Holidays at Home with
setting a
The Best Holiday
stylish holiday table
Entertaining Tips
Our Blueprint for a Rockin’ Holiday Bash
Valley & Co.’s perfect gift giving guide
ISSUE NO. 1 HOLIDAYS At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 1
We are beyond grateful to get to celebrate others’ special moments each and every day. We thank all of our couples, clients, industry peers, and our wonderful and incredible family and friends for supporting us and allowing us to do what we truly love. Enjoy Holidays at Home with Valley & Co.—we hope you find festive inspiration for the holidays, weddings, and all of life’s special moments.
ALEAH + NICK VALLEY WEDDINGS | EVENTS | LOGISTICS | PLANNING | DESIGN and all of life’s finery. Event design + logistics from the husband and wife wedding and event planning team™ since 2003. SAN DIEGO | SEATTLE | PALM SPRINGS + BEYOND valleyandco.com | hello@valleyandco.com www.valleyandco.blogspot.com Tel. 858.349.9900 | 206.250.2055 At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 2
CONTENTS
16 CHIC WINTER WHITE
7 JOY from the Valleys
9 LET THEM EAT CHEESE
14-15 A WELL-DRESSED PLACE SETTING
22
30 GIFT WRAPPING with Lauren Elise Crafted
BLUEPRINT FOR A ROCKIN’ HOLIDAY BASH
35 HOLIDAY MUSTHAVES
25-29 HOLIDAY TIPS AND TRADITIONS
CONTRIBUTORS: LLANES WEDDINGS JEREMY LEFFEL LAUREN ELISE CRAFTED RAVISHING RADISH
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OUR LOVELY SPONSORS
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Each holiday season we take time to slow down and take in the sights and sounds of joy. One of our most favorite traditions is to decorate our tree with ornaments we’ve collected over the years on our travels, from family and friends, and from Santa.
‘’’Tis the Season These ornaments represent laughter, hugs, celebration, and the sparkle of the holiday season. As we enter the holidays, we want to take a moment to wish you all joy and the very best. ALEAH + NICK VALLEY JOY At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 7
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 8
Let Them Eat Cheese
Whether you’re hosting a fanciful fete, a holiday sweater party, or a stylish cocktail celebration, showing off an international cheese board with a delectable display is a sure crowd-pleaser. At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 9
How-To: Festive Cheese Board Dress up your display using your best silver serving ware Display a handful of sparkling wines and table wines paired with your favorite cheeses Dazzle your cheese board with glittering ornaments in apothecary jars Serve up the best local and international cheeses that are unique and hard to find Offer your guests rustic French and Italian loaves of bread, salted Marcona almonds, and toppings like honey and chutney
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 10
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 11
Valley & Co. Must: Place a jar of fun and glitzy ornaments by your front door so that guests can take home a treat when they leave your bash.
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Think about throwing an ornament swap where your guests participate in a gift exchange of holiday goodness. At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 13
A Well Dressed Place Setting
Needn’t be overdone. Dressing your table with simple, yet unique items like vintage spoons, oversized pinecones, and a well pressed napkin makes for a breathtaking winter table without the fuss. Dress each place setting with a natural, wintry element that your guests can take home. __________________________________ At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 14
Play up a neutral palette with colored taper candles or natural elements like pinecones.
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 15
Chic Winter White The Art of Celebration
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We designed this chic winter table top to reflect an effortless brunch. Serving our guests caviar atop fresh blinis and heirloom ceramic plates, we set the tone for a New Year’s Day brunch that no guest will forget.
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 17
At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 18
Chilly
snowy cosmos set
the tone for a cozy and festive celebration. Bare branches in brushed silver vessels bring the frozen outdoors in. Utilizing chic, streamlined pieces against more ornate, textured linens, stemware, and soft petals creates a magical ambiance that is unforgettable.
