The Party Bee

Sweet words from our gracious hostesses.

partybee — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 16:34:41 +0000

I am humbled by the sweet words of these long-time clients who were gracious enough to share their experiences with you.

“The Party Bee has been a wonderful partner in helping me share hospitality with friends and family. Whenever Kimberly and her team are involved, the event is personal and pitch-perfect with delicious food. Kimberly allows me to be my gracious best as a host – creating menus tailored to the occasion and providing support so that I can focus on my guests.”

Julia – Client Since 2010
Arlington, Virginia

“Although I usually enjoy cooking and preparing for my parties myself (I am a bit competitive and want everyone to tell me how amazed they are), last year I attended a party hosted by a friend and was impressed with her caterer.

The food was delicious and the servers were impeccable. When I decided to host a Christmas party following a house tour of my home, and knew I wouldn’t have time to cook or prepare for the party myself, I decided to hire Kimberly. I couldn’t have been more pleased. Kimberly and Jo arrived on-time on a rainy night and immediately made me feel at ease on a stressful night (the tent people did not show up on time).

The food and drinks were amazing and my guests raved about everything. I even had guests who asked for Kimberly’s contact information after the party. When my next event rolled around I didn’t think twice about preparing on my own but immediately called Kimberly. Again she did an extraordinary job. What I love about The Party Bee is that they will cater the whole event or supplement your own creations. Kimberly is easy, and fun, to work with and Jo makes sure my guests are fed, well hydrated and my kitchen is sparkling at the end of the event. I recommend Kimberly and The Party Bee to all my friends and will continue to use them myself.”

Denise – Client Since 2014
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia

“Kimberly was a delight to work with – creative and accommodating and patient with our last minute changes. The Party Bee took care of two parties for my organization – an end of year dinner for our trustees and a cocktail party. Both were wonderful, festive events thanks to Kimberly. The food was delicious and different (not your standard catering food) and the beverages yummy and celebratory, just what we wanted. Kimberly is brilliant. I highly recommend the Party Bee!”

Traci, Non-profit Director
Washington, D.C.

“Kimberly threw a beautiful party for 100 people in my house with ease. From the very beginning, she took care of everything as if the event were being held in her own house. Her taste, professionalism and prices can’t be beat. I’d highly recommend her to anyone who wants an amazing party without doing all the work themselves.”

Caroline – Client Since Spring 2015
Washington, D.C.

“Kimberly, everything was just perfect! Thank you so much. People raved about how delicious your food was. One of my guests got your business card she was so impressed. We had a great night because you set such a nice mood. Looking forward to working with you again!”

Michelle, CEO – Client Since Summer 2015
Washington, D.C.

The other side of the other side…

partybee — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 04:38:51 +0000

When you leave Capitol Hill and take a job in the private sector- they say you are going “to the other side.” Many people have done that before. But when you leave your lobbying career and start a party design business you find yourself yet again on the other side of the table. This evening a reception I styled on Capitol Hill pretty much captured the full circle nature of my life over the last nearly 20 years.

Having lived on Capitol Hill in addition to working there I am fairly familiar with Congressional receptions. But this event was a twist on the typical theme- it was also a celebration of a recent wedding. My task was to create a sophisticated and business-like event with an elevated celebratory tone worthy of a seasoned DC power couple. It was such fun to transform this DC townhouse and garden into a candle lit reception venue.

At the start of all events comes the planning. Earlier in the day I filled luminaries with sand, wind tested the stability of the bags, calculated the weight of each bag, determined how much sand we would need, and timed the process of filling and lighting the luminaries. And you thought party designing was all sunshine and roses? It involves quite a bit of wind and candlelight, too!

For the flowers we combined winter white, green and a hint of blushing bride pink.

Nothing says a party quite like champagne- to make the party guests flow seamlessly we stationed one bar in the entry area of the party and another bar out back under the tent. That way a guest could start with a sip of champagne and then make their way past the buffet to the outdoor garden where there was a full bar.

