during

the holidays & not changing

out the entire table is an easy way to do that.

 I also reused my plaid flatware,

 red sparkle balls & mini light up

Christmas trees!

 I actually planned this whole table 

at the end of last Christmas around my dog

Madison, but sadly she is not with us this year.

 It's a ruff life for these tiny

plastic dogs because they hit the trash

as soon as we were finished.

 I have collected these set of four

Santa mugs from Pottery Barn for several years

along with my collection of vintage Santa mugs.

I feel better about using the new ones for

beverages plus they are 

dishwasher safe & can be easily replaced 

if an accident happens.

Furry tails and cocktails is also a great entertaining

idea to gather with furry friends & their owners for 

cocktails and appetizers or cookies and cocoa before or after a group trip

to a local pet fundraiser or pictures with Santa 

this holiday season.

A Country Christmas

Welcome to a Country Christmas in our kitchen.

We were heading out to our town's light up festival

on a Friday night after a long work week

so I kept it easy with pizza and paper.

 In lieu of flowers I used

my vintage like truck to hold extra 

napkins and flatware as the centerpiece.

 A red check paper table runner 

lines up battery operated

 mini Christmas trees

and red sparkle balls.

 I just love these tree napkins

with multi shades of red and green~so festive!

 You can see a peek of the gray

buffet in the background holding

our gingerbread collection of train lamp, 

gingerbread house and cloche holding a mini 

gingerbread house.

 I set out painted green mugs for coffee or cocoa 

after the lighting ceremony, 

while we will use soda cans and bottle waters for dinner

again keeping it super easy!

 The red truck has a matching

mini truck that holds tree

salt and pepper shakers.

I pulled out the plaid flatware I purchased at HSN a 

few years ago.  I imagine you will see a lot of the 

flatware this holiday season.

What get together are you planning for this holiday season?

Using paper makes for easy setup and cleanup

and allows you to enjoy

celebrating the blessings of family and friends!

Stop by the shop and grab some or all

of these paper items and plan it today -you can do this!

Easy and Elegant Gingerbread House Girls Night In

Thanks for joining me today for 

an easy and elegant gingerbread house girls night in

using paper products.

 With a burlap tablecloth as the base

I used plaid plate chargers 

and matching plaid mini pedestal stands.

 I added matching plaid mugs 

to enjoy your favorite

seasonal eggnog, coco or coffee!

Then I mixed in red polka dot ribbon

wreath napkins and dinner plates

that are both beautiful and practical because they are paper.

This makes clean up both easy and quick 

so you can move on to gingerbread house decorating

with your girlfriends.

Gingerbread House Girls Night In With Cozy Cable Knits

Today we are hosting a Gingerbread House Girls Night In Idea for your holiday get together!

 Grab your girl friends, sisters and other special women in your life 

and invite them over for some gingerbread house creating

or just catching up before the rush of the holidays!

 The table is set with cozy cable knit dinner plates, red fringe linen napkins and 

mini pedestal plaid plates topped with matching plaid mugs for your cup of cocoa.

 I adore the green & white pom pom napkin rings which match the

burlap plate chargers.  Also the gingerbread table

accents make perfect place cards.

 For additional festivity I placed a linen

cable knit holiday tea towel under each place setting.

 Our gingerbread house is not real, 

but will last the season for 

many years of enjoyment.

Combining plaids, gingerbread, cozy cable knits

and festive colors is a great way to kick of the holidays

with girlfriends!

Christmas Tea Towels Make Great Gifts!

This season we have a great collection of tea towels available at the shop!

 I'm offering a few gift ideas & all these are under $15 each!

Top 5 Reasons Tea Towels Make Great Gift Ideas:

 Makes a great teacher, day care provider, bus driver, manicurist, mail carrier gift. Add with a set of paper plates and napkins or your favorite candle scent.

 Easy to ship without worry of breakage or expensive shipping costs

 Keep a few on hand in your gift closet* for a quick surprise visitor or to take for a hostess gift.

 Buy multiples for gifts for your book club, Bible study group or other monthly meetings or club friends

 Makes a great gift idea for someone you do not know very well such as a coworker gifts draw, in law family member or new neighbor.

*A gift closet is an area of your home whether it’s a closet, drawer or small tub that you collect inexpensive gift ideas for unexpected birthday and holiday gifts. These can be both seasonal and gender specific items.

MeeMaw Animal Party

Thanks for stopping by!

Today we're celebrating a grandson's

birthday with an animal party.

I have linked the sources for the 

table elements in the store name(s).

 Sometimes it's hard to plan for a boy vs girl birthday

especially elementary school age

so I went with an animal theme.

 I knew a floral centerpiece would not do so

I shopped the house and borrowed my 

topiaries from the front hall as the centerpiece

pretending they were giant evergreens in a 

jungle for animals!

I had bought these on QVC.

 Playing off the animal theme I used these

silver salt and pepper shakers.

Mine are from Godinger years ago

but you can find them still on Ebay.

 Each place setting features a burlap charger,

black plate, animal party napkins

and a festive napkin ring from Hobby Lobby.

 To play up the animal theme I purchased

plastic zoo animals from Amazon and sprinkled them

around the table.

 To add to the festive table I used

multi colored plastic tumblers

as glasses.  These were used all summer

and purchased at Target.

This was a super fun table to setup

as boy will be boys we ended up 

playing leopard battles zebra etc

after dinner!