Today over at RealSimple.com- check out my review of Simply Elegant Flowers with Michael George… a truly fabulous book and a great gift idea for party lovers, hostesses, and brides-to-be. Added bonus – lots of eye candy!

{Photos by Brie Williams}

Oh, boy…someone hide my credit card! Just discovered cool & contemporary online shop: Gretel {via Oh Joy!} and immediately fell in love with their entire collection!

The funky-chic red and yellow pedestal servers by Iacoli & McAllister are a little outside my price range, but soooo very cool… They’re made from refinished vintage candlesticks and topped with a hand-finished Corian round. (Due to the vintage/hand-made nature, each pedestal design is unique.)

Many more favorites from Gretel are pictured below… starting with porcelain Marie Antionetta serving bowls by DMK, and the Vitamin Container Bowl by Muuto, which features “three separate spaces meant to hold different fruits and vegetables (and their vitamins)”.

Colorful melamine serving trays by Isak:

Flourish tray and dinnerware by Thomas Paul:

Pretty & contemporary drinkware & dining pieces:

And last but not least, adorable Lovebird and Leaf cups/containers, also by Isak:

Visit gretelhome.com to check everything out!

These Thanksgiving tablescape ideas from Country Living are so elegant & inspiring! I love the sense of warmth conveyed in this first look, which features pretty sepia & brown tones and lots of natural textures…

The sentimental touches are wonderful too – especially the lovely photo centerpiece idea (pictured below), and the handwritten names & phrases applied to the linens, place cards, and even the wine goblets!

This next centerpiece idea could be incorporated into a variety of looks – and the style of font you choose for the words “GIVING THANKS” will really affect the finished look. You could even tailor this idea to an ultra-contemporary table by using a san-serif font, perhaps in all lowercase + a modern color palette. The same concept is applied to the coordinating napkin rings too.

Note: Buying multiple can get expensive, so look for sales and discount places where you can purchase pillar candles in bulk to help cut down on your costs!

Last but not least, a buffet of autumn-toned berries & leaves makes for a rich & colorful harvest look! (You can achieve this look with artificial berries & leaves, which are readily available at craft stores right now.)

Check out more details on these ideas and more in the Thanksgiving Table Settings gallery at countryliving.com.

Today’s Cambria Cove Deal of the Day (day 7 of 7!) is this exquisite Royal Jelly Soaps Set by Gianna Rose Atelier.

From the website: “Treat your guests royally with these opulent little soaps from Gianna Rose Atelier. Each luxurious bar in the set of 4 is embossed with a bee wearing a crown to indicate its distinguishing ingredient—Royal Jelly. Combined with shea butter, this creates the richest possible soap to pamper your skin. Packaged splendidly in a deep brown box with an elegant gold design.”

USE PROMO CODE: hostess7 TO GET 20% OFF! (Expires at midnight tonight!)

Here’s a peek at the Cravings baby shower theme that I worked on for Parents.com last year. I have yet to actually put this to use for a friend, but am hoping to bring it to life one of these days… don’t you think this would be as much fun for the guests as for mom-to-be?!

Who wouldn’t love a good excuse to indulge in salty & sweet favorites… it’s just for one day! I love the idea of an entire “comfort food buffet” featuring mini bites like grilled cheese squares, fried pickles, and individual servings of oven-baked fries and mac-n-cheese… YUM!

Centerpieces would be old-fashioned sundae glasses & cake cones filled with “fluffy” flowers like peonies, styled to look like ice cream cones!

For party decor: framed prints of traditional “craving” foods like fries, pickles, and ice cream. (You can purchase images for the frames at istockphoto.com.)

Dessert: a build-your-own ice cream sundae bar!

Party favor ideas: a take-home edible treat that incorporates both salty & sweet flavors – like chocolate covered pretzels or a few mini cookies or macarons wrapped up in cellophane or a take-out container and paired with a small bag of gourmet kettle chips.