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At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 20
Dressing up your holiday table should be fun. Create an unexpected setting by incorporating items old and new. Mixing heirloom napkins or fine china, sparkling candle sticks, and textured blooms with bare branches creates a cozy, yet chic ambiance and gives off an eclectic look.
Snowy Cosmo Ingredients: 1 oz. Ketel One 1/2 ounce Cointreau 1 oz. fresh lime juice 1 oz. white cranberry juice 1/2 sliced lime -- for garnish Superfine sugar Directions: In a shaker with cracked ice, combine Ketel One, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and white cranberry juice. Shake well. Take a lime wedge to moisten the rim of the martini glass. Dip the glass rim in superfine sugar. Strain drink into a martini glass, garnish with the lime, and serve at once. Or skewer fresh cranberries on a bar pick to be used as a festive swizzle stick. –Ravishing Radish Catering At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 21
Blueprint for a Rockin’ Holiday Bash
A festive holiday cocktail party truly isn’t complete without a champagne tasting bar. Let your guests adorn their own glasses of bubbly with candied ginger, orange zest, and frozen grapes.
Use your best festive linen to complete the fun look. Display recipes in sparkly frames for signature winter champagne drinks or let guests take home hand-written drink recipe cards.
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Mix up your play list with Christmas anthems and holiday classics but pepper in Top 40 hits for an upbeat ambiance
Plan on your guests celebrating well into the night and have late-night snacks like sliders, bites, and snacks on hand
Hire your favorite caterer to provide scrumptious {and the most time-consuming} bites and desserts. Most will either deliver or let you pick up
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Stage a photo booth with digital and Polaroid cameras. Create a prop box with kitschy holiday items like ugly sweaters, antlers, and mistletoe
Be sure to send your guest home with cookies and an ornament
Most importantly, have taxi numbers on-hand or set up a car service in advance to take your guests home At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 24
FROM THEIR HOME TO YOURS Holiday tips and traditions from our friends around the world
Whoopee Pies are one of the fun, new items really popular this season. Ours are called Sweetie Pies and have that Fantasy Frostings difference. They are easy to make at home and are a great finger snack. They also pack nicely for a take home favor to remember your event. –Fantasy Frostings
Our family tradition every year is to put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, build a gingerbread house with the children, and visit Disneyland in all its Christmas glory. Phyllis Cheung, My Wedding Concierge My husband and I have created our own traditions to add to our families' holiday celebrations. At our Christmas dinner, my family now expects the special "walnut pillow" cookies that I started making from his great-aunt's recipe- so much that we have to hide them until dessert is served! -Lauren Grove, Every Last Detail Blog At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 25
Give gifts that are timeless and will be cherished for years to come. Record special moments, recipes, and visitors in a Holiday Journal to create a written history for your family. This will be priceless for future generations to learn from and to keep traditions alive. -Caroline Colóm Vásquez, Paloma’s Nest
The best thing about the holidays is creating an atmosphere where memories can be made, whether it be with family or friends. I try to incorporate tradition into my decorations, but also infuse it with twist on things to incorporate my own style. -Katie Saeger, Simply & Forever My husband and I started a new tradition this year. We buy a bottle of champagne for our tree trimming festivities and write the year under the cork basket, and put that on the tree. In years to come we will have a wire basket for each year, and these will keep special memories as we start a family together and move through life as a married couple. - Jacin Fitzgerald, She Said Yes Blog At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 26
One of my favorite German traditions from childhood is getting to open presents on Christmas Eve. Looking back, I remember all the bizarre ways my parents and grandparents would distract me so "Santa" could bring the presents in. Otherwise, I love Christmas for the twinkling lights, falling snow, the sweet treats, a crackling fire, and my family just being together. Most definitely adding hot buttered rum this year too! -Alexandra, BWed Exclusive
