Entertaining and Decorating for your Christmas Party

Whether it’s a personal in-home Christmas gathering, or a huge corporate company holiday party, you can entertain in style. A personal note about sme: I read Elle Decor Magazine — 1. because I love interior and spacial decoration and 2. because I think it’s important to read about all design aspects, not just graphic design or wedding design. It keeps me sharp and up on new design trends in many industries. Anyway, I read an article about some holiday entertaining tips from David Monn, one of the nation’s most prominent event planners. He’s orchestrated everything from a White House state dinner to New York City’s Park Avenue holiday regalia.

Monn says, “People entertain because it makes them feel good. Worlds are put together at a table, not an office.” Here are his tips for Christmas entertaining.

Your holiday decorating should feel inviting:

• Put baskets full of white poinsettias around the room
• Evergreen branches are a must for that holiday smell
• Group together small trees for a larger “enchanted forest” look
• Stick to a strict color theme. I suggest all black, all white, or gold with pink, turquoise, peacock blue or moss green.
• Make sure you have holiday music (I prefer orchestra Christmas music) — even live musicians would be great!

Social etiquette:

• If you want people to show up at your party, send them a real printed invitation. An e-mail just feels wrong to me.
• Consider folding your napkins. My favorite fold is called “the bishop’s hat”.
• Comfort food is back in style. For hors d’oeuvres, sushi is out and old classics like mini meat loafs, smoked salmon and pigs-in-a-blanket are back in vogue.

Party Time:

• The event world has become an amalgam of all things fashion, food, and interior design. Try something game-changing at your party.
• When I design at a party, I always begin with smell, followed by sound, sight, touch, and taste, in that order. Our bodies are led by our senses.

Thanks, David. If you need help with any of these areas — decorating, food, etiquette and invitation designs — for your Christmas party, Hitch can help. Here are few of our favorite photos from the “Woodsy Americana Christmas” we decorated for the Madison National Guard Christmas Party. At the event, we also provided a photo opportunity for the couples to take a photo and we would print and send them a 5×7 print! It’s the small details, right?

If you have the staff to set everything up, consider just renting our many options for Christmas decor! If you need some help setting up the lighting and decorations, Hitch can decorate for you too, so you can enjoy!

For more information go read our blog: Book Hitch Studio for your Holiday party or Fundraiser event.