Here are some fun invitation designs that would work well for this theme too:

Pictured above: Food Cravings Mobile invitation {paperculture.com}; downloadable Craving Your Company invitation from {parents.com}, and Pickles and Ice Cream invitation {polkadotdesign.com}.

You could also incorporate jars of pickles decorated with ribbon & paper details into this theme… any other ideas? Please share them here!

Find more details on the Cravings theme – including a party playlist – over at Parents.com!

We have another fun Holiday Stationery giveaway today! This one comes from PosePrints – a great company that specializes in unique stationery that features not only your name & message – but your likeness too! You can design and preview your cards in real-time on their website!

This week at HWTM, PosePrints is offering up TWO sets of 50 Personalized Holiday Cards ($100 value each). The 2 winners can pick the PosePrints design of their choice.  Personalized holiday recipe cards are available too!

(More designs & details for HOW TO ENTER after the jump…)

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THERE ARE 2 WAYS TO ENTER (You can do just one or both!):

• Option 1: Post a comment here telling us about which PosePrints designs are your personal favorite(s).

• Option 2: Become a fan of PosePrints on Facebook.

• Giveaway ends Tuesday, November 24th at midnight PST. Winner is chosen randomly and will be announced here after they accept the prize. Good luck, everyone!!

• PosePrints is also offering ALL readers 10% off any order with promo code “HWTM“!

I was browsing the new issue of Real Simple last night and fell in love with these Pool Ball Wine Bottle Stoppers! Pair one of these stoppers with a bottle of wine for a fun holiday gift idea for guys, party hosts/hostesses, or the wine lover that has everything. ($34 each)

Also loving how Real Simple styled the photo above – this idea would actually look great as a decorative accessory in any combo bar/game room and would be a fun DIY decor project to create yourself (for decorative purposes only), using an old or new billiard set set, wine corks (available at craft stores), & a hot glue gun… plus a very strong adhesive if you plan to display it on the wall!

While checking out the details at knobstoppers.com, I also discovered lots of other cool bottle stopper designs… from vintage designs channeling Anthropologie or Restoration Hardware’s style to combo stoppers/candle holders and even something for your favorite golfer:

Full details on all these and more at knobstoppers.com.

P.S. Added bonus: A percentage of all of their online sales will be donated to the Brain Tumor Research Fund at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.

Today’s Real Party feature is a Charming Backyard Birthday theme that Kay created for her adorable daughter – Raffaella – to celebrate her first birthday. This party has so many pretty details… from makeshift dessert platters embellished with moss to artificial butterflies and colorful tissue poms.

The party details are very appropriate for a first birthday party, but they’d actually also translate well to adult occasions & holidays like bridal showers, Easter or Mother’s Day too!

Read on for all the pretty details, as told by Kay…

*****

“We were so happy at how great the party turned out. Everything went according to plan. Her birthday party was one of the best days, we were surrounded by the people we love most and we have a little girl who is happy, beautiful, and healthy. Nothing could be better than that.

Centerpieces:
I bought lots of glass jars and vases from discount stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx. They ranged from $10-20. I didn’t want to use cut flowers; I wanted them to last in the house for a while after the party, therefore, I went with plants like ferns and Orchids. I added mosses and artificial butterflies to make it more cutesy. Artificial butterflies were purchased online from Barnard Ltd.

Poms Poms:
Poms poms are all the rage these days, so I definitely had to incorporate them into her party! I bought tissue paper in various shades from Paper-Source. I made a total of 17! We literally were making them up until the very first guest arrived.

Dessert Bar:
For the dessert bar, I went with French pastries made by a local bakery, Patisserie Chantilly. We had Macarons in 7 different flavors, Eclairs and Madelienes. We used different plates/platters and propped them up with bowls and mugs for some whimsy. The canopies that draped over the table were from IKEA.

I also didn’t want to do the traditional cake or the ever-so-popular cupcakes and opted instead for cream puffs. I purchased moss from The Home Depot for the makeshift cake stand (pictured at top) that held the cream puffs.

Drinks:
We also served pitchers of Fuzzless Navel (Orange Juice & Peach Nectar) which is the non-alcoholic version of the Fuzzy Navel. Both the kids and adults loved it!

