How Small Gatherings Lead to Meaningful Connections
When it comes to gatherings, less is more.
Hosting Tips
The Art of Hosting: Ariel Kaye’s Tips on Creating a Cozy, Inviting Space
It’s easier than you think.
Everything You Need to Host the Ultimate Christmas Movie Night
Might just be your coziest night of the year.
The Biggest Holiday Hosting Hurdles—And How to Overcome Them With Ease
Perfectionists, listen up.
5 Beautiful Thanksgiving Tables to Inspire Your Setting This Year
Simple, stunning and so easy to recreate.
A Laid-Back Mother’s Day Brunch—3 Simple, Make-Ahead Recipes for Celebrating
Plus a stunningly simple tablescape.
Staying In for New Year’s Eve? Here Are 20 Ideas for At-Home Fun
Staying in > going out.
3 Holiday Appetizers for Hosting a Simple (and Festive!) Gathering
Step 1: make a Target run.
Modern Thanksgiving Dinner
Planning the Thanksgiving menu is one of my favorite activities of the holiday season, and I fully embrace the challenge of satisfying the traditionalists in my family (yes Dad, cranberry jelly will be happening) while following my own impulse to put a modern spin on a few of the dishes. Today’s menu is what I’d be […]
Lavender Fields Cocktail
Most people think of lavender as a summertime ingredient, but once it’s been dried it can be a wonderfully subtle drink garnish in the fall. Dried florals in general feel like autumn to me, reminiscent of wreaths and golden fields. This year we’ve partnered with Terlato Wines to create a lavender-inspired fall cocktail using their […]
10 Best Halloween Cocktails
Just a few days out from Halloween and the anticipation around the office could be cut with a knife! Most of our Halloween prep — costumes, decorations, sweets — is checked off the list, which leaves us with the final to-do item: the booze. There’s absolutely no better way to spook your guests than with creepy crawly (but still delicious!) […]
How to Make Your Own Sugar Skulls
When Veuve Clicquot first came to us with the challenge of creating a chic Day of the Dead party concept, we weren’t quite sure where to start. Flower crowns? Nah. Skull face paint? Too overdone. An abundant buffet? We did it last year. But as soon as our brainstorm ventured over to the holiday’s sugar skull […]
A Modern Botanical Baby Shower
You couldn’t script a friendship story sweeter than that of Emily Owen and Rachelle Schwartz. The duo first met at a private design studio and immediately hit it off. Fast forward 11 years: they’re still besties, plus the head honchos behind a successful paper studio, and currently, both expecting. Fairytale friendship, right? Our whole team was in […]
DIY David Bowie Face Paint
If you saw last week’s special on 3 Genius Eye Makeup Tutorials then you know we’re total suckers for makeup-based costumes. Makeup can be so transformative, and (added bonus) gets you out of spending money on an expensive costume. This Ziggy Stardust-inspired look is even better, because you can create it entirely using products you […]
Magician’s Assistant
In our ever-changing city, few establishments (no matter how great) are truly able to span decades. Maybe it’s because Austin’s nightlife is a bit nebulous and always on the move. People go from one hotspot to the next, one style of music to a newer one, one part of town to the hipper, grungier one. […]
Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls
I know, pumpkin spice everything has invaded the interwebs this month, but c’mon: it only comes around once a year and the season is so fleeting! And I’m #sorrynotsorry that we’re just going to keep the pumpkin train going for 6 more weeks until we’re officially sick of it. You’ll forgive me once you’ve laid […]
Halloween Party for Grown-Ups
When I took a poll last month about which seasonal menus you’d love to get a little help with, “Adult Halloween Party” was one of the most frequent requests. I’m right there with you: it can be really tough to find the balance between spooky and sophisticated, and while you want to infuse the menu with […]
3 Genius Halloween Eye Makeup Tutorials
I love the idea of a Halloween costume created using makeup — instead of having to go out and buy a crazy getup you’ll never wear again, why not use it as an opportunity to stock your makeup drawer with a few new items that can add a fun twist to your usual morning routine? […]
Witchy Woman
Even if Halloween isn’t your thing, it’s pretty hard to deny the aesthetic intrigue of a witchy woman. According to The Eagles, she’s got “raven hair and ruby lips, sparks flying from her fingertips,” but I’d like to think of the modern day version as a cross between Stevie Nicks, Florence Welch and all four leading ladies […]
Easy Homemade Caramel Corn
It doesn’t feel like fall until I’ve eaten ______. How would you fill in the blank? For me, it’s caramel apples, pumpkin everything, a steaming mug of chai tea, and sweet-spicy-crunchy caramel corn. I think it reminds me of the fall carnivals we used to have at school growing up, where everyone dressed up and there […]
Safari Couple’s Costume
This was truly one of the easiest costumes I’ve ever put together (and it’s also one of my favorites since Rosebud the Kitten is involved.) When brainstorming ideas for duo costumes I was thinking about famously cool couples in history. I kept going back to Martin and Osa Johnson, the explorers and documentary filmmakers who […]
The Kissing Sailor Couple’s Costume
Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1945 photo of a sailor kissing a woman in a white dress is one of the most famous photographs ever taken, and one of our all-time favorites. “The Kiss” (or “V-J Day in Times Square”) was taken shortly after President Truman announced Japan’s surrender during WWII. While many photographers posed their subjects kissing […]
A League of Their Own Costume
Okay, so this costume has been on our collective Halloween bucket lists since, like, 4th grade. We don’t just love Penny Marshall’s 1992 flick about girls playing baseball for all the great quotes — it’s the incredible 1940’s costuming, hair, and makeup that put this film on our all-star style list as well. Ever since […]
Shipwrecked Couple’s Costume
From Lost to Castaway to Survivor to Gilligan’s Island, I’d say our culture has a bit of an obsession with the idea of being stranded on a desert island. I’m personally guilty of being inexplicably fascinated by the (not very possible) possibility of being washed ashore on an uncharted isle and having to fight for survival: […]
“The Dress” Partner Costume
It was the biggest viral phenomenon of 2015, meaning it’s just begging for an homage this Halloween. I’ll never forget the moment my brother showed me a photo of a dress and asked what colors I saw (team #whiteandgold, by the way)… thirty minutes later, the internet had lost its collective mind over this thing. I mean, […]
Tablecloth Turned Haunted Playhouse
If you were to crawl under the table at my mother’s house and look up, you’d find the space filled with childhood hieroglyphics that my siblings and I left behind. For whatever reason, a boring piece of paper or coloring book wasn’t enough of an attraction for our crayons, colored pencils and markers, and their tips […]
Monster Favor Bags
Ah, the magic of googly eyes. How is it that they’re so simple, yet as soon as they’re placed on any inanimate object, it’s brought to life? I love testing that theory around the office — sticking googlies on computers and soda cans and lampshades — and it’s proven true every single time. So for Halloween this […]
Football Watch Party
Call me a fair-weather fan, but I equate football season with one thing: parties! Whether you’re inviting friends to gather around the tv in your living room, or meeting people at a genuine pre-game tailgate, the common denominator is good drinks and really great food. A lot of you guys have been asking for menu ideas […]