I made personalized placemats for all my Christmas dinner guests... designed around the table setting in the same colors bringing in elements of the décor. Put your guests’ names on them or even a personalized message for them. Or get really creative and put some fun games on there... -Kate Holland, Ruby and Willow Celebrating the holidays for us is a little bit of old and new. We've started our own traditions of tree decorating and hot cocoa, mixed with family traditions of apple pie and great big holiday gatherings. We hope to create our own traditions that we can carry on for years and years to come. -Allison O’Grady, Inspired List At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 27
To entertain family and friends we love to host wine tasting parties! Everyone bring a bottle of their favorite wine while we have yummy appetizers, pairings, chocolates, and desserts. It’s an amazing time! -Wendy Ramos, Just Wenderful
In Portugal we normally we start our Christmas decorations around December first (it's a holiday here: Restoration of Independence). On December 24th we have dinner (boiled potatoes, cod, and Bolo Rei, a marvelous cake). We call this meal Consoada and by midnight we attend Missa do Galo (a Catholic mass). When we return home we open our presents! Sofia, Brancoprata We normally do a bubbles and bites theme and set up a champagne bar with different champagne based cocktail recipes on cards so guests can mix their own creations. It lets them have a little fun creating cocktails and lets us, the hosts, not have to worry about filling glasses all night! And to keep the spending down, we serve prosecco instead of the real bubbles ... But sssssh don’t tell our party goers! Lisa Green, Anderson Green Events At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 28
We have very few, but very serious holiday traditions in our house. Children may not wake the parents any earlier than 7am. Stockings may be opened at any time and Christmas morning breakfast must consist of the following: fruit salad, quick breads (banana, poppy seed) and kielbasa. It's been a part of our breakfast tradition as long as I can remember. We tried to leave it out one year and people threatened not to show up! -Lasso’d Moons I make sure we stock up on all of our guests’ favorite wine/liqueur for our post-holiday parties. The guest room is always ready and prepped for anyone who wants to stay over just in case someone had one too many glasses of wine. I also keep a few pashminas and throws on hand for the women to wear. -Naomi V. Goodman, Enchanted Dream Weddings & Affairs
Entertaining around the holidays is the perfect time to set up a signature cocktail bar! Whether it's a Jack Frost Cocktail or a Candy Cane Martini, set up the ingredients along a side table towards the party's entrance. Spice things up with crushed peppermint and colored sugars for rimming the cocktail glasses. Use a festive 8x10 frame to announce the signature cocktail and give your guests the recipe! -Courtney Dial, Pizzazzerie At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 29
This wonderful holiday gift wrapping project comes from Lauren Elise of Lauren Elise Crafted. It is cheery, festive, and oh-so fun to recreate! To avoid the clichĂŠ red and green during the holidays, keep gift wrapping simple and neutral with Kraft paper.
Add
pops of red for color, different fabrics for texture, and postcards for a unique and vintage touch to each gift.
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Supplies and Tools: -vintage postcards -Evenweave fabric in antique white -red cotton fabric -scissors -disappearing ink marker -red and white embroidery floss -embroidery needle -red and white thread -ruffle lace trim -Kraft paper roll for wrapping -red and white bakers twine
Pick up vintage postcards from a local antique store and write a special holiday greeting on the back of the postcard.
Cut the Evenweave and red cotton fabric into strips. To make the ‘merry’ card, cut the red fabric into a 2.25”x12” strip. To make the ‘joy’ card, cut the Evenweave into a 2.25”x12” strip and the red fabric into a 1”x14” strip.
Use a disappearing ink marker to write ‘merry’ and ‘joy’ onto the fabric .
HAND CRAFTED At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 31
Embroider the words using a simple backstitch with red and white embroidery floss. Use four of the floss’s six strands to make the embroidery less thick.
Embroider the entire word and secure the floss on the underside of the fabric.
For the ‘joy’ card, line up the 1”x14” fabric strip below the embroidered word and run a few stitches with white thread to secure it in place.
Fold up the fabric, keeping it inline with what is already stitched down. Continue running the stitch, threading through the folds when necessary {image g}. Edges of the fabric may fray but they can be removed when finished or left for a more
HAND CRAFTED At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 32
For the ‘merry’ card, stitch the ruffle lace trim onto the bottom of the 2.25”x12” red fabric strip.
