Backyard entertaining is one of my
favorite things to do in the summer.
Good friends and good food are the key,
but it's even more fun when
the setting looks fabulous.
I pulled 425 lifestyle contributor
Monica Hart out of our hot topics panel
to help me step up my entertaining
game and you always deliver.
This is so fun, so easy too.
Just effortless, effortless,
alfresco entertaining.
That's what all you always say effortless,
but I think the is the key.
A little bit of prep ahead of time.
Prep is great and to have it
at the ready and that's why we
start with this lovely basket.
Let's start with the.
My things,
I have a basket like this right by the
deck door or the patio door and inside.
I have all my entertaining needs.
Just something to take it
over and keep it there.
Yes OHS,
especially this time of year and
all throughout summer so I've
got my son pillows pillow power.
I've got eyelet pillows and one
thing I do with these is I'll put
indoor pillows in here because
they're not going outdoors full time.
I'm just putting it out in guests.
Survivor,
I want a plush pillow or something
like that then at night I took
it back in so pillows.
Never understand you say yeah
they have a pillow.
And I love these with the fringe.
It's just so lightning OK OK lighting,
lighting, mood, lighting.
This is really fun.
I love rechargeable lanterns and this
has different speeds on it and you just yeah,
you just recharge it.
You can find different varieties
of this really light and it
pumps out a lot of light.
It's really cool and you can just
kind of push these little side things
and then at night you can recharge
them but you can get several days
off of 1 charge and I love that.
Yeah people are really into kind
of cool lighting right now,
not fun and that's very light.
Cool and warm light.
Speeds on it's really fun mood,
lighting and then table linens is a big deal.
Table linens are big deal.
I also love scented candles as well.
I love scented candles and
something that's soulful.
So right here this is my grandma's
little goblets right here.
I don't know if you can see these
little tea light and they're beeswax.
I love this beeswax little tea lights,
but I also love to have something
soulful at the table because you can
tell your story and then yes Lennon.
But you did put we should know you
put on the table a big can with a lot
of I went scented 3 Wick on a gold.
Gray, because gold always adds
something a little lux,
you know a little glamour to your table.
And who doesn't need a little more
glamour in their life?
Hello yeah,
OK so table easy.
A little eyelet,
that's actually a curtain shower curtain that
I got online and I've never used
it as a shower curtain but I use
it as a a table throw and I think
it's really fun. It's again.
It's light and airy and fresh and table
cook can be wrinkled and it doesn't
matter like it's supposed to look like.
And then you can. You can throw it away
if something happens to him right?
Because you haven't paid a lot of
money or super expensive like clean it.
Super inexpensive.
Love that idea and a nap.
Can yeah the napkins.
OK so napkin folds are so much fun
you can go online and that's a
pyramid napkin if you if you want
to know when everybody has napkins.
I mean, I've done gondolas OK.
I mean I've done crazy napkin folds,
but it's a easy,
effortless way to elevate your
entertaining and pretty much like I said.
Everybody has an app and in the end
you're only doing a little bit of laundry,
so so it's not that big a deal.
And flowers of course flowers are beautiful.
I love to do one beautiful vase
and then one flower all one.
Teller all one variety because it just
gives this power and this bang yeah
and there's really no rangement to it right?
That's what I was going to face
again after put them in its internal.
Yeah so OK, so let's let's go to
the drink portion of the program.
OK, the beverage bar,
you say the beverage bar.
You wanna make sure that you've
got some yummy citrus going on?
You've got some fresh mint so
it's like aromatherapy,
you're gonna have a gorgeous container.
Offer both non-alcoholic
and alcoholic options,
and one of the things that I love is this.
These are Meyer lemons.
I love the color.
It looks like egg yolk.
They're a little less tart, right?
Yes, they kind of smooth.
They have a smoothness to them,
so we're gonna do.
You'll do the non Alcoholics I'm gonna
give you this and I'll take this one.
So this you like this is just
a a tonic water and lime.
That's actually my go to if I go out
and I don't want to have anything with
alcohol in it and so I'm gonna grab
this if I can and I'm gonna make it
your make your lemon drop it's just
fresh lemon juice I've got simple
syrup which is a one to one ratio
of sugar and water on the stove top.
Let it dissolve.
Hmm, I mean how easy is that?
And then of course.
Vodka I'm gonna grab this
out and it's really fun.
OK I'm gonna put this in here
but I love those little shakers.
They fun individual little shakers.
I find that a lot of people
really don't know how to.
They don't shake their own cocktails,
so when people come over,
sometimes they'll have these good
to go and you can do your own.
And I love this.
I know she can see this,
but it's a really cool little pic and
it's vintage has a little lemon on it.
Super cute. It also can use it as a storage.
There we go. Cheers, actually,
that good is super refreshing.
I love that. And I don't.
We don't wanna miss the food though.
No no. OK so I am really all about
an individual or monogram Shaklee.
So what I did is I went to my craft store.
I got an A for amity a creamy totally
OK and these are little boxes.
Their paper mache boxes you get a
little exacto knife and you take the
top off and I lined it with parchment
paper so you can see what I did this
one yeah and then you layer in all
these beautiful shakuri you can see
I've got them in bowls and stuff but
I've got little jams and I've got.
Hot honey and I've got herbs and all
kinds of cheeses and a little rosette.
So would you make this up ahead of time
where you let them make you could do either?
I thought it'd be fun to do beef
or bride and then have a whole
table and everybody could too,
like a little bridesmaid gathering
and everybody could do their own,
but it's just really fun and it's
like individual it's monogram.
And for Monica and then this is.
And then they're noshing on this while
you're while you're chatting absolutely,
and so you can, and I like to tuck in.
These are garden edible flowers.
I've got Rosemary from my garden, fresh mint.
It makes it exactly like.
Aromatherapy,
which is really fun and it's just
really cute and you can get any letter
you can find it at your craft store.
You can find them online.
How super super hot and and no go ahead.
It's well, this is just a trophy, right?
And I've got a little parchment paper.
I didn't win it.
I didn't win it, yeah,
but I just put some chips in it.
How cool is that?
Right?
So elevate your chip game people,
let's go and let's use the leftover
trophy that maybe your kid got and it
was just a participation trophy, right?
No, I got that at a.
I don't know if it just story.
I didn't. No, not even.
Not even it.
Feels effortless,
but and and I know that you did
some work but also that key is
that pre planning yes yeah and to
have a vision I just right now.
I'm really into fresh fruit on
the table and these beautiful
flowers all in one pop of colour.
So I like to keep the table monochromatic and
let the pop of colour come from the flowers,
the fruit and from like a shuttering
or whatever you're serving.
It's a really nice way.
Good friends. Yes pop up.
Cheers. Thank you.
Love it. Cheers guys.
Thank you Monica.