Happy Friday Friends!

I am here Mid-Summer chatting with you about one of my favorite things to do which is entertain! I love having gatherings of any kind to have people over. It’s not really about being too fancy at all, it’s mostly about giving people a sense of welcome and warmth when they enter your space.

That being said, while we have the rest of the summer left, we’re going to chat about Summer Entertaining until time is up and then we will talk about something else!!

I wanted to share with you a few easy tips that you can incorporate to make your summer gathering or any gathering a little less hectic and a lot more enjoyable! So let’s go!

 1. Prepare & Plan

Nothing beats a well planned out party. Write out your menu and everything else you may need to pick up. I know that there are sometimes that you might be having impromptu gatherings or the hubby wants to invite some of his co-workers and their family for a barbecue (YIKES) don’t freak out and please don’t get him ha! A well planned and ready hostess always prepares for more than she needs. A least I do! We always have someone stopping by and I honestly don’t mind. I am well prepared, list in hand and ready to execute the entertaining plan!

2. Shop Your Own Home

I know that everyone has some type of element that you can use for entertaining. It could be a vase, some special fabric you had from another gathering, seashells from the beach, those wonderful entertaining platters that you never use! Anything that you may feel is beautiful and that goes with the theme of you gathering, use that to make your space more inviting. You don’t have to spend a lot of money at all! As a matter of fact please don’t! We have more things that we can use in our home, much more than we know!

3. Bring In Color with Your Floral

I love colorful floral arrangements! I love them ever better when I can find them at a  good price! One of my favorite go to’s for flowers is The Fresh Market. They have a floral department and their flowers tend to last a pretty good amount of time. Choose one or two pops of colors to focus on and center the rest of your décor around that! With some DIY floral arranging, you’ll look like you had a custom piece created by a professional florist!

4. It’s OK To Purchase Store Bought Sometimes

Take it from someone who entertains a lot! It’s perfectly ok to buy store-bought, as long as you buy good quality! Again, if I have too much on my plate, I will buy certain things from The Fresh Market such as pasta salads, cupcakes or dips. Something like that. It saves me time and sanity! Yes I know that we can make a great pasta salad, but if I don’t have the time and the store makes one that is as good and pretty, why not buy it! Now I’m not saying buy everything at the store unless you just want to, but sometimes it’s ok!

5.  Keep It Simple & Enjoy Your Guest

This is one of the most important tips, just keep it simple! You want to be able to enjoy your guest, not running around cooking and prepping and then no one sees you the entire evening. Choose simple but delicious recipes, keep your décor simple, but beautiful and inviting and enjoy your friends and family! You want to remember the fun you had and the memories that were made.

So there you have it, 5 simple tips for Summer Entertaining! I hope I helped to get you going on your own rest of Summer entertaining projects.

Be sure to let me know how you plan to end the Summer with your own Summer parties! I’d love to hear from you!

Until Next Time

Be Sweet and enjoy the rest of your Summer