Many people would rather do without winter, considering it the dreariest time of the year. Other people remember nothing but scratchy woolen pullovers, wet mittens, and heavy layers of clothing. But, when it comes to the picture of a perfect winter’s day with the clear blue sky free of clouds, fir trees glimmering in the clear light and everything sparkling like crystals.
Winter is perfection all by itself and its beauty can be seen everywhere if one knows just where to look. From the designs that Jack Frost draws on each window once the frost comes up to the precise design on each unique snowflake that falls to the ground, you can easily find scope for the imagination.
A winter baby shower can easily be born from all these fanciful imaginings. You should have the invitations echo the cold beauty found in winter either in commercial invitations that capture these scenes or a more artistic interpretation that can be created at home. Making a creative invitation could be as simple as a crayon resist painting of a winter snowscape at night.
While an icy palette holds a fascination for some, you could also warm up wintertime in the classic winter sport colors of red, green, and blue. Use those warmer colors to set off all the white that you will be blanketing around the party area and you’ll feel like you stepped into an Early American quilt. One nice touch would be to change some of the light bulbs to a clear blue to simulate the icy cold atmosphere.
Set flaglets like a winter sports scene on the tops of the walls. You could also warm up the room with pine garlands entwined with clear and blue fairy lights as accents. Other winter accents could be hockey sticks holding up knitted mittens and in one corner, a galvanized pail holding “snowballs” made of rolls of polyester batting liberally sprayed in white glue and rolled in sparkly clear miniature beads.
Throw quilts over the tables instead of tablecloths. Create a centerpiece with a silver bowl full of pine cones and cut pine twigs. Arrange a pair of mittens by the bowl and top it off with another snowball. Big white pillar candles set in cut branches finish off the vignette nicely.
Cover the buffet table with burlap cloth and set a large pine log at the end with holes in it to hold more white pillar candles. Use old-fashioned pewter or wooden platters to hold the food and give the table a sense of Americana. Old-fashioned toys can be used as accents around the platters to add a sense of life and whimsy.
The perfect food here is one that will stick to your ribs. A hearty chili or heavy soup could be paired with corn bread and pats of butter to make that quintessential country meal. If that’s not enough, hearty hero sandwiches would be truly delicious partners. To end this meal of comfort food, why not serve an old-fashioned apple crisp or a homey dish of caramelized oranges? There’s nothing more that can say “home” than this.
Mulled wine or cider would be a perfect complement.
A perfect end to this celebration would be a favor of a giant gingerbread man.