A Christmas Affair - Modern & Vintage Holiday Party

Photography by Sarah Romohr

I am so excited to share this party with you today!  Last week, I shared my version of a kid’s Gingerbread house decorating party, but we all know Moms love to decorate too! 

Last December, I hosted a ladies Christmas party for my friends.  We had hot cocoa and treats, talked about the Christmases of our childhoods, and decorated our gingerbread houses and cookies.  It was a perfect Mother’s Morning Out!

This party is extra special to me, not only because I got to celebrate with my lady friends, but because it was featured as the cover story for Mingle Magazine! Yes! Pinch me please!!

I hosted the party at one of my favorite venues in the Austin area, One Eleven East.  It was the perfect location for this party, because I wanted to give this celebration a mix of modern and vintage flair.

To bring my vision of this party to life, I used suitcases, cookie cutters, and toys that had the retro look I was going for.  The vintage items came from a lovely little shop, called The Nest Box.

Because we were going to be decorating gingerbread houses and cookies, I thought incorporating things like the red mixer,  cooking utensils, and the oversized gingerbread cookie cutter would be a perfect addition. I really wanted to make this huge shelf looked cozy and festive.

The invitation is the first impression you give your guests of your party.  It can really set the tone for your celebration.  I went with invitations from Ship Party Return, I’m so glad I did, they were just perfect!  In fact, all my paper goods for this party came from Ship Party Return, from my banner to my cups to my cupcake toppers and more!

I used buffalo check throughout this party.  I used it in the invitations, the banner, and on the gift bags.  It’s always nice to have a unifying pattern in different places throughout the party, it really helps bring everything together.

As I’m sure you know, Buffalo Check is so trendy this holiday season.  The black and white, with the use of red really pops, and gave this Christmas party the modern and vintage look I was going for. 

To add some more color, I used a robins egg blue, hints of green, and turquoise as well. 

The Hot Cocoa station was really the star of this show.  I mixed up two carafes of hot chocolate and paired them with toppings like marshmallows, caramel, chocolate chips, and peppermint candies. 

I served the hot cocoa toppings in small mason type jars, with wooden spoons.  I also added some adorable buffalo check Christmas tree cut outs, topped with red bows and added them to my wooden spoons, then I tied the jars with ribbons and string. 

If you’ve been watching my Instagram lately, you’ll already know that I love hot cocoa stations!  I usually set one up in our house every year!

No good holiday party would be complete without tons of delicious treats!  I served assorted sweets including cakes, meringues, cookies, chocolate mousses, and more!  Many of our desserts came from the wonderful Latin Bakery Austin.

Can we talk about how cute these Santa Claus Macarons are?  I got them from El pan y la Sal.  I think they add just the right amount of whimsy to my table.

Another hit of our Christmas party was the beautiful Macaron Tree which I had made at Polka Dots Cupcake Factory.  They filled the tree with yummy macarons, cookies, and more that coordinated perfectly with my color scheme!

To get all my guests inspired, I added several professionally decorated houses to my table.  I chose houses from Rommy Cacho.  Aren’t they just beautiful? And they’re all so unique!

There’s just so much to love about this party, everywhere you look a little bit of whimsy, and a touch of Christmas cheer.

I hope my happy little Christmas party has inspired you to host a holiday celebration for your friends.  I think it’s always a good idea to get together and celebrate friendship especially during the holidays!

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How are you celebrating this year? Let me know in the comments below!

Vendor Credits

Venue:  One Eleven East
Coordination and Styling: Mint Event Design  
Paper Goods: Ship Party Return
Assorted Desserts: Latin Bakery Austin 
Macaron Tree: Polka Dots Cupcake Factory
Santa's Macarons: El pan y la Sal
Gingerbread Houses: Rommy Cacho
Vintage Finds: The Nest Box

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