On the lookout for some pretty new holiday dessert ideas? Check out the lovely – and mouth-watering! – ideas in BHG’s Irresistable Holiday Cakes and Cupcakes gallery.

The gallery features 21 different recipes and also includes ideas that would work well for Thanksgiving, like this gorgeous Chocolate Harvest Cake and elegant Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream:

And these lovely red and white cakes and cupcakes would actually be great for Christmas AND Valentine’s Day…

Click here to check out the entire slideshow at BHG!

There’s something so inviting and “wintery” about the look of white chocolate, which makes it perfect for holiday treats! Here are a few yummy recipes links for all my fellow sweet tooth friends out there…ENJOY!

Pictured above, clockwise from top left:
• White Chocolate Truffle and Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
• White Chocolate Tiramisu Trifle with Spiced Pears
• White Chocolate Cheesecake with White Chocolate Brandy Sauce
• White Chocolate Amaretto Cake

Pictured above: Paula Deen’s White Hot Chocolate and Rachael Ray’s White Chocolate-Rum Shake.

Pictured below: White Chocolate Holiday Bark with cranberries & pistachios.

There are some people that are creative with food, and then there are others that are just PURE GENIUS! Bakerella easily falls into the latter category – just take these ridiculously clever “Snow Globe Coca-Cola Cupcakes” for example, which she made from upside-down mini coke bottles, red baking cups, and lots of sweet stuff.  I bet the folks at Coca-Cola are even impressed!  Learn how to make them here.

Thank you so much to everyone who both entered and voted in the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining Contest! More than 900 of you cast your votes(!)… and here’s who you picked as your winners:

1ST PRIZE: Whimsical Christmas by Kendall Shiffler
Prize includes: $1250 Crate and Barrel Gift Card, $250 Entertaining Essentials Prize Pack, one year’s supply of VIVA® paper towels, and more!

2nd PRIZE: Girls’ Night Cocoa Party by Tiffany, Lynne & Dacia (Rexburg, ID)
Prize includes: $500 Crate and Barrel Gift Card, $250 Entertaining Essentials Prize Pack, one year’s supply of VIVA® paper towels, and more!

3rd PRIZE: Retro Christmas DIY Favor / Place Card by Erin Godbey (Greenville, SC)
Kendall’s prize includes: $250 Entertaining Essentials Prize Pack, one year’s supply of VIVA® paper towels, and more!

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A big congrats to the winners and to ALL the finalists – and a heartfelt thank you to everyone to entered – and to VIVA Diva Café for generously sponsoring the contest!

{Update 12/22: Additional contest entries + new giveaways will be featured on the blog soon. Things are a little crazy with the holidays + family stuff + traveling, but they’re definitely still on the post schedule for this month…thanks for your patience!}

First things first – I’d like to sincerely thank every single person that entered the Inspire Me! Holiday Entertaining Contest or passed the word on to friends and family – your efforts are truly appreciated!

Narrowing the entries down proved to be extremely difficult, so thank goodness for the talented & creative minds that graciously signed on to help with the process: Robyn Bomar from Mix Mingle Glow, Amy Belle Isle from Stem Parties, and Jen Berson from Jeneration PR. The 10 finalists are based on which entries had the most overlap from amongst the judges – but I’ll also be featuring the individual lists soon so that you can see who everyone picked…as there was definitely a great mix in the overall group!

For now, though – let’s focus on just the TOP 10 FINALISTS, which are listed below in no particular order.You can vote for YOUR favorites at the bottom of this post! (More details on the entries be found over in the flickr gallery) 

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Girls Night Cocoa Party
Submitted by: TDL (Rexburg, ID)
Judges’ comments included: “Really cute party and wonderful DIY invitation. Looks like a fun party!” / “Love the or concept, details, invitations, adorable chocolate dipped marshmallows, and favors.”

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Retro Christmas Favor / Place Card
Submitted by: Erin Godbey (Greenville, SC)
Judges’ comments included: “I just adore these place card favors. I love that they are so unique and go so perfectly with the retro feel of the entire table. Very well done!” / “love this idea!”

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Whimsical Christmas Party
by: Kendall Shiffler (Dallas, TX)
Judges’ comments included: “cute & colorful” / “creative & affordable” / “true HWTM vibe” / “I’d love to sit at this table – looks like a fun party! ”

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Swanky Snowflake Soiree
Submitted by: Celeste B. (Portland, OR)
Judges’ comments included: “Love this party b/c it’s simple and elegant.” / “Amazingly simple idea to use scrapbook stickers for glass “identifiers”!  Why didn’t I think of that??”

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“Time to Party” New Year’s Eve Bash
Submitted by: Tammy Mitchell (Southern California)
Judges’ comments included: “…the clock invitation is just a fantastic idea!” / “makes a fabulous statement” / “bold and elegant – just like New Year’s Eve should be!”

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“Joy” Digital Inspiration Board
Submitted by: gardenpartynyc (New York, NY)
Judges’ comments included: “festive and fun with a great use of color” / “I feel happy just looking at this – it makes me want to bring the concept to life!” / and “love all the reindeer elements – especially those adorable cookies!”

