Jessie Loves: Making The Holidays Easier

Hosting ideas, wrapping resources, holiday decor and the dress I wore to 5 different parties last year.

I’m not feeling super festive this year. It’s my twins’ senior years in high school (our last with them living at home) and of course I am devastated by current events. It’s a ton of change coming at me and I’m just in a funk. 

BUT, I thought I’d look back at a few things that make the holidays easier, happier and more fun in this issue.

Hosting

Even though hosting stresses me out, I powered my way through it and hosted a holiday party for some girlfriends last year. I always love to have a craft to work on together and I decided to teach everyone to make some ribbon holiday ornaments. These were simple ideas I found tutorials for online. I bought a bunch of different pretty ribbons and we all got to working.

I’m such a perfectionist (not the best quality) and so anal retentive and it just cracked me up when my friend Melissa finished her ornament. She didn’t believe me when I told her that it was my favorite one of all, but it really was. I love it so much.

Another fun idea to try is something my friend Joanna Goddard does every year. It’s a cookie swap. Everyone brings cookies and at the end of the night you go home with a giant box of all different kinds. Joanna is friends with many cookbook authors and NY Times cooking writers so it’s a little intimidating. I ordered cookies from one of my childhood besties in San Francisco, Gillian Shaw Lundgren (@blackjetbaker). Everyone went crazy for her peppermint stick Oreos. 

Decor

One thing I love about hosting is getting ready for the party and decorating my house. A few things that made everything look so pretty:

• Adding ribbon to the stems of glasses. These are from Nickey Kehoe.

• Adding ribbons to candlesticks

• Even adding ribbons to my light fixtures (which I still haven’t taken down!)

• I also got the tree up. I find the handmade ornaments are my favorites. I would hate to have an impersonal “perfect” tree. The more random the ornaments, each with a story to tell, or something my kids made, the better. I have my kids hang the ornaments and don’t get precious about how balanced it is or where things get hung. (Mom, if you are reading this, I am resisting mentioning the childhood trauma of making sure only one piece of tinsel went on each and every branch). I like the Charlie Brown look. I also finally splurged on a nice tree skirt from Heather Taylor and it made a big difference. 

Gift Wrap

I love gift wrap and stationery this time of year. I can’t get enough. I like taking the time to wrap gifts in a pretty, thoughtful and personal way. A few of my favorite gift wrap and stationery sources below. 

• Scribble and Daub makes the loveliest cards and two-toned crepe paper streamers.

• Choosing Keeping has gorgeous holiday gift tags and stickers. 

• I’m a big fan of Hartland Cards. I love her illustrations and the colors she uses. I also hired her to sketch my 40 favorite things for my 40th birthday a million years ago. This was the clutch I gave to my guests with her illustrations debossed on it.

• Knot and Bow makes nice colorful gift tags and they used to make the most amazing yarn ribbon but I can’t find it anymore. 

• Of course Studio Carta for ribbon. This was a cute idea to wrap with two ribbons at once. 

• I like to tuck something fun onto gifts to make it more personal. This was just some pipe cleaners twisted into a candy cane.

• And LR newsprint gift wrap for all my gifts. This year’s artist is Tess Newall — I am such a big fan!!!

Outfit Tricks

On Thursday, 12/12 at 10AM I’ll be chatting with Erika Veurink on Substack Live to share all our plans for this year’s holiday party outfits. I’m so excited, and I hope you’ll join! In the meantime, a couple things that have worked for me in the past: 

Our Margot Mule

• Get one pair of really festive shoes. You can wear the most simple outfit and these will make a huge impact. They also look nice with a really dressy outfit too. 

Our Maxwell dress, Violet bag and Ginger Mary Jane

• Last year when making the party rounds I didn’t feel like getting all dolled up a lot of the time. I wore this dress to literally every single party. I love how it feels dressy but not too dressy (I wear it for regular days at work too). It’s SO comfortable and roomy — like wearing nothing at all. It’s fashionable and chic. We even made a shorter version in both leopard print and red this year which is sadly mostly sold out. The red colorway is available for preorder, though!

Our Willy dress and Margot mule

Do you have any tricks for making the holidays easier? Please let me know!

And one thing I hate:

That no one seems to make cute mailers for gifts. I’ve been on the hunt for a pretty, festive gift mailing box or bubble mailers for some gifts I’m sending out and there is literally nothing! And no holiday themed packing tape. Big hole in the market here!