Hostess with the Mostess™

If you’re in the bridal market or know someone who is, Indie Fixx has a great Summer Wedding Guide posted right now that features fabulous finds for everything from cool shoes, jewelry, and invitations to creative gift ideas for the happy couple!

I’ve been getting a lot of email inquiries about bridal showers and where to find things lately, so I thought it might make sense to start posting a few of them on the blog once in a while in case other readers have similar questions and might be interested in the answers as well…so here’s the first one, which comes from Tia, and is regarding chinese paper lanterns and a citrus shower theme…

{Reader Question}
“…I know there are a ton of chinese lanterns out there - I’m just wondering If there is a website you recommend for different types of chinese lanterns, I was looking for yellow. Also I’m throwing a baby shower and going for a citrus theme, lemons, limes and oranges, from looking through your site I have some great ideas. I was thinking hurricane vases with lemons, limes and oranges in them and going with yellow tulips for the flowers. Anything else you can think of would be great!…” – Tia

{HWTM Response}
Hi Tia -
Here are a couple places where you should be able to find the paper lanterns you need:
http://www.shojidecor.com/
http://www.paperlanternstore.com/section.html

I actually threw a citrus-themed bridal shower for a friend last year – so I attached a few pictures from that shower here in case they help. Her favorite color is orange so it was an orange-citrus theme, but lemons and limes are great to work with as well and enable you to incorporate even more colors into the theme. Anyways, one of the accent vases was lined with orange slices – which might be what you’re thinking doing for the tulip vases too. (There’s a skinnier vase within the bigger outer vase, and the slices were dropped into the space between the 2 vase walls, which is what keeps them in place.) For the table centerpieces, I used simple bowls of oranges with little white flowers tucked around in different spots - and gave them some height by flipping smaller bowls upside down to create a “pedastal” for the big bowl.

Also – Izze soda packaging is so great and makes the best party décor just by itself They make clementine, grapefruit, and lemon flavors that are the perfect colors & flavors for a citrus shower.

Good luck with the party!

The Recipe Box feature has launched at hostesswiththemostess.com! We’re really excited about this addition to the site and hope you like it! You’ll find lots of yummy recipes and great pictures for everything from main appetizers to cocktails & desserts - all from fantastic cookbooks and cooking-saavy readers/bloggers - and more are coming soon! Click here to check it out…

Designer Jessica Rust recently wrote in to introduce her fantastic line of cool, contemporary dinnerware - rabbit toes - which can be personalized in a very unique way! The personalization actually looks like part of the artwork in a lot of the avalailable designs. For example - check out this “birch” design below - where you can add you and your SO’s initials so it actually looks like they’re carved into the tree! What a fun, creative idea for a wedding or anniversary gift!

There are tons of designs available for all types of occasions and celebrations - from There are tons of designs available for all types of occasions and celebrations - from weddings to birthdays to modern silhouettes of your kids and more! Click here to check out all of the collection at http://www.rustdesigns.com/index.html.

…and don’t forget your best friends! Jessica also recently launched a new collection of …and don’t forget your best friends! Jessica also recently launched a new collection of dog and cat mugs (also available for customization) for those of you that just can’t get enough of your pets…like me

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! In case you’re wondering who won last week’s Surprise Giveaways, here are the lucky readers:

notNeutral (City Map Plates): jane maynard and patty optiz

Delight.com “1 for me, 1 for a friend”: funky finds

Bunny Maxwell (Simrin Table Linens): willikat

Winners…please send me an email with your shipping info and “I’m a Winner!” in the subject line.

And for everyone… Delight.com has generously offered to give hwtm readers a discount code for 15% off all orders over $30 through June 31st! So even if you didn’t win the giveaway, at least you (and your friends!) can receive a special deal on the “delightful” stuff you just gotta have… Remember - new items pop up daily at Delight! Just enter promo code “HostessFriends” at checkout to get your discount

This cool minimalist dishware from neutrino designs comes in 7 different patterns reminiscent of the charts and graphs you might have studied back in physics class. Funny - I don’t recall science homework being nearly this appealing! Check out the entire collection for yourself at Art Star Gallery & Boutique.

These fun springin’ garden plates and funky pear gift set from Bright & Bold are the perfect excuses to entertain outdoors! (both made from durable melamine)

**BBQ ideas and some fun wedding articles are still coming (on the main website and/or here) and will be posted at various times throughout the weekend and coming week! Hopefully you’ll be out enjoying the weather for your holiday weekend, but in the case that you find yourself stuck in-doors, we’ll have something new for you to look at

I really hope you guys aren’t tired of giveaways… because I have a FANTASTIC one to tell you about right now! Bunny Maxwell - a hip online shop featuring everything from cool kitchen & dining accessories to fantastic gift wrap, designer bedding and more - is generously offering up this super-mod table linen set by Simrin! One lucky reader will receive this large 60″x90″ handmade Surya tablecloth and a matching set of 4 napkins…in a sunny yellow color that’s perfect for summer entertaining… Just post a comment here by Sunday, May 27th at midnight PST for your chance to win!

Here’s a little sampling of some more great stuff you’ll find at Bunny Maxwell…

Okay…the winners are in! If you see your name here - please send me an email with your shipping info and “I’m a winner!” in the subject line. Here goes:

Cecily Ink card files: tami h. and sarah

Whitney English personalized clipboards/notepads: janice and doug

Violet giveaway package: shannon

Paper Shop Ink - Tobi Wood journals/notecards: rosie & andy and lisa

Hen and Barley personalized notecards/labels: mandy

Sprinkles owl notecards: jenmomof4, longingheart, and becky

Doodle Bugs gift certificate: misschris

phew! that actually took a while to put together Thanks so much to EVERYONE that entered - it was so much fun to read all the comments and – even if you didn’t win – I hope you still enjoyed the eye candy and discovered some cute stationery for the future…! A big thanks to the participating vendors as well!

…fabulous origami and peacock-inspired melamine dishes for summer entertaining!

Just imagine a complete tabletop set with one of these melamine collections and some funky flowers in modern vases….maybe even incorporating some blue feathers to the peacock version!