Style expert, Lloyd Boston, shares creative and affordable tips to creating a stylish cocktail table when entertaining during the holidays.
“Always begin with a gorgeous table scape and then add the food and drink of my choice. Now this is kind of sexy martini lounge that you can set up in your home. I’m going to show you some of my insider tricks.”
- First of all, start with lighting these votive candles. They smell amazing and they are $1 each but what you do to make it look artful and upscale, is you buy more than one, so turn down those house lights and bring up lots of votives.
- I chose these gorgeous black faux fur throws that you would normally put on a sofa — they cost $12, it looks like they cost ten times as much, so we’re putting them not only on the ottomans, we’re also putting them across the tables where the cocktails live.
- Next up, these scent diffusers are meant to make the home smell good but what I love about them is they don’t come with the scent inside so you can use them for whatever you want. I’ m using them here to kind of house toothpicks or skewers or any of your holiday foods, and even if you’re using foods that you would serve everyday, these skewers in a scent diffuser makes it feel more special. Love the gold too, it’s perfect for around the holiday. They are going to run you around $5 each.
- When you have an adult party around the holiday season you want to make it feel like a destination, almost like an escape. You know many people can’t afford to travel around the holidays but why not take them to a chic boutique hotel and that’s what I tried to do here. So again, I’m big on color palettes. It’s all about black, shimmery gold, little touches of cranberries, but it feels like you’re just in the lobby of your favorite hotel having a great martini.
- Elevate your foods; elevate your snacks. Your pedestals, they are gift boxes from the gift wrap aisles at Family Dollar. They are gold metallic. They start at one dollar and I’m elevating these snacks so it gives you lots of dimension and kind of a more dynamic setting.
- If had to choose a favorite of all the tables I’m styling it might be the cocktail table. No holiday party is complete without some great flowers. Now maybe you can’t get fresh flowers or maybe they are too expensive. I found these faux gold poinsettias at Family Dollar and l love it because this is a full arrangement that’s going to cost less than $15 for all that you see here. Get your favorite vase, add water to it, no one will ever know.
- So here’s a quick holiday entertaining tip if you’re serving cocktails or maybe even a mocktail, a sugar rim glass really looks so festive, it’s so easy to do. You want to get two bowls. These are some really chic black bowls that I found from Family Dollar and they come in a set of 12 for $15; have them ready one with a little bit of cold water and another bowl with just basic sugar; dip that glass just the rim in the water drizzle off the excess then you want to dip it right into the sugar. Have fun with it, make sure it sticks, tap off the excess. I love fresh cranberries around the holidays, get them frozen because they will actually help keep the drink cool at the same time and then you want to pre-mix your drink so you don’t have to be shaking up individual drinks all night. Think of it as a signature cocktail. Everybody will be happy and you can actually toast with your guest.