As the sun set the luminaries lit a path from the front sidewalk to the back garden. I love the beautiful French Quarter feel of the antique iron garden gate.

By far my favorite moment of the night was when the host, a former Congressman, was snapping pictures of the tables and flowers and complimented the look of the party. He asked me to go stand in front of the reception area next to one of the high top tables and flowers so he could take a picture of me and my work. Now that is something that never happened in all of my years writing legislation on Capitol Hill! It’s nice to be on the other side-especially when I can be serving guests in celebration of a wonderful life event.

The Southern Living Community Cookbook reading and signing event

partybee — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:30:18 +0000

We all have our favorite cookbooks, the ones with splatters and spills and dog-eared pages. It wasn’t until I read Sheri Castle’s, The Southern Living Community Cookbook, that I truly understood what drew me to the books in my collection, my style of cooking and my approach to entertaining. In her wonderful compilation of stories and recipes she tenderly describes the heart of food and fellowship in the South. Every word spoke truth to me and as I flipped past the first dozen pages. I was amazed that she had chosen many of the exact same recipes that are the foundation of my menu offerings for The Party Bee. Each page held memories of special occasions with friends and family. This book was like a cooking show highlights reel of my life growing up in Mississippi, in the kitchen with my mom and grandmothers. It was only upon reading Sheri’s narrative that I recognized the obvious: I am drawn to recipes passed around and shared by other people just like me- not chefs or foodies, just people who love to cook. I noticed that nearly all my cookbooks were community cookbooks- published by church groups, junior leagues and women’s auxiliaries. Each recipe had a name, a town, a story behind it. The Southern Living Community Cookbook is authentic cooking at its best.

After pouring through the cookbook I sat down and wrote Sheri a thank you note telling her all that I just said to you. How connected I felt through the book and what a wonderful treasure it was to me. I was so thrilled that she wrote me back! We began talking and collaborating and she graciously accepted my invitation to come to DC for a book signing. I’m not the only one who noticed her. She is also speaking at a Smithsonian symposium this month!

Please join me in welcoming Sheri Castle on Friday, November 4th from 11-2 for a book reading, signing and tasting of some of the fabulous recipes in The Southern Living Community Cookbook: Celebrating Food and Fellowship in the American South. Space is limited so please rsvp via your paperless post invite. If you would like to receive an invite and be placed on our pop-up shop and events mailing list please email kimberly@partybeeevents.com

Thank you and see you Friday Nov. 4th!

Southern Sabbatical Pop-up Shop

partybee — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 03:00:36 +0000

Just sent out the invitation to my Southern Sabbatical Pop-up Shop scheduled for Friday, September 23rd from noon-two. It’s going to be such fun to host everyone at The Well in Washington, DC where I have been basing the creative office of The Party Bee for about the past year.

We will have lots of southern fare on hand to nibble and sweet tea to sip while you take a peek at all the items I collected on my trip down South. To get a hint of what will be offered just search my hashtag #thatswhatIlikeaboutthesouth and see things such as zapps pimento cheese flavored chips, spiced nuts, precious paper products for everyday entertaining, and some hospitality themed items such as pineapple jute bags like the one I use on my client walk-throughs I recently posted on Instagram.

My special guest will be my silver dealer, Paul, who was graciously agreed to pop-up a curated collection of Southern inspired silver for everyday entertaining. He’s been collecting items from estate sales with our crowd in mind.

Every Party Bee pop-up shop offers a little take-home cooking. This time the pre-order food item will be a nod to football season and the forthcoming fall weather: Mississippi Red Beans and Rice. If you want to pre-order a quart or two just indicate it on the paperlesspost rsvp or shoot me an email.

Please bring a friends and share far and wide. This is going to be a fun one!

My Southern Sabbatical is almost here!

partybee — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 18:52:59 +0000

Nearly 5 months ago I laid out my plans to take some time off and venture home for a little southern comfort. I talked all about why in the post That’s What I Like About the South. I asked you to join me as I explored what items make us a little homesick for the South. I loved the nearly 250 #thatswhatilikeaboutthesouth hashtags about bbq ribs, hushpuppies, hoppin’ john, fields of cotton, camellias, boiled peanuts and SEC football. Thank you for sharing your nostalgia with me.

