We live part time in Utah and one of the things I love most about this state is Pioneer Day, which is celebrated on July 24th every year! Utah is the Beehive State and it represents industry and people working together, much like bee’s work together to build their beehive. This is where my Bee Themed Party Tablescape inspiration came from.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

 When the Mormon pioneers journeyed west in the mid 1800’s to settle in Utah, they all worked together to help one another survive. Some of those courageous people were my great grandparents and I feel a deep appreciation for the hardships they faced while starting a new life in what was and still is a desert.

Life was not easy for them and many had been driven from their homes and farms in the midwest and were persecuted for their religious beliefs. Many of them were converted to the Mormon church in England, Denmark, and Sweden and not only did they have to cross the plains to get to Utah, they had to cross the Atlantic Ocean first and make their way west to join the wagon trains in Nebraska and Illinois.

They faced some very difficult times while trekking west to this new territory of the United States. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. They pushed handcarts, pulled covered wagons, faced harsh weathers conditions, illness, women gave birth to children on the Great Plains, and many of the children had to walk the entire way. I remember reading a story about my one of my great grandmas and how her feet froze while walking and she got frostbite and lost part of her toes and feet.

I’m so grateful that I have been able to read many of their stories and learn so much about what they experienced. My mother is an avid genealogist and she has shared so much of the history and their stories with me. It’s truly amazing! I can’t count the number of times we have been driving through a little town in the middle of nowhere in Utah and Idaho and we stop and find a cemetery where one of our great grandparents were buried in. She would then tell me all about them and what their lives were like. What a gift that has been for me from my mother.

One of the most amazing things we discovered was that my husbands great, great, grandpa Jacob Fuhriman and his family that were from Switzerland, were in the same wagon train that crossed the plains with my great, great, grandparents, the Theussens, from Denmark. How incredible is that?!! We joke that they must have been matching making in heaven and found a way from above for my husband and I to meet.

Celebrating these amazing people who were my ancestors is always a special day and I love that we can celebrate them each year. Another reason I love Pioneer Day is it’s another excuse for me to have a party! You all know how much I enjoy that if you’ve followed along for awhile.

The Theme for this Years Party

As I mentioned earlier, Utah is the Beehive State so it was very easy to pick my theme for the party. ! I have been planning this Beehive Themed Party Tablescape for the last six months. I started collecting everything I could find for this tablescape with a bee or beehive.

(I will link everything I used that is linkable at the bottom of the post.)

One of the first things that I found for this tablescape was the beehive cake mold pans. This cake was so easy to make and I was really worried it would be so hard to make. To make this cake, you bake it in two halves, then stick them together with frosting. I used two lemon cake mixes and added a small box of lemon instant pudding to the the cake batter along with an extra 1/4 cup of oil. I had planned on drizzling some honey-lemon glaze on top but I ran out of time and so I just piped some lemon buttercream frosting around the edges. The pan is linked here and comes with instructions and a recipes as well. I also made some mini beehive cakes in the smaller cakelett pan.

Setting the Table Up Ahead of Time

I always try to set the table up ahead of time. I start pulling out all the decorations and setting them out so I can see what I have to work with. I had made the cake the day ahead so I put a glass dome lid over it to keep it from drying out. This is the stage that I start “playing around” with all the items I want to use on the tablescape.

Add Rustic, Vintage, and Antique Elements

I wanted there to be some rustic, vintage, and antique elements on the table which for me, always involves some old wood or something new that looks rustic and old. I also chose blue and yellow since a beehive is a yellow color. The blue gingham napkins set beside yellow looked very “pioneer-ish” to me. I also added this yellow antique dish which I filled with jam on the day of the party.

Create Different Heights

When I do a large serving tablescape like this one, I like to use things that add height. Here I used an antique honeypot that I bought online here and used it as a vase for the flowers. I set a glass vase inside of it to hold the water as I didn’t want to damage it. I used yellow and green flowers that looked like something you just picked from a field of wildflowers.

