Hosting for the holidays can be stressful! It is a beautiful time of the year filled with love, family and the magic of the season so don’t let the stress of hosting get to you. Whether you are rushing to set the table, getting all the food prepared or doing some last minute shopping for wines- we have got you covered! Here are four tips to make hosting this holiday season easier.

1. Instead of a tablecloth use butcher paper. This is food safe paper that you can roll out and lay down as a table cloth or on your kitchen island. It makes cleaning up easy because after you are done hosting, just roll up the paper and throw it out. You can also draw holiday decor or name tags on it with chalk pens or permanent markers OR better yet, leave the markers out for your guests to draw while they are over- a fun interactive holiday experience!
2. Use real seasonal fruits within your decor. This is very trendy for dinner parties right now and adds a pop of color! I like to use pears, pomegranates, oranges or apples as candle holders or you can just place them within the decor of the table.
3. Be sure to precut your cheeses on a charcuterie board to make it easy for guests to dig right in! No one wants to be the first person to cut into the block of cheese. Guests arrive wanting to have a glass of wine in hand and talk to friends & family- having your appetizers ready to eat and easy for guests to pick up and nibble on makes their job easy AND ensures all the food you put out gets eaten.
4. Label your wines with simple tasting notes, how full body it is, fruit forward flavors- this is a fun way for guests to pick their own adventure and choose which wine to pour. It also keeps your hands free from having to serve wine or ask guests what they would like to drink- with a self-serve wine station ready to go when they arrive! Don’t overthink your wine pairings this holiday season- Bread & Butter makes it easy with lots of variety of easy drinking and approachable wines to choose from!

Make your holiday hosting simple this year with Bread & Butter wines! Cheers and happy hosting!

About Nicolle Laviolette

• @convinoboard

Nicolle is the owner of ConVino Board and has a passion for entertaining & hosting. She creates easy cheesy recipes and wine pairings for people to recreate! Her love for cheese and wine comes from traveling to over 30 different countries and getting to taste wine and food allover the world. Her goal is to enlighten people with easy recipes, pairings and also encourage people to try new wines & cheeses. Variety is the spice of life!