Well, October is officially here, which for me, means the start of “entertaining season.” I love this time of year when there are back-to-back holidays to celebrate with family and friends. The weather finally starts cooling off in Nashville, and I really look forward to entertaining outdoors again. It’s time to pull out the fall decor, and get ready for all things pumpkin, apple, and cinnamon. But y’all know me, and I’m not going to make anything from scratch or spend hours decorating and setting up events. What I will do, is source the best vendors and resources to make things look and taste fabulous without having to stress over all of it myself. I’ve got so much going on this time of year with my kids, that it would be impossible to actually enjoy the holidays and host others (the way I want to) if I didn’t delegate. So, to make things easy for y’all, I teamed up with one of my new favorite friends and fellow delegation-specialist blogger, Cristin Cooper, to create more fall entertaining content than you could possibly need. We styled multiple tablescapes with countless amazing sources to get you through the next two months. We had a blast working together, and I think you will love everything we’ll be sharing in the upcoming weeks. However, so I don’t overwhelm you too many with pumpkins and turkeys all at once, let’s start by sharing our uber-stylish and very easy cocktail spread.
We wanted to display our cocktail set-up on a console table, to show you that you don’t need a huge space to set-out drinks and small bites. To add some color to the table in the easiest way possible, we started by laying out one of the gorgeous versatile throws from Turkish T.
I’ve also recently worn this throw as a “wrap,” as the colors and weight are perfect for this time of year. Gotta love a dual-purpose piece! I’ve been seeing more true “table throws” available recently, so I guess it must becoming a popular alternative to a traditional tablecloth that covers the entire table. We actually used one we found from Pottery Barn on another table we styled for fall entertaining, but you will have to wait a little longer for that one. Ugh, I know- waiting is hard…
Okay, back to THIS table. For drinks, when serving a larger group of people (which for me, is more than 4 people), Cristin and I both recommend making a specialty drink by the batch, so that people can serve themselves. Once again, I’m not a mixologist by any means, so I defer to very basic recipes or cocktail mixes all the time. I’m currently obsessed with Trisha Yearwood’s cocktail mixes which can be found at William Sonoma. We of course used her “Autumn in a Cup” which you combine with Vodka or Rum for a light early-fall beverage. You can serve it warm too, but since it’s still relatively warm outside in Nashville, it’s nice to have a chilled drink. You can garnish it with oranges like you see here, and served up our festive beverage in the William Sonoma Glass Pumpkin with matching Pumpkin Glasses. This pumpkin “punch bowl” is EVERYTHING. It’s great for beverages hot or cold, and I used mine last year to serve up non-alcoholic apple cider (pre-made from the grocery store of course) for my kids’ Halloween party after they went trick-or-treating with friends. Point is- we use it all the way through Thanksgiving, so it’s worth the money.
Now onto the SNACKS. If you don’t know that fabulous charcuterie boards are all the rage right now, then you’re clearly not on Instagram or Pinterest! They’re everywhere, and I’m really okay with it, since I love a good charcuterie board as they are both beautiful and delicious. And just like batch cocktails, they make it easy for guests to serve themselves, so you aren’t stuck running to and from the kitchen replenishing trays or passing them out yourself. Of course there are countless tutorials out there on how to make your own amazing charcuterie board, but I called in one of our local pro’s- The Nashville Cheese Gal.
Clothing Sources