Today I’ve set a winter theme table featuring polar bear dessert and appetizer plates, with a decorated chandelier overhead, and buffet area on the kitchen island.
There’s also two different folded napkin options. One uses a snowflake napkin ring, while the other is folded into the shape of an elf’s hat. I’m curious which one you prefer on the red and white, winter theme tablescape?
For the centerpiece, I pulled out two favorite stuffed polar bears and put them into a wicker basket sleigh. Around the base is a dusting of “snow,” along with white and red sisal trees, and a string of battery-operated mini lights. Easy peasy!
To remember the occasion, polar bear Christmas tree ornaments serve as a take-home favor for each guest. Little peppermint swirl plates can also be used to transport extra holiday cookies back home.
Make yourself a cup of peppermint stick flavored hot chocolate and join us at the polar bear party!
Apparently, I just ran out of time before it was time to move onto Thanksgiving and Christmas posts. After all, who wants a bat shape napkin fold tutorial in January lol?!
Although I directed folks to the Good HousekeepingYouTube video I followed, most complained it was too fast moving — under a minute in length! Before getting the hang of the bat fold myself, I must have paused and replayed it several dozen times. Don’t be scared off though! It might not be the easiest of napkin folds, but its not that difficult either.
So today, I’ve finally gotten around to creating a fully-illustrated, seven-step tutorial to remove the mystery of folding a bat shape napkin. Grab a fabric napkin ladies, and let’s get batty!
Today, I’m sharing a roundup of 40 Halloween ideas from the many posts I’ve published. Can’t believe I’m about to celebrate my sixth anniversary of blogging! Many thanks to those who have followed along and “chatted” through comments.
There are both spooktacular and not-so-scary holiday decorations, crafts, tablescapes and seasonal activities. Plenty of Halloween ideas to appeal to both family and friends — and, kids of all ages!
You’ll find lots of DIY projects to craft wreaths, decorate pumpkins, hand paint glasses, repurpose photos of costumed trick or treaters, and more.
There’s also table settings galore, with themes including; witches, skeletons, bats, ghosts, and mummies — in traditional colors of black and orange, or purple and green schemes. Some are silly and one is over-the-top glam! Most carry the theme from tabletop to ceiling with a decorated chandelier or light fixture. There are neat tricks to fold a napkin into a witch hat, femur bone, bat or mummy. And, fun guest favors and serving presentations too!
Finally, travel with me virtually to Sleepy Hollow for the most amazing carved pumpkin display ever! And, if you can’t make it there, consider playing a retro game of Green Ghost and reading not-so-scary stories to the kiddos!
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m sharing a summary of a decades-long journey in search of our family’s Irish ancestry. Tracing the family tree combines my interests and love of history and genealogy. The fruits of this research and effort were recently rewarded during an Ireland Vacation: 12 Day Itinerary.
Today, I’m taking you back to the Emerald Isle, where we visited this past August. First, were ten days traveling throughout Ireland, learning and experiencing it’s history, geography, and culture. It was a dream, pandemic-delayed trip that took us to the Irish emigration port of Cobh, Blarney Castle & Dingle Peninsula, and continued on to the stunning Cliffs of Moher & Arian Islands.
We finished our trip in Dublin, where I had the opportunity to do first-person research at the Irish Emigration Museum (EPIC). At it’sIrish Family History Centre, Mr. Buzz and I had a personalized 90-minute consultation with a professional genealogist.
Utilizing my past research and DNA analysis, she opened new pathways and online resources to our family’s Irish ancestry. Most exciting was breaking through brick walls in my search, and making thrilling new discoveries! I hope my experience will inspire others to trace their Irish ancestry, and see how technological developments are opening new windows into the past.
In honor of romance and Valentine’s Day, I’m sharing the Love Boat theme engagement party we co-hosted with Sistah B and her husband at their home in Charleston.
Both my eldest son and nephew are getting married this year, and everyone couldn’t be more thrilled and happy!
Since we were already gathering for a week over Thanksgiving, it seemed the perfect opportunity to celebrate. Not only does our mother live in Charleston, but so do both my niece and spouse, and nephew and his sweet fiancé. Plus, eldest niece and her daughter traveled from Seattle for the holiday, and Sister A flew in from Florida.
Hubby and I rented a house with our sons and fiancé V, within walking distance to Sistah B’s waterfront home. She and her husband actually live on Folly Beach, the last barrier island across the water from Charleston. It was a wonderful setting for a joint Love Boat theme engagement party!
So now that you have a general idea of who, what and where, let’s raise anchor and set sail to party (warning, rocky seas with numerous corny puns ahead lol)!
Because my son’s now fiancé was joining us for the first time over the holidays, I wanted to pull out all the stops with my Christmas decorations and table settings. So I updated the nutcracker theme tablescape, adding the painted glasses and napkin rings. You can see the restyled tablescape at the end of this post.
When I went to Dollar Tree to pick up the clear goblets, I discovered they had a lot of nutcracker theme items for Christmas. That gave me the idea of using nutcracker tree ornaments to make simple napkin rings.
Inspired, I quickly got to work painting the images of three different color/styles of nutcracker faces on six goblets. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to share how I painted the glasses or put together the napkin rings last year.
Both projects are very inexpensive to create, and the napkin rings are super fast and easy to make.
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Hi! I'm Debbee, a maker of all manner of things, who likes to incorporate themes into craft projects, holiday and seasonal decor, table settings, and parties. My friends call me, the Queen of Theme lol!
Home is the suburbs of Pittsburgh, but I also enjoy exploring the world with my husband. We raised two wonderful sons and are now early retirees.
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Meet Glenfiddich "Whiskey," a brindle coat Scottie and full of vim and vigor!
