Modern Holiday Gift Guide: Hostess

Happy Friday! With the Holidays in full swing, I created a few modern gift guides hoping to make shopping a little more fun and easy. 'Tis the season of parties! Whenever I go over a friends house for a get-together I try and bring a little gift to celebrate the hostess: bottle of wine, small plant or flowers. With the Holidays its fun to mix up the hostess gifts beyond 'the norm'. I've rounded up 12 Modern Hostess gifts that are fun and affordable, all the gifts are under $20 bucks. 

1. Wood Light Letter Block so cute & fun 2. But First Coffee To-Go Mug  3. Secret Garden Coloring Book 4. Gold Measuring Spoons 5. Moon Trinket Dish isn't the shape & box just too cute! 6. Bunny Bottle Opener 7. Prisma Picture Frame 8. O.K. Vase add flowers to make the gift extra special 9. Gold Pear Candle on sale! 10. Darling Winter Travel Mug 11. Suede Tassel Keychain 12. Milk & Cookies Mug I'm so getting this mug for my kiddos!

Over the weekend I'm sharing four more Modern Gift Guides full of unique fun gift ideas for your loved ones. Have your already started your Holiday shopping? What's on your personal wish list this year? 

Christmas Porch with The Home Depot

I'm so excited to finally share my front porch I decorated for Christmas for The Home Depot Holiday Style Challenge. Here's a little glimpse of my front porch all decked in Holiday cheer. I can't wait to for you to see my entire front porch, please hop over to The Home Depot Apron to see the full reveal here. If you haven't visited The Home Depot blog this season, you'll be in a for a fantastic treat. They're so many lovely spaces decorated for Christmas. 

Easy Holiday Cheese Board

Over the summer, I started making super simple cheese boards for my family to enjoy while watching movies. Cheese boards are fun and so easy to make, especially during the Holidays. Cheese boards can easily whipped together to serve as an appetizer in a few minutes, which is essential during the busy Holiday season. Not only are they festive and colorful they're fun to eat and pleasing to the eye. 

On Thanksgiving with our turkey was taking forever to cook, my husband bought a huge turkey this year; I swear it took four hours to cook. While waiting on the turkey to cook, I decided to put together a last minute cheese platter that was kid friendly for my family to enjoy. My family loved it and it was a hit with both adults and kids. Check out my Thanksgiving Cheese Board here. Today, I'm sharing my tips on putting together a cheese board that's delicious and kid and adult friendly. 

One of my go-to places for stocking a pantry & fridge full of cheese board ready items is Trader Joe's. I love their assortment of crackers, cheeses, meats and fruits. One of the keys to creating a crowd friendly cheese board is a having a good mix of cheese, meats, fruits and crackers. Below, is my cheese board broken down by the numbers.

  1. Candied Cashews
  2. Swiss Cheese cut into cubes
  3. Trader Joe's Savory Thins 
  4. Spreadable Goat Cheese 
  5. Trader Joe's Brioche Crackers (so good with cheese spread on top) 
  6. Mixture of green & red seedless grapes 
  7. Chorizo (fold over large meats to make them space saving on the board) 
  8. Dry Salami
  9. Trader Joe's Multi Grain crackers
  10. Mild Cheddar Cheese 
  11. Prosciutto
  12. Dried Plums (Dried Fruit: plums or apricot) 
  • STYLE TIP: To create visually appealing cheese board, use a large cutting board and place grapes in the center of your board and artfully arrange; crackers, cheeses, meats around the grapes. Place nuts in small colorful bowl to reside on your cutting board.
  • Kid Friendly Tip: Skip the fancy cheese and opt for crowd pleasing cheese. Have at least two fruit options, one fresh and one dried. 

Wine + Cheese boards in my opinion, go together like peanut butter & jelly. I couldn't resist sharing one of my favorite sparkling wines in one of the prettiest bottles. 

My number one tip for a good cheese board, is making sure you can replenish often! What's your go-to easy Holiday appetizer?