In one week I will get on the plane and head to my hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. I’ll take a few days and travel north toward my birthplace of Memphis, and then back home through the Delta. After a week in Jackson we will drive south down Highway 49 through Alabama to Destin, Florida-my favorite place on earth. It will be such fun to capture the lazy days of a Mississippi summer on my Instagram account @thepartybee. I’ll tag everything with the same #thatswhatIlikeaboutthesouth and I hope you will enjoy being along for the ride. I can’t wait to come back refreshed and ready to bring a little southern hospitality and make your party feel like home. Happy Summer!

Beer Run!

partybee — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 04:13:57 +0000

How much booze do I really need? It is a question I get from my hostesses and one that I wish was as easy as the college days where you simply made a beer run when the bar ran dry.

Here are my guidelines when planning a bar:

Decide if you are offering a limited bar or a full bar- if you are offering any mixed drinks other than a pre-mixed large batch specialty cocktail then you should open it up and offer a full bar. Like being half-pregnant, there is no such thing as a partial full bar.
Choose no more than two of each variety of wine. More choices means more risk of running out . Also, if you have staff offering refills or trying to be efficient at the bar more choices makes it a less smooth experience.
Always offer a non alcoholic option in addition to offering water. If you offer sparkling water its nice to also have sliced limes. I like to make a virgin option of the signature cocktail so everyone can enjoy the party’s thematic drink.

Here is the buzz on quantities:

A bottle of wine serves 4-5 people. So, a case of wine conservatively pours 50 glasses of wine. A general rule is 2 drinks per person for the first hour and one drink every hour thereafter. That’s a lot of drinks-but works as a baseline from which you can adjust.

A normal liter bottle of liquor makes about 20 drinks. For a full bar with 50 people I recommend the following shopping list:

Bourbon or Whisky (Basil Hayden or Maker’s Mark)
Vodka (Tito’s)
Gin
Scotch
Rum
Tequila (Petron is my favorite, Jose Cuervo is always good too)
Small bottles of the following: sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, triple sec

The Party Bee offers what we call our Mini Bar which is all of the other set-ups and mixers you will need for your bar. You may take advantage of this service where you simply pay a flat fee and use what you need from our fully stocked party pantry and return the unopened bottles. If you are using mixers from your own pantry remember to check the expiration dates for freshness.

Items in The Party Bee Mini Bar include:

Pellegrino
Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite
Gingerale
Club Soda
Tonic Water
Lemons
Limes
Olives

For a true full bar you may want to have additional items such as cut up oranges, cherries, simple syrup. But these are not necessary.

June-o de Nine-o

partybee — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 03:28:17 +0000

In follow-up to the my prior post, I wanted to do the big reveal and let you know what we came up with for this fun Cinco de Mayo inspired celebration that was actually on June 9th. That’s why the party was coined June-o de Nine-o. It was such fun to help this hostess bring a cool Mexican vibe to her lovely home.

The table was set with a teal Ikat cloth, potted succulents and a soft pallet of flowers.

I love how the teal color of the succulents, cocktail napkins and straw burros blended together so seamlessly. For the service pieces, we opted out of The Party Bee’s signature silver and went with Annie Glass and gold rimmed glass plates and vases.

Even in the powder room we put a pop of color and sparkle of gold with the vase.

From all angles the table overflowed with casual style. But let’s not forget the most important part- the food! The hostess and I discussed the concept of not having this be a traditional Mexican themed party but more baja style-international inspired food.

On the menu: pork carnitas with radishes, cilantro and goat cheese with green goddess dressing.

Nachos like they make them in texas (my favorite and perennial midnight snack at the Hill House) with crispy fried corn tortillas, refried beans, shredded cheese and jalepeno.

