a fun christmas table for the kids

Christmas morning is one of the most special times of the year, especially for the kids, so why not treat them to a special little Christmas breakfast after they open their gifts? 

I've put together a fun little Santa-inspired table that will keep that Christmas feeling going throughout the day. Hot cocoa will be served in these adorable vintage-style Santa mugs. 

And what pairs perfectly with hot cocoa? Why gingerbread, of course! That’s why our centerpiece for the table is this cute little gingerbread house, easily made from a kit available at Trader Joe’s.

Each place setting also includes a little satin stocking to hold silverware and a keepsake diy ornament that doubles as a place card. Wooden alphabet tiles or extra scrabble tiles can be used to easily spell the names of the holiday guests. Just glue letters on to wide popsicle sticks and then strung with red and white baker’s twine. 

After breakfast, the kids can hang their new ornaments on the tree. I made sure to add the year on the back of the ornament too!

Burlap charger plates are the foundation of the place setting, and then I use my vintage clear glass dinner plates.

A pretty craft paper runner from Oriental Trading was exactly what I needed for cutting out the paper circles that I placed between my charger plates and my glass plates. The snowflake design is perfect for the table! Then each setting is personalized with a cut-out felt Christmas greeting. (I used a salad plate turned upside down as a template for paper circles.) 

Santa is waiting for all the good little boys and girls!

It's such a simple and festive way to set the table.

A fun tradition for us every year is assembling this little gingerbread chalet from Trader Joe’s. All the extras are included in the kit, so all you have to do is whip up some white frosting for the “glue”. Not only is it adorable, but it’s tasty and totally gets the kids’ taste approval!

And it all came together like this:

Burlap Chargers: Oriental Trading

Glass Dinner Plates: Vintage

Snowflake Craft Paper: Oriental Trading

Red Raffia Place Mat: Home Goods

Santa Mugs: Oriental Trading

Wooden Alphabet Tiles: Oriental Trading

Wooden Popsicle Sticks: Michael’s

Small Satin Stockings: Oriental Trading

Red Felt Christmas Greetings: Dollar Tree

Gingerbread House: Trader Joe’s

Water Goblet: Vintage

Red & Green Glitter Trees: Oriental Trading

Silver Lanterns: Oriental Trading

Red & White Paper Lanterns: Oriental Trading

Red & White Tissue Snowflakes: Oriental Trading

Nutcrackers: Vintage 
Tablecloth: Vintage

   

 ciao! fabiana

Thank you to Oriental Trading for sending me these products to review. 
The opinions expressed in this post are truly my own.  

planning my Easter table

Planning my Easter table is so easy with the fun and so budget-friendly with the goodies that I get at Oriental Trading! This year, I chose a few key items for my table as well as a few little treats for the kids. Of course, the adults will love the treats too! 

This is the kids table, set with fancy scalloped edge paper plates, fun glasses, bright napkins and then to finish off the look, a cute little take-home gift. Each of our young guests will get to take home this darling little flower pot filled with real Easter grass and planted in the middle is a tasty chocolate lollipop!

At the center of the table is Oriental Trading’s long wood box filled with lush green wheat grass and surrounded by tiny purple wax flowers. This Easter grass will come in handy when we’re hiding Easter eggs throughout the house, but for now it’s a gorgeous living centerpiece. 

This versatile wooden box can be filled with so many different plants, flowers and candles and it can even be painted a fun color for a future holiday table. 

Each place setting is ready with fun scalloped edge paper plates in mint green, hot pink napkins, and our little chocolate friend that’s all planted and ready to bring smiles to young faces. 

This “Easter Grass” keeps growing, so the kids will have fun giving it a haircut! They can even draw silly faces on the pots when they get home and they’ll have a new easy to take care of little pet! And there’s no mess like you have with traditional Easter grass. That stuff is soooo messy!

I love the adorable moss bunnies that I got at Home Goods. They’re simple but have lots of personality. 

Next to those are the silver lanterns. I use them so much year long! I always have candles in them and they’re one of my favorite ways to add a little ambiance when evening arrives. 

They even look great outside the front door lighting the way for guests.

Setting the table is easy with just a few key components to get you started. These little pots were so easy to put together and really only took a few minutes to make.

I’m so looking forward to Easter with the family! What are your plans? Will you be hosting a group at your home?

And, it all came together like this: 

 Dinner Plates: Wedgwood

 Scalloped Edge Paper Plates: Oriental Trading

Napkins: World Market

Flatware: World Market

Water Glasses: vintage

Wooden Flower Box: Oriental Trading

Flower Pots: Oriental Trading

Wheat Grass: Mother’s Market

Chocolate Bunny Lollipops: Oriental Trading

Flowers: Trader Joe’s

Moss Bunnies: Home Goods

Eggs in Nest: Home Goods

Silver Lanterns: Oriental Trading

Market Basket: French Basketeer

Salt & Pepper Shakers: vintage

Pink Lemonade: Trader Joe’s 

Here are some of the other looks I’ve 
put together using pieces from Oriental Trading.

ciao! fabiana

Thank you to Oriental Trading for sending me these products to review. 

The opinions expressed in this post are truly my own.

a rose gold christmas tablescape

Do you ever get inspired by a little something that just catches your eye? When this rose gold glitter table runner got my attention, I knew I wanted to base my whole  Christmas tablescape around this fun piece. 

I don’t know what it is about me pretty shiny objects… I’m a pretty focused person normally, but when a little sparkle catches my eye, I drop everything and just go all in!  Especially at Christmastime.

