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Minted Holiday MOTHER
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Hosting For The Holidays With Minted

Minted Holiday MOTHER

Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano

Photography by Kristen Murakoshi

Our top holiday hosting tips—and goods from design marketplace Minted—for a festive, beautiful, and relaxed at-home gathering with friends.

1. Set the tone with your invitation.

Think about what you want the tone and style of your event to be—is it sophisticated? playful? celebrating a specific holiday? Minted has hundreds of invitations that'll help set the mood of your event—before it even begins. For our gathering, we went with a chic dark green pinstripe invitation, that beckoned guests to a "Friendsgiving Soiree & Ornament Exchange."

2. Design custom menus and place cards to continue the theme.

Custom menus and personalized place cards can help hammer home a vibe and style, while also instantly upgrading the fancy factor on your tabletop. We chose a simple, modern, and graphic design, which hinted at the holidays, while not going over the top.

From serving holiday punch—instead of labor-intensive cocktails—to only cooking half the meal yourself, there are plenty of tricks to make hosting easier so that you can focus on time with your guests.

3. Make the dress code "festive."

Once our guests RSVP'd (via email), we passed along more details of the event—including a loose dress code. We simply said "dress festive," and let it be open to interpretation on their end. We fielded a few emails and texts in the days leading up to our gathering, as to what qualified as "festive." In our minds, this could mean holiday colors, sparkle and metallics, and a general wintery, cozy vibe. We absolutely love how everyone showed up in their own unique and celebratory style.

4. Let guests know house rules ahead of time.

Lauren's beautiful home is typically shoes-off. And instead of bending the rules for our gathering, we asked our guests to plan their festive outfits accordingly. We suggested building their ensembles around festive socks and tights, or even packing slippers. Kicking off our shoes at the door also helped root the gathering in a comfy, un-stuffy, at-home feeling.

5. Serve a batch drink.

Instead of making fancy cocktails one or two at a time, serving a batch drink and wine allowed guests to help themselves throughout our event (and freed up the hostesses to do other tasks). Not only is a holiday punch something to behold (especially with a garnished ice ring), you can also serve it as a non-alcoholic option and easily add booze as needed. Topped with a sprig of fresh rosemary, Lauren's signature punch was served in elegant Siren Stemware by Culver City-based Minted artisan Cassandra Stearns, whose entire tabletop collection is divine.

6. Don't cook the entire meal yourself.

There's no reason to cook a 3-course meal from scratch—unless you really, really want to. In our case, we cooked half the meal ourselves, and leaned on Good Eggs for the rest. For the homemade portion, we made easy recipes that we knew by heart—classic mashed potatoes and Ottolenghi's Curried Lentil, Tomato, and Coconut Soup (served with quinoa)—and ordered a few autumnal salad kits from Good Eggs that we simply had to toss together before serving. (They were such a hit that we almost took credit for them.)

7. Have pre-meal snacks ready to go.

Creating a beautiful cheese and charcuterie board is not only visually impactful, it also takes a bit of pressure off of the main meal, by filling bellies ahead of time—especially while waiting for everyone to arrive. For our pre-meal snacks, we had beautiful produce, fancy crackers, and delicious dips and nuts from Good Eggs that were delivered to Lauren's door the morning of the event.

To create our display, we used a variety of wood boards and ceramic plates from Minted's roster of artisans. Our favorite included the stunning Versus Boards by Brooklyn-based artist Tortuga Forma—an inventive set of boards that can fit tightly together, or be broken apart (which is the way we used them). We're excited to try out the brand's artsy candleholders and bold, double-sided napkins at our next gathering.

8. Create a beautiful tabletop.

When it comes to a holiday gathering that revolves around a meal—creating a gorgeous, photogenic table setting is a must. For our design, we started with the All Grown Up Tablecloth by New Zealand-based Minted artist Emily Mikaere of Inkblot Design. The cream-colored linen textile (with a simple black embroidered edge) paired perfectly with the playful Wine And Dine napkins by Seattle-based artist Ani Somi, our custom menus and place cards by Minted, chic black plates, and loose green DIY floral arrangements inside a textured Burlap Curvy Vase by Minneapolis-based maker Cym Warkov. A pair of sculptural Spindle Leg Taper Candles by Cassandra Stearns, set inside vintage-style candlestick holders, added instant elegance and intrigue.

A white elephant ornament exchange is one of our favorite games and an ice-breaker that works every time. Plus, guests get to leave with something that reminds them of the gathering.

