Festive Holiday Dinner Party & A Reminder on Simplicity

This past weekend was a busy one.  Ryan and I had wedding business to attend to, I had a small holiday crafting party scheduled, and had to do some sewing to restock new Sunny Sweaters and Reusable Produce Bags in the shop.

And on Saturday, the previously-planned “holiday crafting party” morphed into a dinner with friends, which was a-ok with me.  The only problem?  With less than an hour before company arrived I had to throw together a place for us to eat – and we still haven’t gotten our dining room table.

I came up with a solution that was quick, cheerful and pretty, while reminding me that you don’t need a dining table and finely honed “tablescaping” skills in order to enjoy a simple, pretty table and wonderful company.

I snagged my long and skinny Ikea table from the basement, where we’re in the midst of setting up a crafting & puzzle corner.  With no tablecloth long enough to cover the plain white table, I dug through my fabric stash and found a few yards of holiday dot fabric. A few swipes of the iron, and voila – a holiday tablecloth.

Next, I needed to decorate the table, but because it’s so skinny, I didn’t want to crowd it.  I snipped a few random bits of greenery from the yard, as well as some fresh rosemary branches, and put them in my set of bud vases.  I added my faux “snow covered” candles from last winter’s coffee table decor, and left it at that. (I put tealights on top of the cinnamon candles because I don’t care for scented candles at the dinner table.)

I pushed the table up against the wall  of the dining room so that it wouldn’t get in the way before we ate.

I still had time before company arrived, so I made some pomegranate vodka to mix up some holiday cocktails and also experimented with some brown-sugar coated bacon lollipops – which turned out great!  The recipe for both the drinks and the bacon will come later.

As for the dinner itself, I threw a nice cut of meat on the grill and made some sweet potato fries.  Our friends brought salad and dessert.  It was the easiest dinner I’ve ever thrown together for friends!

Just remember next time you’re in the mood to entertain:  most of your friends are not DIY and decor bloggers (probably).  So they’re not going to be worried if you don’t have the most beautiful, elaborate decor set up. Don’t let a lack of imperfection stop you from enjoying fabulous times with friends.