I always like to offer a comfort item- not just comfort food- but something familiar that even the pickiest eaters will feel comfortable going for. I picked up this idea from my childhood summer camp, Strong River. Each morning we were offered a “security blanket” breakfast of cereal and then a country breakfast of ham and eggs or oatmeal or something actually healthy. That way you started the day with something familiar and built up to what you were really being offered.

A cheese platter usually fits the bill and is a welcome bit of familiarity to the guests. For our board we tipped our hat to Spain and brought in manchego instead of the expected cheddar and queso you would usually see on a Mexican buffet.

Individual 7 layer dip cups so you can “take a bite, dip the chip, and dip again” as Seinfeld famously said. There was also guacamole at the table for those who wanted to refill and keep on dipping.

For a lighter bite we offered shrimp and avocado shooters- a mango salsa, avocado and lime dressed roasted shrimp salad in a tiny cup. I’m always looking of ways to offer heavy cocktail buffets with no forks- and this menu is eaten entirely out of hand. No utensils needed when you can shoot it!

A Party Bee menu wouldn’t be complete without crostini. I just love them. Its the perfect pick up food- crunchy and packed with flavor. You will see them on almost all my menus. For this one we marinated and grilled steak and then topped it with a homemade chimichurri sauce. What makes it even better is how nice it looks being served on one of my antique French bread boards- rustic and elegant!

A south of the border meal wouldn’t be complete, at least for me and my sweet tooth, without alfajores- those awesome dulce du leche cookie sandwiches I learned about when I fell in love with Peruvian chicken and all the sides, sauces and desserts they offer.

And this blog post wouldn’t be complete without one more shot of my precious burros in the tablescape. My grandmother, Lady B, collected all sorts of party paraphenallia (sound familiar?) and passed that love on to me. I still have her collection of Mexican Party Decorations in their original box with her precious handwriting on the side. It is filled with woven straw sombreros, burros, and a Betty Crocker 49 cent paperback cookbook the size of a TV guide that I’m sure she probably picked up in the check-out aisle at the Jitney Jungle in Gulfport, MS. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to hear her tell me more about her recipes, entertaining and crafting. I love this little burro and rider- he is wearing….PINK!

Crawfish Boil in High Style

partybee — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 05:27:02 +0000

Where I come from, a crawfish boil is a messy affair with newspaper lined card tables, rolls of paper towels, cardboard boxes as all you can eat buffet plates and lots of cheap beer. It could not please me more to be asked to help throw a crawfish boil in high style. My Alabama and Mississippi hosts were interested in sharing a little bit of our Southern heritage with their friends up here in the DC area. While many guests were from the deep south, plenty of them were not. So, instructions on how to approach the mud bug were placed on every table. In lieu of the ubiquitous paper towel roll were galvanized tubs of natural paper napkins alongside another staple of a good Southern boil, Tabasco.

Plenty of tables and chairs were made available for those really wanting to dig in on the food.

Also, high tops were placed around the buffet tables for those wanting to linger a little closer to the main attraction.

Speaking of, how attractive is this?! What started as a few boxes covered in burlap sacks and topped with news papers became a feast for the senses in every way.

When the buckets of crawfish, corn, potatoes, shrimp and andouille sausage were dumped on the table- the sight, sound and smell quickly brought the masses. Like many good foods- the messier the better.

In addition to the necessary napkins and wet wipes, a more high style option was stationed just outside the tents- an old fashioned hand washing station with rolled towels.

All around the yard hanging mason jars from shepherd’s hooks adorned the party. Peonies, sunflowers, hydrangea and spring blooms added punches of color on the tables and around the property.

I love the sight of the flowers in their boxes ready to be placed where they belong. It is always the last item I pick up on my way to stage a party and usually the first thing I like to unwrap and set out.

The menu for this event was provided by Bootheel Catering who makes a wonderful jambalaya and can put on one heck of a boil- be it low country or crawfish.

The desserts were provided by the host and The Party Bee. A tower of pies in a jar, a platter of watermelon slices on sticks and a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies were offered. I returned to my roots and whipped up (literally) a batch of Mississippi Mud Pies with layers of chocolate and whipped cream.