These sweet vintage-inspired Santa ornaments were the perfect little whimsical touch that my table needed and I love that they come in three different pastel metallic shades, silver, rose gold and a soft verdigris.

The juxtaposition of the sparkling glitter works perfectly with the natural wood tones of the charger plates and the flatware. The wood texture naturally grounds the table and makes it less formal and more fun! 

This copper lantern set adds a little bit of old-fashioned charm to the table. I found that copper and rose gold work perfectly together and a little silver compliments the other metallic tones. 

Then to tie everything together, I chose  one single variety of evergreen to keep things simplified.

These little Santas have the cutest expressions! 

Just the right amount of color and vintage style was added to the table with these Snowy Trees napkins from World Market. I love how they look with the simple wood handled flatware, also from World Market.  

Oriental Trading has these beautiful snowy large sisal trees this year, so I ordered them right away, without hesitation! You can’t have too many bottle brush trees, and these are a really nice size. The color goes amazingly well with all my holiday decor!

I also found this pretty little set of pierced rose gold votive candle holders at Oriental Trading. These sparkle on the table and look gorgeous with the rose gold table runner.

I’m really happy with how this whole look came together.

Simple, fun and little glamorous!

Now I just have to concentrate of finishing my shopping and planning my Christmas menu. What do you traditionally have for Christmas dinner? This year I’m thinking of either making paella or a nice shepherd’s pie for Christmas eve.

We usually have our big meal on Christmas eve, and then we plan on ordering Chinese food on Christmas day. We did that last year and it worked out great! It was a Christmas gift to me not to have to cook another dinner, just like in the movie “A Christmas Story”.

I can’t believe Christmas is next week!

How’s your holiday prep going? 

ciao! fabiana

And it all came together like this:

Dinner Plates:  Home Goods

WoodBaroque Charger Plates: World Market

Green Glasses:  vintage

Snowy Trees Napkins:  World Market

Wood Handle Flatware:  World Market

Copper Lantern Set: Oriental Trading

Pierced Rose Gold Votive Set: Oriental Trading

White Sisal Bottle Brush Trees: Oriental Trading

Santa Ornaments:  World Market

Rose Gold Glitter Runner: Oriental Trading

Rose Gold Glass Ornaments: Kurt Adler

Spiky silver Ornaments: Crate and Barrel

White Pillar Candles: Amazon

Thank you to Oriental Trading for sending me these products to review. 

The opinions expressed in this post are truly my own.

a flamingle pool party

According to the urban dictionary,

a flamingle is a combination of flirting and mingling,

but in this case, it’s just a little mingle

amongst the flamingos, 

with a little swimming thrown into the mix!

So here's how I set the scene for
our latest pool party...

To set the table for this fabulous pink soirée,
I started with luau style raffia placemats

and large palm leaves that look

like philodendron leaves.

They’re perfect for a fun summer party! 

Always a great standby for any party are
a great set of clear glass plates.

You may recognize them from 
some of the other tables I've shared on the blog.

They're so versatile, match any style and theme,
and are one of my all-time favorite
tablescape accessories.

Well, look at how they work here...
the beauty of the palm leaf comes shining through
but the glass adds a much needed dose of elegance.

It's so fun to mix high and low pieces on a table.

The little inflatable 
flamingo drink holders were a must for this table.

As soon as I spotted them in the Oriental Trading catalog,

I had to have them for table...

and I ordered a few extras for the pool.

They’re soooo cute!

I love how these little flamingos add

just the right touch of whimsy

to the table.

At the center of the table are

two more friendly little flamingos

that are part of the centerpiece.

These guys came in a set of four,

with two large ones (mom & dad)

and two smaller ones (the kidlets).

I just cut a few leaves from my sago palm

and used two blocks of floral foam as a base

to create a little nesting area

for this pair of flamingos.

Some bougainvillea adds 
a bit more pink.

Bright paper lanterns are always a festive accent

and they look so pretty swaying in the breeze..

Seeing these little guys floating around

just makes me smile.

The larger flamingos are out near the

pool keeping an eye on the festivities, and

I don’t think a pool party is

complete without a few fun beach balls.

I also set up a few cocktail

tables around the pool for extra seating.

Lavender lemonade will be on the menu

to help keep thing cool.

You know me and my succulents, 

well I found the cutest pink succulents

that make the perfect accent for the smaller tables.

BTW, they're faux!

I'm not the only one who's a big fan 

of my new flamingo accessories, 

my dogs got really excited about the 

new inflatable flamingos in the pool.

They actually thought they were real

 and started barking up a storm!

And little Dugan was the biggest culprit...

wishing you a fabulous weekend!

ciao! fabiana

And it all came together like this:

Luau Place Mats:  Oriental Trading
Large Palm Leaves:  Oriental Trading
Inflatable Flamingo Drink Holders:  Oriental Trading
Bright Beach Balls:  Oriental Trading
Pink Napkins: World Market

Pink Glasses:  vintage
Clear Glass Plates:  vintage

Bamboo Flatware:  ebay
Flamingo Party Tea Towels:  Ciao Blog Shop

Paper Lanterns:  Oriental Trading
Bistro Chairs:  Serena & Lily
Faux Succulents:  World Market

Thank you to Oriental Trading for sending me these products to review. 

The opinions expressed in this post are truly my own.

Unique Gifts & Accessories for Everyone on Your List at Cost Plus World Market.