CHEER: DINNER PARTY

Last Saturday, Jon and I hosted our first dinner party. I set a goal to finish my dining room decorating on December 1st so we could host it in our newly decorated space. We ended up pushing two tables together and fit 12 people in our space. Everyone brought a side dish and we had a feast! This may sound silly, but I felt like such an adult! We all dressed up, lit candles, I pulled out our best dinnerware and we had a fancy meal all together as friends.

I love celebrating the holidays with my family, but there's something special about being able to celebrate with your community as well. :) I am STOKED that our dining room is finally done! If you've been following along on my Project Condo series you know it's taken me some time. I haven't revealed the final photos yet, but I will very soon! For our dinner party, I was able to use some of the fancier things we haven't been able to use yet. I love how the whole setting looked. It was Christmasy, simple, and just enough "adult". ;)

For the table setting, Jon helped me cut out place-mats from kraft wrapping paper that I picked up from Target and Jenny wrote everyone's name on the side. This was a clever way to assign seats and make it look pretty. I got the idea from Chelsea of Oh My Deer who made a similar handmade place-mat and loved the idea! It's a lot less expensive than buying 12 place-mats. I was also tempted to buy these tear off paper place-mats at West Elm, which I might end up doing later, but liked this idea for the party better.

Because I didn't have quite enough silverware for everyone to have the branch flatware setting, I decided to mix and match what I had to give it a more collected look. I did the same thing with the glasses too. I had purchased around 20 random glasses (some mason and some jam jars) from thrift stores for one of Jenny's showers when she was engaged and I loved how they were all different, but looked great together. I've used these glasses on so many occasions! Definitely worth the hunt!!

I decided to decorate the table with pieces I already had around the house, plus a little glam. I bought the gold candle wreath from Michael's and used holly from the backyard to decorate the table. I love how everything came together. The dinner party totally made me want to start one of those dinner clubs and make a fancy meal every month...maybe even a themed dinner night?? Ah! That would be so fun!

Dinnerware & Decor Found Here: 1// Organic Dinner Plates - West Elm 2// Salt & Pepper Shakers - Gneiss Spices 3// Faux Antler - Z Gallerie 4// Branch Flatware - West Elm 5// Silverware - Gift 6// Blue Glass - Anthropologie 7// Mason Mug - Thrifted

Do you throw dinner parties during the holidays?? What is your favorite thing to cook? How do you like to decorate the table? Oh, and while you're answering those questions, be sure to check out my friend Gina's farm to table Thanksgiving on her blog. Best idea ever!

You can follow along with 12 Days of Christmas Cheer on the Maiedae Facebook page! Also, be sure to check out how Jenny sets her table on her blog later today! Happy weekend, friends!