Uproot and Run

Since 2018 has been such a busy year I decided I didn’t have the energy for my stereotypical Christmas party. I’ve hosted them since 2002 and it’s a tradition that I greatly enjoy, so instead of passing on it altogether I figured I’d go with an easier route. What’s easier than pancakes and mimosas? Not much. I thought it would be fun to host a daytime brunch with (nearly) unlimited pancakes and mimosas, along with a White Elephant gift exchange! Turns out it was an excellent idea.

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One of our guests brought brie, apples, and candied walnuts – delectable.

I informed everyone of what I would be providing in terms of toppings (I went with fresh blueberries, chocolate chips, butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, imitation maple syrup, and raspberry jam) and invited them to bring additional goodies. I snagged the cheapest brut champagne I could find, and three types of juice: orange juice (naturally), Cranberry Cocktail, and Pineapple Orange Banana, if you were curious!

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That constellation plate is from a set by West Elm. I looove them.

In order to have a fun, non-alcoholic drink available I whipped up a spectacular punch out of two bottles of Marintelli’s apple cider and one bottle of Simply Mixed Berry juice. Throw in some handfuls of fresh raspberries and you have yourself an easy and delicious punch! It pairs nicely with champagne too, we discovered. Delightfully versatile.

The pancakes were a particularly good idea because 1. we just received a griddle as a wedding gift and 2. we don’t have a dining table in our house, so making a bunch of tiny pancakes that can be forked while standing around or sitting on a couch is a big plus. Gotta keep my guests as happy as I can, given the circumstances!

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Data knows he’s the greatest gift of all.

Another reason the pancakes were a good idea? Because we received some beautiful wooden utensil sets as wedding gifts, and this gave us a chance to christen them. We have a lot of the items from the Talisman Designs woodland collection, by the way. They’re beautiful and hard wearing (so long as you don’t leave them soaking in water. Whoops!) and I add to our collection whenever I can.

It was a lovely party. I ate pancakes all day and drank at least half of the punch on my own (only a lil’ bit of champagne). Christmas music was playing on both ends of the house, holiday films were going on the bedroom TV, and the living room rang with the sort of shouts and explosions that can only come from a Smash Bros. tournament. The White Elephant exchange involved a bit of spirited thievery and I ended up with a damn cute Totoro blind box. I’ll probably do this again next year.

Do you throw holiday parties? Have you done a White Elephant before? What do you think of a pancake party?
I love parties!

Also, I know this is very product placement-y, and I did that because I’m always curious to know exactly what people use (truly, just for curiosity’s sake), and because the brands I linked are ones that I’m loyal to and am happy to talk about. Hope that’s alright ✨

x – happy beast