9. Make a DIY masterpiece or outsource your florals.

For our gathering, we decided to do the florals ourselves vs. purchasing an arrangement from a local florist. We went to the source for affordable stems (ahem, Trader Joe's) and loaded up on bunches of loose greens—including plenty of eucalyptus to add to the holiday vibe. After creating some structure with the greenery, we added in two varieties of white blooms, before punctuating our pieces with just a hint of color (dark purple calla lilies). We used a variety of vases by Minted's roster of artisans for our arrangements, and scattered them around the tabletops. This includes the stunning, cobalt-hued Curvy Amphora Matisse by Miami-based Kassandra Guzman of KuuPottery and the aforementioned Burlap Curvy Vase by Cym Warkov.

10. Get creative with seating.

Not every household has 8-10 matching chairs to place around a dining table. We say, get creative with seating and use mis-matched chairs when needed. In our case, we added a bench on one side of our table, and as many chairs as we had around the other corners. If you are struggling to find enough seating at home, ask a neighbor if you can borrow their chairs for a few hours—and promise to return the favor once it's their turn to host a large group.

11. Plan an around-the-table ice-breaker.

While conversation might flow organically, we think it's always nice to have an ice-breaker up your sleeve. Luckily, there are lots of conversation cards on the market for this very reason. Towards the end of our meal, after noting that all of guests had naturally introduced themselves to each other, we had each of them draw a random card from Lumitory's Holiday deck to go a bit deeper (or lighter) with each attendee. Questions included "What is the most memorable gift you've ever received?" "What is your favorite holiday tradition?" "What was something really nice that someone did for you this year?" and onward. It was a beautiful way to open up the conversation and also add some holiday feels.

12. Take a break before serving dessert.

Instead of barreling right into dessert (after a big meal) we designed our event with a lengthy break to let our bellies recharge before transitioning from savory to sweet.

13. Play a game.

As adults, we don't play nearly enough. But a good dose of laughter and competition can be good for the soul. For our gathering, we stuck with a holiday classic—the white elephant ornament exchange, which ended up being the most vibrant, unforgettable part of our holiday party.

14. Buy ornaments for the group—or have them bring their own.

Because we surprised our guests with our ornament exchange, we hand-picked all the ornaments ahead of time from Minted's incredible offerings, all lovingly handcrafted from Minted’s community of makers and artisans and shipped directly from their studios.

We included a mix of hand-painted wonders—including stunners by Arkansas-based artist Megan Savage, Massachusetts-based artist Jocelyn Velush, and Illinois-based artist Weronika Zubek. And added a few felted ornaments into the mix (a cannoli, hummingbird, and weaving) and a hand-whittled wooden cheetah by California-based artist Aahlada Chennupati.

For one of our guests, we also gifted a custom, hand-painted pet portrait ornament by New York-based artist Ashley Myers that brought oohs and ahhs immediately.

We carefully wrapped the ornaments ahead of time in Minted's foil-accented wrapping paper, which—to our great surprise—cuts smooth as butter. (A quality we never knew we desired so much!)

15. Bake a favorite sweet or outsource it to the pros.

Since our theme was Friendsgiving, we knew we wanted a classic pie for dessert. Instead of laboring over it ourselves, we went with an apple pie from local maker Three Babes Bakeshop and served it alongside a scoop of Strauss organic vanilla bean ice cream. A win-win for everyone!

16. Say goodbye with a gift.

Minted has countless gift offerings that would make great presents for the hostess or the guests. For our gathering, each of our attendees left with a personalized tote by Anna Elder with their names on them, that was filled with a variety of goodies to keep the festive times rolling at home—including cozy candles by Stephanie Dahman and custom matchboxes by For Your Party.

17. Send a hand-written thank you.

We also gifted our guests personalized stationery as a reminder to keep the art of the hand-written note alive during the holidays—and year round.

Celebrate the holidays with a special discount!

Head over to Minted.com and use code MOTHER24 for 20% off your holiday cards and 15% off gifts through December 31, 2024.

Shop the Story

Frills Platter

Minted x Sidney Field

Versus Boards

Minted x Tortuga Forma

White Oak Cheese & Charcuterie Board

Minted x Block and Bowl

Siren Stemware Set

Minted x Cassandra Stearns

All Grown Up Tablecloth

Minted x Inkblot Design

Wine And Dine Napkins

Minted x Ani Somi

Wine And Dine Coasters

Minted x Ani Somi

Burlap Curvy Vase

Minted x Cym Warkov

Abstract Hand-Painted Ornament

Minted x The Savage Label

Felt Cannoli Ornament

Minted x Aahlada Chennupati

Purple Mountain

Minted x Weronika Zubek

The Prep Holiday Card

Minted x Kristie Kern

United Place Card

Minted x Caitlin Considine

Custom Hand-Painted Pet Ornament

Minted x Ashley Myers

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