Guests won’t want to exchange gifts like these – even if forced to at a party like Julia’s Yankee gift swap in 2008. Decked with vintage ornaments, shiny foil candle underliners, and boldly colored ribbons, they are likely more of
Who would think of using an old grocery cart to collect and store the presents at a Yankee gift swap? Julia, that is! She’s always thinking out of the box, trying to create that unexpected ah-ha moment for her guests.
Guests got not one, but two take-home gifts after Julia’s holiday open house! With her typical eye toward repurposing, Julia spotted these three vintage paper cornets when scouring a local flea market one autumn. Come party time, she decked them
For this party featured in St. Louis AT HOME magazine, Julia blinged out her dining room and then threw a stylish cookie swap to ring in the new year! Because Julia drew her party recipe and décor inspiration largely from
Julia loves the look of vintage gift cards – in fact, so much so that she incorporated a copy of this one (lower right) into the menu (left) that she made for her New Year’s cookie swap featured in St.
A-ha! This bird’s eye view of Julia’s cookie swap table reveals the partridges in her centerpiece, which were purposely picked to tie into the birds in her repurposed menu. (Quite the attention to detail!) It also reveals her penchant for
Julia likes to apply what she calls her birds-of-a-feather principle to party design. By grouping like things together, such as the birds under this crystal-and-ornament “tree”, one can create several high impact focal points throughout an event. And more focal
Julia loves vintage and repurposed décor, but it can sometimes look drab and dull without proper counterpoints of color or sheen. As the occasion for this party was New Year’s Eve, Julia added shimmer throughout her party, starting first with
No worries! How about a crystal tree?! Oftentimes a variety of unexpected elements can make a more exciting arrangement. Julia used gilded twigs, mercury glass ornaments, and spare chandelier crystals to create this centerpiece for her New Year’s cookie swap.
Julia used nothing less than her most gilded china and glitzy silver for this cookie swap. After all, ringing in the New Year is all about the fanfare! In fact, Julia’s dishes looked so spectacular that she scattered small stacks
Clear glass ornaments filled with rock candy and snippets of tinsel look a lot like snow globes and fit wonderfully into Julia’s wintry New Year’s tabletop décor. But they’re more than pretty . . . a slip of paper inside
These baubles didn’t just dazzle guests with their beauty, they were also incredibly smart additions to Julia’s New Year’s cookie swap. Each contained the name and ingredients of the cookie it was set beside. (In case you hadn’t already noticed,
Draw attention to the sweets on your table by setting them on vintage cake stands stacked many tiers high! Here, Julia added colored plates, in alternating green and gold, on the top of each cake stand for even more interest.
Fruitcake fans and foes had no reason to disagree on this cookie swap selection. Not only did these golden fruitcake nuggets fit Julia’s color scheme, but they were moist and delicious. Chock-full of dried fruit, heavily spiced, and bound with
Cookies are always a joy to make and eat, but they’re especially fun when worked into party décor. For this centerpiece made for a staged party in Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, Julia mounted pinwheel-shaped sugar cookies on dowel rods with
Secret revealed! What gives these packages their extra pizzazz is the costume jewelry-bling hot-glued on top. Guests at Julia’s New Year’s party, featured in St. Louis AT HOME magazine, were doubly lucky – first for the presents inside and then
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