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Modern Chanukah Tablescape
Submitted by: Laura Gross (Milwaukee, WI)
Judges’ comments included: “…I think her novel version of a menorah is not only beautiful and sleek, but just all around fabulous and so creative!” / “a wonderfully modern take on a Chanukah table”

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Naughty or Nice Holiday Party
Submitted by: Chris Nease (Raleigh, NC)
Judges’ comments included: “…clever theme for a Holiday party. Love the idea of keeping everything from food & drinks to decor in two distinct categories.” / “Witty and so much fun, with impressive attention to detail”

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Festive Red Cocktail Party
Submitted by: head of the table (St. Louis, MO)
Judges’ comments included: “I LOVE this party.” / “Great DIY treat favors!” / “The white feathers and metallic ornaments give this party a fun, swanky vibe…like being at a cool bar, only without the $15 martinis.”

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Gingerbread House Decorating Party
Submitted by: moggiegreen
Judges’ comments included: “Creative place settings!” / “LOVE the set up for each guest (prefilled pastry bag, cookie cutter place cards, individual pieces for different types of houses(!), and cake board ‘plates’.”/ “The cookie cutter place cards are genius!”

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And now… it’s up to YOU to decide which entries will win the 3 Inspire Me! Contest Prizes – generously sponsored by VIVA® Diva Café and worth over $2500 total! You can select up to 3 favorites below.

HOW TO VOTE:
Post a comment here telling us which entries are your favorite (you can mention up to 3).
Please use or include the corresponding letter to the left of the entry titles below.

A. Girls’ Night Cocoa Party
B. Retro Christmas Favor / Place Card
C. Whimsical Christmas Party
D. Swanky Snowflake Soiree
E. Time To Party New Year’s Eve Bash
F. “Joy” Inspiration Board
G. Modern Chanukah Tablescape
H. Naughty or Nice Cocktail Party
I. Festive Red Cocktail Party
J. Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Voting closes Friday, December 19th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced Monday, December 23rd. Thanks so much for participating!

UPDATE: 12/20:
Contest voting is now closed. You can still leave comments on the finalists here, but votes cast later than midnight December 19th won’t be included in the final tally. Check back Monday for the winners!

Pink may not be one of the colors you’d usually consider for your holiday party decor, but one look at this fabulous “Pretty-in-Pink” gallery from BHG.com just might change your mind! These ideas would also be lovely for a holiday-set wedding, bridal shower, or girlie-girl birthday celebration.

And of course every pink party requires matching pink treats, right?! How about this Pink Martini and Pretty in Pink Pretzels recipe for starters:

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PINK MARTINI

Ingredients:
2 ounces good-quality gin
½ ounce guava nectar
½ ounce fresh orange juice
orange twist (for garnish)

Directions:
Shake the liquid ingredients vigorously with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Run the orange peel around the rim, twist it over the drink, and drop. Enjoy!

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Do you have any favorite pink-hued recipes that would be good for a Pink Party?

I’m loving these non-traditional – and super chic – red, white, & green floral arrangements for an elegant holiday party. The white stones and monochromatic blooms create such a serene, modern minimalist vibe…

The top and lower left images are from Pottery Barn and originally intended to showcase these platinum vases (which do happen to be on sale!), but you could also achieve the look of these vases – “economy style” with standard glass cylinder vases and some metallic gift wrap.

The right side of the image above shows a cluster of ruby breadseed poppies displayed in a pewter vase…casual elegance! {via brides.com}

Make your holiday decor sparkle with a healthy dose of glitter! Here are a few shimmery project ideas from Martha’s gallery of Glittered Holiday Crafts…

Pictured at top: Glittered Bird Centerpiece featuring glitter-dusted birds and tinsel-wrapped branches.

Pictured above: Snowy Balloon Ornaments.  There are detailed instructions on how to make these here – but I’m thinking you could also achieve a similar look the “short-cut route” by spray painting and/or glittering spun rattan balls or wicker balls.

Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Glittery Star, Glittered Branch and Ornaments,  Glittered Nuts & Ornaments, and Glittered Candlestick Holders. Have fun!

Here are a few images from a “holiday” themed baby shower I hosted over the weekend, and the rest of the pics can be seen in the Holiday Baby Shower photo album over on the HWTM Facebook Page. Mom-to-be is having a girl, so I just added some pink ornaments & papers to our regular red & silver holiday decorations to turn them “baby girl appropriate” for the day…

Acrylic pacifiers, pink-labeled baby lotion & baby oil, baby socks, and “snow bunnies” were mixed into the decorations to give them a “baby shower” feel.

The tables looked full, but were decked out with mainly inexpensive details: the “table runners” were made from gift wrap, paper napkins were embellished with ribbon & gift tag “napkin rings”, and the red foil charger plates were $6.99/set of 4 at Target.

The overhead display in our kitchen was probably my favorite thing at the shower, (although it was hard to get a good shot of it with so much background stuff going on!). It was simply red and pink baby socks decorated with tiny ornaments + fun striped and polka dot ball ornaments hanging from pink satin ribbon.

I lucked out with these sparkly red & white “candy cane” letters that were on sale at Joann for $1 each! The apothecary jars are from Michaels and look just as cute filled with ornaments as they do with candy!

Click here to check out the full album over on Facebook!

These fun snowmen-themed treats from BHG make me happy just looking at them…did you ever think a glass of milk could be even remotely this cute?! (top left image)

Pictured above, clockwise from top left: “Look at Frosty Go” milk glasses (yes – those are powdered donut hole heads!), “Before I Melt Away” white chocolate ice cream cups, “Frosty” eggnog, and “Snowman Face” cupcakes.