Nothing goes better with crawfish than beer. But being a gracious hostess, the bar offered full service as well as wine and a pitcher of vodka lemonade. I love being in step with my hostesses, and this one was right there with me- opting for PINK lemonade.

Not skipping over any details, even the outdoor restroom was made to be welcoming. I didn’t take a picture of the little plant she put on the shelf inside, but I will say I have never seen a port-o-let look so precious.

It is such fun helping my hostesses fulfill their party visions. This one was especially fun because it brought back so many memories of hometown crawfish boils and summer in the South. We even got some sunny, humid weather to go with the theme.

Casserole unto others as you would have them casserole unto you

partybee — Wed, 18 May 2016 03:35:48 +0000

The traditional southern casserole-it seems to go against all the food trends of healthy, clean eating. It isn’t something that is a party food. I’ve never even offered casseroles at my events. What do casseroles have to do with The Party Bee?
The answer is right here- in this fabulous article by Sheri Castle that I read in my most favorite cookbook of all time, The Southern Living Community Cookbook: Celebrating Food and Fellowship in the American South. The first time I read this essay I literally wept. Finally I understood what motivates me to cook for others and help them entertain in their homes. The idea of southern hospitality and opening your home to others is so intimate and special. My mother and grandmothers taught me it is all about attending to every tiny detail and really putting in the effort to show others that you care. A casserole is the “icon of southern hospitality” as Sheri says in her article. I could not agree more. Whether it is one of these familiar favorites that I am offering at the party on Friday or one of the specialty items I serve at my Party Bee events, “homemade conveys heartfelt”. Making these items brings me such joy and I love that I can be a part of you sharing that comfort and joy with others.
With her gracious permission here is the article that says so much to me:

© Copyright 2014 Sheri Castle. Excerpted from The Southern Living Community Cookbook: Celebrating Food & Fellowship in the American South. Oxmoor House, 2014. No reproductions or reprints allowed without express written consent from the author or Oxmoor House.

And a huge thank you to those who have pre-ordered casseroles for Friday’s Ice Cream Social and pop-up shop from noon-3 at The Bee Hive (5175B Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA on the 23rd Road North side of the building). If you didn’t get your pre-order in, don’t fret! I am making another big batch of chicken poppy seed casserole to offer at the pop-up shop while supplies last. SCOUT bags is even running a promotion where they will offer their casserole carrier set at 25% off with the purchase of a casserole. I already have mine and even got it monogrammed. How cute?

May 20th Ice Cream Social and Pop-up Shop

partybee — Tue, 03 May 2016 03:34:50 +0000

I can’t believe summer is almost upon us. The pool opens this weekend, summer clothes are hanging in the closet, summer travel plans are well underway and it’s finally feeling like time to kick-off the season. Please join us for a Southern Summer Ice Cream Social and Pop-up Shop on Friday, May 20th from noon until 3 at our party design studio, The Bee Hive.

In addition to sundaes, sweet tea and a summer tasting menu, SCOUT bags will be there to show off their new designs and styles of beach bags, boat totes and casserole carriers. Yes, casserole carriers! Does that make your mouth water?

I am taking pre-orders now for casseroles you can pick-up at the event. So, stock your freezer for those lazy nights when you want a comforting meal and those evenings when you come home from your summer vacation to an empty fridge. While you are at it, pick up one for that friend who just had a baby or those new neighbors you’ve been meaning to welcome with a meal.

Choose from Poppy Seed Chicken or Tuna Noodle Casserole. Each is offered in a glass casserole dish for $40. Quantities are limited. Ordering will close by Friday, May 13th.

How do I order?! Just reply to this post by leaving a comment (the icon just below the title listed at the top of this screen) with your name, which flavor casserole and how many of each you would like to order. I will post a follow-up blog when I close the ordering and all orders made prior to the cut-off post will be honored. Pretty low tech, huh? Well, I guess this is old fashioned in more ways than one. Thanks y’all and see you Friday May 20th!