What Inspires you to host a gathering in your home?

Have you asked yourself "what inspires me to host a gathering in my home?" Is it when you are hosting a big event/celebration like a 40th birthday party, a baby or bridal shower or more of the casual "hey you have dinner plans tonight, come on over, I've made a lot of food" type of gathering? Or are you "all the above?" That's me! I LOVE to host gatherings in our home. Give me any reason to have people over and I am all over it. 

My mind starts going a mile a minute with planning ideas. However, I tend to start to get a little overboard with ideas of how to make this grand gathering to which my budget usually doesn't allow.  If my budget would allow, I would have people over almost weekly for dinner parties. I just love to host. And it doesn't have to be fancy and extravagant, simple is good too. I love to be in the kitchen, cooking while friends and family are enjoying themselves over a glass of wine or favorite beverage, engaged in laughter, story telling and eating. 

But when it comes to hosting, it's not always about having people over to eat. Even though coming together with food involved is the majority of why we open our home to host a get-together anyways. But, I am a firm believer that a home needs to be a place that is always inviting to the ones who come to our door whether they are coming for a meal or just popping in to say hi and visit over coffee or iced tea. 

You might be saying to yourself, "I don't know how to host a get together, I don't have a house that is nice/big enough, or how do I even put something like that together?" Well, I am hear to tell you that I have had those same questions rolling around my brain from time to time and you know what.....it doesn't matter how "nice" your house is or isn't. You don't have to have the latest remodeled kitchen or all the fancy tableware to put together an enjoyable gathering in your home. Sure, those things are nice, but they are just that....things! And of course we do want to take the time to clean up and have somethings prepped and ready but there will be times that we may have surprise company show up at our door. We will get to that in a future conversation. 

When it comes to hosting a gathering, I firmly believe having a willing heart and open mind and open door to those you invite in, is the first and most important. Everything else comes secondary to that. I will be sharing ideas on how to set up your table or island of food items and how you mix and match your textures. I will also share my must haves on my own table and what I have learned over the years on how to do a quick clean up to be ready for your company. 

Join with me as I share with you in my future posts my own journey of opening our home and how I am inspired around our table. 

Until then,
Heather