Use a simple backstitch to sew the two ends of the fabric strips together.
For the packaging, wrap boxes in Kraft paper. Decorate with white thread and bakers twine. Follow the directions in step 5 to make a ruffle out of the red fabric and use to adorn the box. Follow the directions in step 6 to make a red lace trim for another box.
HAND CRAFTED At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 33
HAND CRAFTED At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 34
SMASHING HOSTESS GIFTS
DEAN AND DELUCA $34 ANTHROPOLOGIE $18
CRATE & BARREL $3.50 EACH
ANTHROPOLOGIE $34
PALOMA’S NEST $28
GIFT GUIDE At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 35
Nick’s Picks for the Guys
AMOUAGE AT MIN $260
TIVOLI AUDIO $219
OTIS BATTERBEE LONDON £35
MIDDLETON VERY RARE $110-150
GIFT GUIDE
TIVOLI AUDIO $399 At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 36
At Home with Aleah: Favorite Holiday Treats
CHARBONNEL ET WALKER $25
J. CREW $165
NORDSTROM $90
AVEDA $28.75
JENNIFER REA
GIFT GUIDE At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 37
Fab Stocking Stuffer Finds!
CRABTREE AND EVELYN $7 WINDSWEPT ART FARM $12-22
TABLE TOPICS $25
CRATE AND BARREL $10 for 6
GIFT GUIDE
FRAN’S CHOCOLATES $25 At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 38
Nesting
NAMBE AT MICHAEL C. FINA $115 GLASSYBABY $40
DEAN AND DELUCA $55
KATE SPADE AT MACY’S $80
CECI NEW YORK $39.95
GIFT GUIDE At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 39
A Pampered Chef
PEUGOT OLIVIER ROELLINGER AT WILLIAMS-SONOMA $100 DEAN AND DELUCA $45
LE CROUSET AT WILLIAMS-SONOMA $240 WILLIAMS-SONOMA $139
GIFT GIFTGUIDE GUIDE At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 40
LULU’S PICKS
LL BEAN $79 PAMPERED DOG GIFTS $22
PAMPERED DOG GIFTS $10 PAMPERED DOG GIFTS $13
GIFT GUIDE At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 41
JET SETTERS
MOLESKINE
OTIS BATTERBEE LONDON £95
LEVENGER $49 OTIS BATTERBEE LONDON £16
GIFT GUIDE LEVENGER $249 At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 42
ARE YOU POPPING THE QUESTION?
Make sure the timing is just right. Don’t rush your proposal. Find the most perfect setting that your fiancée-to-be will remember forever. Hire a photographer to capture the surprise from afar. You’ll get major bonus points! Take notes on what your bride-to-be likes and cherishes. Would she want her family and friends to be present? At Home with Valley & Co.—Entertaining and Gift Giving Expertise 43
CONTRIBUTORS SCROLL OVER BOLD NAMES TO VISIT THE WEBSITE
‘Tis the Season, A Well Dressed Table, and Let Them Eat Cheese images from Llanes Weddings. Concept + styling by Valley & Co. Chic Winter White images from Jeremy Leffel Centerpieces: Floressence Venue: Palace Ballroom by Tom Douglas Linens: Choice Linens Chairs and silverware: AA Party Rentals Concept + Styling: Valley & Co. Snowy Cosmo Recipe from Ravishing Radish Blueprint for a Rockin’ Holiday Bash photos from Jeremy Leffel Concept + Styling by Valley & Co. Holiday Gift Wrapping from Lauren Elise Crafted _____________________________________________________
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ALEAH + NICK VALLEY Event design + logistics from the husband and wife wedding and event planning team™ since 2003. SAN DIEGO | SEATTLE | PALM SPRINGS + BEYOND valleyandco.com | hello@valleyandco.com www.valleyandco.blogspot.com Tel. 858.349.9900 | 206.250.2055
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