Holiday Party Tips

With the holidays just around the corner, it's a great time to entertain. However with larger parties, it can get expensive fast. If you need more wine or champagne glasses, try a glass outlet like Libbey Glass Co. You can usually buy them for less than it would cost to get plastic. Also, if you live in Dallas, the party rental company RSVP Soiree is having a sample sale where you can get chargers, plates, glasses, etc. for cheap cheap cheap.

For holiday decor, use a lot of evergreen boughs (Christmas tree scraps, that is) either from trimming your own tree or go to a place that sells Christmas trees and ask for some scraps. Make a mock garland by laying them end to end and attach simple glass ball ornaments with wire to make it more festive.

Another look I love is cranberries and simple floating candles in a shallow dish. Very Pottery Barn. The cranberries will float to the top with the candles. You can also use tall cylinder vases and fill each one with a different level of water so that the cranberries float at different heights.
Wrapping paper can also get expensive. A great look is to cover gifts with brown kraft paper and then use a beautiful red satin ribbon. You can buy kraft paper in rolls from uline.com for about $20 for a 1,200' roll. Then it can serve double duty as packing material when mailing gifts to out of town friends and relatives.