Hi friends, Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and while I am planning ideas for this year’s dinner party for our family and their sweethearts, I wanted to share last year’s activity-packed event with you. I was inspired by my cousin who held a wine tasting party for her daughter’s birthday and it was so much fun. So 2021’s theme was going to be all about wine! I wanted it to be extra special since we were not together for the previous Christmas as two of the kids had Covid and the rest of us were exposed and in quarantine.

This year I wanted it to feel like a five-star restaurant with a glitzy blush pink sweetheart vibe! Finding this over-the-top 120″ round sparkly tablecloth for under $60 set the tone for the table.

I also searched high and low for new napkin rings, and have been thrilled with these acrylic napkin ring vases. They come in packages of 4 for $12.00. I have used them so many times since; as they can complement any theme and can be altered easily with different flowers. They even look great as tiny vases without the napkins simply scattered around the house. They look expensive and would be such a great gift too!!

With the score of these roses — maybe cabbage roses? — from Trader Joe’s, I was ready to layer my table using dishes from my obsessive dish stash.

Look how pretty the little vases are! When going all out for a sweet heart’s day, I try to host several get togethers to cherish many people that I love: a mother daughter luncheon for Mom and her friends, a craft party with my friends to create some prototypes for the kids to look at, and one for my family. Sometimes I also host an office company craft party! 

Our luncheon was so much fun and what’s better for a ladies lunch than salad and tea sandwiches?

And the change up for the big event?

Everyone got little table gifts of handmade chocolates, plus cigars for the guys and heart-shaped wine openers for the girls. I used my china and placemats from Vietri, flatware from Neiman Marcus (currently on sale!), Dorothy Thorpe mid-century glasses gifted from my mother, and wine glasses from Anthropologie! I couldn’t find the chargers still on sale, but here is another option from Amazon. If you are not a pink gal like me, and this is a one time event, I found some pretty plastic ones from Posh Setting.

We were still doing the two table thing at our house to separate a bit from the kids! I put a table for two in the entry way for John and I.

After all, he is still my sweetheart after 35 years!

With the Valentines table set and ready I was eager to set up the wine tasting!!

The Wine Tasting

I researched how to do proper wine tastings and honestly just found it a bit overwhelming, so I put my own twist on it! I decided to focus on four categories; Champaign, Chardonnay, Cabernet and Rose. I went to Trader Joe’s and bought bottles in each from $2.99 – $40 per bottle with a thrown in gift from a friend of a more expensive Champagne. I found these cute jute wine bags on Amazon to hide the labels.

To create a romantic atmosphere I hung these twinkle lights around the room which really made the wine tasting room special!

Most things you read say real glasses are best but since so many are needed (and then need to be washed!) I did have plastic glassware set up as overflow at each station in addition to real wine and champagne glasses. I already had these stemless wine glasses and stemless flutes for company events — Macy’s has flash sales periodically as low as $10 for a set of 12. Typically they are $38 per set.

Everyone got a printout of the sheet without the prices and had to determine most expensive to least expensive and which one they liked the best in each category. The group had so much fun reading the descriptions to see if they could match the wine. Very few people picked the most expensive correctly but most could tell the least expensive, and everyone found wines they would purchase again in the $10-15 price point.

I ordered a charcuterie board from Picnic on the Green and used my fancy silver to display. Don’t forget the Cocktail Picks Skewers to dress up your food displays.

Well with everything all done I was excited to start the big event!!

Here are my kiddos and their sweethearts!! Everyone had so much! The best part of these events is the time we spend together! It is truly priceless for John and I! See past Valentintes tables here, here , here and here. I hope this helps get your juices flowing for your Valentine’s event. Drop me a line and let me know how it went. Till next week! xo Leslie

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