Christmas progressive dinner party

This is where the idea for a progressive dinner came from, only I wasn't quite this ambitious and we don't live in Brooklyn where we can walk so easily.  I DO love this artwork though and how it looks like each persons stoop!


I read about a progressive dinner last year on A Blog about Love and thought it would be fun to try it out. The whole concept was confusing to my husband but I persevered. I invited families from my 2nd grade son's school, which was great to get to see everyone without being surrounded by screaming children(my own)at drop off. It ended up being 20 people which was big enough to feel like a crowd but small enough where everyone got to talk to each other. I loved seeing people dressed up and it was a chance to finally have an uninterrupted conversation. We ate appetizers at our friend's house up the street and then came to our house for heavy dinner, punch and dessert (and lots of dancing...Flo Rida...much to the neighbors chagrin). Here are some photos:

I put medium sized mason jars lining my walkway with candles so that when everyone arrived it looked festive.

This is the night before our party. Notice Ruby's pink kitchen featured prominently!

This was my first ever buche de noel. It was really fun to make and it was so yummy. With all of that cream and chocolate how could it not be awesome!

Earlier that morning I was in Santa monica picking up my favorite macaroons from Vanilla Bake Shop and I saw a EVERYTHING 40% Off sign in front of Banana Republic. I threw the goodies in the back seat and ran in there. I found this great dress (details below) for $80.  It is a very traditional looking dress so I wanted to make it look a little more edgy, less Southern debutante. I also wore an interesting copper chained cuff that went 4 inches up my arm that I feel like made it more interesting than white pearls.

Here is the look:

Beverly Jacobs Fall Lookbook