Sometimes…okay most of the time, when I entertain I can go a little overboard.  Particularly when it is Halloween.  I often say I am turning into my mother but much much worse.  I can remember my mother wanting us to dust when company was coming over and I always thought she was completely nuts.  Now I totally understand.  Although I still can’t really get behind dusting.  It just seems so dumb.  When people are coming over I want my house clean, obviously, but I also want it to be welcoming and for people to feel special.  I have literally lost sleep over this.  I don’t want you guys to be as crazy as me.  So Colleen and I came up with a list of a few quick and easy things that will automatically make any event seem more special.

1. {Make a Signature Drink}  And call it something cute.  If you have the foresight to buy one of those big drink dispensers or another type of large pitcher, it makes it even easier because you can just dump a bunch of junk in before the party and call it a day.  Sangria is perfect for this.  There are plenty of drinks that just use wine or sparkling wine/champagne and some fruit juice and jazz.  No need to even hit the liquor store.  The drink we made for the occasion shown in the pictures was called Sarasota Lemonade.  It was pink, which was enough for us.  Here is the recipe that I got from a blog called The Pampered Jes.

Ingredients:
– 2 bottles Moscato
– 1 pink lemonade concentrate
– 3 C of Sprite (more or less, depending on your taste)
– Fresh raspberries

Empty all the liquid ingredients into a pitcher and stir.  Then mash around half the raspberries and put them in.  Use other raspberries as garnish.

2.  {Pretty Straws}  This is mega easy.  Buy them (in advance) and stick them all in a cup or glass of some sort in the vicinity of your beauty drink.  Some people will use them.  Some people won’t.  Either way it will make your party more festive and cute, and then you can use the ones that are left for your next event.

3.  {Signs for Food}  You can write on card stock in your most favorite pen and either fold over or punch out and place in a placecard holder.  Or you can buy some chalkboard placecards to have on hand that can be re-used and written on with chalk.  I like these.  Making little signs doesn’t take any more than a few minutes, especially if you just choose a few special items (like maybe the appetizers or dessert), and it definitely adds to fanciness.

4.  {Big White Platter for Appetizers}  Now we have watched Martha and the Barefoot Contessa enough to know that colorful food always looks best on white plates.  But sometimes if you have a bunch of small plates all together on the counter it can look cluttered.  That’s why we like the idea of trying to fit several different appetizers on one large white platter.  It looks pretty that way, right?  This is the platter we use for everything, which Colleen received as a bridal shower gift.

5.  {Fresh Flowers}  Pop them in a vase, put them on the table or counter and you are done.  As something a little different, we like the idea of colorful vases with white flowers ala our Paint Dripped Mason Jars DIY.

6.  {Create a Playlist}  We have no picture of this and it is always something I forget about until the songs coming on the radio or Ipod is terrible.    Then I want to kick myself.  If you take the time to make a playlist with songs you actually like, you can pretty much have it on stand-by for every occasion.  Then you don’t have to worry about any mortifying situations in which that crappy Paris Hilton song that you downloaded years ago at a moment of weakness pops up on your shuffle.  Not that this would happen to any of us.  Particularly not me.  I pinky swear.