Tips To Stress Less Over Holiday Entertaining

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bed Bath & Beyond for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

This last week before Christmas is when all the magic happens.  It’s baking time, it’s time to get your house in order for your guests, it’s time to wrap, and you probably want to pick up those last-minute things to make the holiday special.  It’s time to visit Bed Bath & Beyond’s Holiday Your Way for tips on how to make all that magic happen in just a few short days!

One of the things my husband loves most about the holidays is entertaining.  (Yes, really!)  I like to keep it low-key – and not get stuck in the kitchen cooking and baking.  It’s easy to get stressed this time of year with so much prep that needs to be done, but this is an area where it’s easy for us to agree.  Simple platters like cheese and crackers, dips, cold cuts and rolls, quick appetizers, and Christmas sweets are perfect for our style of casual-social Holiday Entertaining.  We scale the menu back, and serve things that can be made in advance.  That lets us enjoy our guests!

There are all kinds of gorgeous entertaining pieces and gifts to browse at Bed Bath & Beyond.  And it’s not just shopping – there are awesome tips and Holiday Recipes at the Holiday Your Way site! I pinned this delicious-looking Sweet Potato Quick Bread recipe to try this year.  Breads are a great finger food for mini-buffets.  I always make at least one sweet bread, and one savory recipe.

I’m married to a bartender, so it’s pretty much assumed that we will be serving drinks at our parties.  (And even at parties that aren’t ours, haha.) I love the suggestions on the site for how to plan your holiday bar!  It’s easy to focus on whatever you like to drink, and forget that your guests might enjoy something totally different.

In our house, we keep our bar simple by picking one special martini recipe for the evening, and setting out a rum and a whiskey as well.  That gives us a basic variety of the three most  popular liquors, and we keep cola and juices on-hand.  We choose two wines, and one kind of beer – generally people will bring their own if they are particular!  People can serve themselves whatever they like, or have my husband shake up the martini of the night (I’m definitely in that last camp, haha!)

I love the idea of using Cran-Raspberry juice for a sweet twist on my favorite traditional cosmopolitan.  This time of year, a crisp and fruity drink is always in order, and I found this recipe on the Holiday Your Way site too!  The red sugared rim makes it that much more festive!

By picking and choosing just a few “hero” details of the party, your efforts can shine without all the stress of doing it all.  Focus on a killer main course, on the beautiful decor, on an amazing appetizer tray, or on that signature cocktail – you don’t have to do it all (and in fact, you will probably enjoy your party more if you don’t)!

What do you do to help take the stress out of holiday entertaining?  Do you have a simple tip to share? Or do you love going all-out at Christmas time?