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After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we tend to keep things a bit more casual when it comes to hosting parties over the winter months. An easy yet elegant dinner party is kind of the way to go! (Or a rowdy game day party with lots of snacks. I’m flexible!) Today I’m walking you through my tips for setting the table for just such a dinner party. Think sweet and simple with a casual vibe that will make your friends feel right at home!

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We host Thanksgiving every year at our home and it’s something Bob and I both look forward to all year. Keeping the Thanksgiving celebrations going all weekend long is one of my favorite ways to spend the holiday weekend as we transition into the holiday season. It’s my favorite time of year and filling the house with friends all weekend long makes my soul happy. So today we’re talking Thanksgiving leftovers! Namely, how to use them up along with how to host your friends for a day after Thanksgiving party featuring a menu starring all your favorite leftovers. Today I’ve teamed up with Dixie Plates to share my seriously epic leftover stuffing dumplings and how you can turn your Thanksgiving weekend into a weekend-long holiday extravaganza!

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It’s no secret that I love a good game day tailgate party! Bringing people together to share in the spirit of camaraderie while munching on good food and watching the game is never going to get old to me. Want to make your party prep super simple? Host your tailgate party as a slow cooker challenge! Today I’ve teamed up with Dixie Plates to share my tips for just how to do that and my recipe for the best slow cooker tacos perfect for your next game day get together.

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My love for entertaining comes from a deeply rooted passion for bringing people together in celebration and in love. It’s for that reason I love the Friendsgiving trend of recent years as a way to welcome the friends you love to your table and into your home. Today I’ve teamed up with Bed Bath & Beyond to inspire your own Friendsgiving feast, but with a slight twist. We’re ditching the turkey in lieu of brunch with a spread of food that will have you passing over your roaster pan in favor of the waffle maker. My hope is that you’ll spy something here (like perhaps my spinach and broccolini goat cheese quiche recipe) that will move you to send out a group text that says something along the lines of, “Hi, friends. Come on over. Let’s do brunch.”

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I’m a sucker for fall and football season, due in large part to the awesome football parties my parents used to host when we were kids. Today I’ve teamed up with my friends at Walmart to share my take on a festive fall tailgate party layered with cozy fabrics and featuring the yummiest foods! You can take these ideas to the backyard, to the stadium or to the living room parked right in front of the television. The idea here is to channel both the essence of fall and the spirit of football season. Plus, dessert! We have lots and lots of dessert today.

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Late summer is one of my very favorite times of year. The sun hangs low and golden, the produce is at its best and the evenings get just a teensy bit cooler, promising of fall. Now that the kids are back at school and everyone is working back into old routines, casual dinner parties at home replace big barbecues as my party of choice. Today I’m teaming up with my friends at Prairie Organic Spirits and sharing my take on a farm to table dinner party, inspired by your weekly CSA share or a trip to the farmer’s market. This is summer at its very finest!

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When we’re entertaining, Bob and I start the same way every single time – by brainstorming the menu. We can have epically long discussions about what to serve for Thanksgiving dinner while sitting on a boat in the blazing hot sun in July. But right now, the earth is melting. It’s actually threatening to melt at any minute, at which point the floor will literally turn to lava and we’ll be undone. It is so hot this summer! While I’m loving it, I basically don’t want to cook. Ever. We’re living off sandwiches, salads, watermelon and big jars full of ice water in our house and I have no shame. Even standing over a grill sounds entirely unappealing. Short of ordering pizza delivery, which is an entirely valid option, this sandwich board is your answer for your next party! You don’t have to cook, you barely have to prep anything. It’s the very definition of life saving when you have a party coming up and the earth is melting.

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After Christmas, hands down my favorite holiday of all time is the 4th of July! I’m a sucker for all the summery nostalgia from the fireworks to the 4th of July desserts to the stars and stripes to the requisite ice cream cones and backyard picnics. I recently teamed up with Walmart to host the most festive modern Americana inspired 4th of July party and today I’m sharing all the details! I loaded the backyard with great finds from Walmart, created the prettiest spread of 4th of July decorations and loaded up on the appropriately themed menu items like red, white and blue desserts and watermelon cut into stars. My favorite part is that just about every single thing you see here, from the place settings to the decor to the food to the fashion selections, can all be found at Walmart!

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If you’re reading this chances are good that you’re pretty well versed on my love for entertaining. Bringing people together over a great meal is a true passion for me, and luckily my husband agrees. The result of two people who love to cook and spend time with friends? We entertain a lot. And by “a lot,” I mean as often as a few times a month. I get asked all the time about how we do that, and the answer is that we keep it simple! Sure, there are times that we cook an intricate meal, but most of the time I’m a huge advocate of pulling together a spread that is wow-worthy without taking all day to prepare. One of my favorite entertaining ideas is any kind of “make your own” food station, in this case an awesome pasta bar that I created shopping exclusively at Walmart! The beauty of this pasta bar is how quickly it comes together, how amazingly convenient it is to pick everything up in one shopping trip and how tasty the end results are! Your friends and your kids will go crazy for this one, and the prep time is totally minimal. This is my kind of dinner party!

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