Present Table:
I made the birthday pennants myself (see banner pictured at top), using paper from Joann Fabrics that was on sale. It was a great deal at 5 sheets for $1! I stapled them to strands of green ribbon and attached printed letters with double sided tape.

I also had two types of party favors, one for the adults and one for the kids. For the kid favors, I used Chinese take-out boxes (purchased from Uline) and added some ribbon and a sticker that I stamped the word “merci”. The adult favor were Meringues purchased from Trader Joes, wrapped up and tied off with cute brown faux bois ribbon from Joann.

Cheese Platter:
The cheese platter is actually something I am the most proud of!

I picked out all French cheese, except for the chedder =), Brie, St. Agur Blue, Comte, and Bucheron. They looked beautiful set again a dark slate platter. I used broken pieces of terracotta and alphabet stamps to write out the names of the cheeses on them. (I picked this idea up from a Danny Seo book. It’s a great way to reuse broken terracotta pots!)

Sitting Area:
We created a sitting area for the kids and their parents under green and white stripe hammocks-turned-canopies, that I picked up on sale from IKEA. I put a large blanket in the center and added some square end tables to complete the area.

And of course, thanks to my friend and photographer Brian Khang for taking such awesome pictures and allowing for me to share with everyone!”

*****

Such a pretty party, Kay! Thanks for sharing! =)

Today’s Real Party feature has got to be one of the cutest and most creative ideas I’ve stumbled upon in a while!  This adorable “Mr. Man” Theme was created by Christina Brian of the Full House blog in order to celebrate the birthdays of her (super-cute) TRIPLET boys AND her brother! (Side note Christina has twin girls too!)

From a garland of ties to hilarious chocolate mustaches, this party is full of great inspiration for both birthday parties of all ages and boy baby showers…

Check out these fun pics – such a great idea for photo opps!

Read on for lots more pics & all the details, as told by Christina…

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“So the Mr. Man party was so much fun. The welcome sign read, “Come One, Come All or just COMB over (get it!)…..MR. MAN PARTY “featuring” ANDREW & The BOYS“.

Yes my brother was so kind to share his birthday with my boys in which I am very grateful for….like he really had a choice in the matter! =)

This birthday meant that my boys were kind of a coming of age. When you hit 2 years old you’re kind of not a baby anymore so I had been a little sad to see this day come. That’s where the whole idea started unfolding in my head for a “Mr. Man Party”. If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.

Seriously it won’t be to long before they are wearing ties and carrying briefcases but hopefully not mustaches (unless they are chocolate ones on a stick). I promise to savor every last minute of these little tikes.

The cookies, especially the tie ones were so cute & tasty. Michelle makes very cute cakes as well…check her out.

The cupcakes were awesome because one of my favorite people came over and made them for me the day before the party. My Dad loved them so much that he even asked for the recipe. Perhaps I’ll post the recipe because they are sure to trick the pickiest of eaters. On second thought, I don’t know if I should because then my Dad would find out they were actually healthy & wouldn’t eat them again. They were made with agave nectar, whole grain spelt flour, coconut oil, pineapple and carrots.

The chocolate mustaches were a hit!

My Mom made the shirts (pictured below). The front had old ties sewed on with the back having their initial embroidered on it. Thank you Momma, they were perfect.

Don’t worry my brother got one too, except his said “The original Mr. Man” on the back. We really did call him Mr. Man when he was a little boy so it was very fitting!”

*****

So cute, Christina – thanks again for sharing!

On the lookout for some pretty new holiday dessert ideas? Check out the lovely – and mouth-watering! – ideas in BHG’s Irresistable Holiday Cakes and Cupcakes gallery.

The gallery features 21 different recipes and also includes ideas that would work well for Thanksgiving, like this gorgeous Chocolate Harvest Cake and elegant Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream:

And these lovely red and white cakes and cupcakes would actually be great for Christmas AND Valentine’s Day…

Click here to check out the entire slideshow at BHG!