Last Sunday I attended a very different, extremely refreshing kind of Christmas party. It was novel and unexpected in a plurality of ways, all of which came together to create a truly memorable, even magical holiday experience.
It all started with my friend Maggie. Maggie recently moved into a townhouse and has spent the past couple months getting settled in her new space with updated furniture, thoughtful organization, and fresh décor. She has been working hard and is finally feeling comfortable and settled with the exception of one major gap: She has no couch. Indeed, Maggie ordered a sectional months ago when she first stared buying furniture for her new space. Everything else was readily available except for the couch, which apparently won’t arrive until early spring. Of course, this gaping omission doesn’t traditionally sound like it would make for an ideal holiday hosting setup, but Maggie made lemonade out of her supply chain lemon and decided to leverage her unexpected space to host a very different type of gathering: One filled with low tables, serious picnic vibes, beautiful decorative accents, luxuriously fluffy cushions, and plenty of bubbly.
Enter Pillows & Prosecco.
Pillows & Prosecco is a Minneapolis-based company that specializes in creating intentional gatherings that make special occasions all the more special. The goal is to ease the thought, work, and keen attention to detail that typically goes into making an event exceptional: P&P supplies the setup, the style, the teardown, and the inspiration, which leaves your job as the host – or the guest, for that matter – to simply show up, relax, and have a good time. The owner, Karah, crafted her small business with the mission of creating a carefree way for people to spend cherished time with the ones they love, and she seeks to remove the guesswork, wasted time and energy, and unnecessary investment out of creating special, one-of-a-kind moments. Packages include a low-sitting table (perfect for picnics!), pillows for seats, an assortment of rugs, plates + silverware + linens + napkins, a personalized letterboard, a collection of stunning décor items, and a polaroid camera perfect for capturing it all.
Karah considers picnics the perfect way to add a little more intention and intimacy to a gathering, creating space for more open conversation, connection, and relationship building. She usually focuses on creating picnics in scenic outdoor spaces like spacious backyards or beloved vineyards but has since expanded to finding ways to make indoor moments equally as special.
And if you just so happen to be missing a couch and have a wide-open space to host an intimate group of guests?
All the better for a picnic!
Maggie chose to purpose her event as a jack of all trades. Part housewarming party, part engagement celebration (for myself and two other friends in attendance), part baby shower, and part Christmas gift exchange, she gathered six of us together to participate in something unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced before. Yes, the idea was novel, the décor was stunning, and the aesthetic was fun and distinct, but what I loved most about this gathering was that it was intentional, intimate, and undeniably inclusive. While I’m friends with Maggie I had never met any of the other four women prior to this get-together; they all know each other well and connect often, and yet despite me being what other circles might consider “the outsider,” they embraced me into the group with grace and gusto.
It’s not always easy attending a party where you don’t know anyone – particularly if that isn’t the case for everyone else – but this experience was surprisingly “normal” and impossibly splendid. There wasn’t any of that awkward small talk or unspoken need to break the ice; these girls invited me around the table, welcomed me into their circle, and wove me into their stories and conversation. We ate, we drank, we laughed, we exchanged gifts, and we grew nostalgic. The entire experience was seamless, exciting, and decidedly delightful, and I left feeling buoyed, reenergized, and inspired heading into another busy pre-holiday workweek.
While the pillows and prosecco were the conduit to making the event memorable, they weren’t the most integral ingredient for creating an outstanding gathering. Indeed, that had nothing to do with creative ideas or trendy décor; instead, it had everything to do with the way people showed up – the attitudes they had, the curiosity they displayed, and the space they created to make an environment that was authentically warm, beautiful, and inviting.
So remember this: You don’t need to cater an event or have the perfect vision to make a moment special. Rather, you just need to show up as whole-heartedly and unapologetically yourself. Do this, and you’re guaranteed to fill any space you enter with warmth, acceptance, and limitless possibility.
And to that I say, cheers!
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