Natural Wood Gourd Pots

Mango Wood Urns – 2 Sizes Available

Gujar Water Pot – Three sizes

Some of the other fun elements I found for the table were the honeycomb bowls, the honeycomb rolling pin, beehive candles, and the beehive drink dispenser. I also found this cute beehive pitcher that I filled with the leftover flowers and these honeycomb glasses. (links below)

I used a metal cutlery holder with a wood handle and used shiny gold plastic silverware. I also found an old milk container at an antique store a few weeks before this and planned to fill it with flowers too but it was a bit much so I just set it on there to add some height and dimension to the table.

The Menu

Fried Chicken Tenders (I ordered a platter of chicken from Chick-fil-a)

Stans Homemade Scones and Honey Butter (Click here for my recipe)

Banana Pudding

Baked Beans (Click here form my recipe)

Watermelon

Lemon Pudding Beehive Cake and Cakeletts

Party Punch

Custom Made Beehive and Bee Cookies from Victorias Cookie Co.

For this party, we invited all of our family in Utah to come and asked each of them to bring a side dish to share. We had some much amazing food on top of all the things I made. It was truly an old fashioned pioneer potluck. To simplify things for such a large group, I opted to order the chicken so I didn’t have to cook that while prepping for the party.

The Day of the Party

On the day of the party, I mainly focused on preparing the food and finishing the set up. It’s a tradition to have scones and honey butter on Pioneer Day. In Utah and Idaho, they call fried bread, scones. I don’t know how this came about but I think it dates back to pioneer frying dough when they didn’t have an oven to bake it in. All I can tell you is that my recipe above is amazing and it has quite a story of how it came about.

We set the food table up on our big dining table inside since we don’t have a lot of shade in our backyard. This kept the food cool inside and we set up tables and chairs under some shade tents outside for everyone.

We enjoyed visiting with our extended family and everyone said how much they loved it and hoped we’d do it again next year! It’s a tradition now and I can’t wait to see what I come up with next year!

Here is a peek at a past Pioneer Day Party Tablesape that I did with my friend Ashely from livingbeautahfully.com. Our theme was “Pie-oneer Day” and everything was Pie themed including the cakes! This was one of my favorite tablescapes ever and all the food we made tasted as good as it looked!

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I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun Pioneer Day Beehive Themed Party Tablescape and that it inspires you do create your own family traditions centered around your heritage.

XOXO,

Sources linked below:

This post contains affiliate links.

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It’s time for another post on my Holiday Hosting at home series!  I’ve teamed up with two of my talented friends who enjoy hosting and entertaining as much as I do. This week are sharing some recipes, tablescapes, and fall decor. With Halloween and Thanksgiving right around the corner we have come up with some fun ideas for hosting and entertaining. I hope you’ll find some inspiration here for hosting and entertaining in your own homes!

Here is what my friends have been sharing this week for their fall home decor and tablescapes.  If you would like to pin any of these images, please go to the original post linked below each image.  Check out their entire posts  – there is so much beauty and inspiration in each of these, you’ll be amazed.

To Have + To Host

A few years ago, Lory was drawn to a beautiful fall tablescape from a high-end table-top rental company.  When she added up the cost of it for 6 people she realized it would be about $2000! She decided to try and duplicate it for much less and was able to do it for $200. She shares the original tablescape that she found the inspiration from and her version of it and how she was able to do it for less money.  Click here to see Lory’s Friendsgiving Tablescape.

Next, Lory shares how she made these super cute jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers. They are simple to make, yet impressive! They are also healthy! Veggies and Protien all in one!  The recipe calls for turkey or beef but you can use quinoa to make it vegetarian. I love this cute idea!  To see the details and the recipe click here: Jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers.

Home with Holliday

Holliday was inspired to make this beautiful  Thanksgiving Tree with Pumpkins from a bin of unused fall decor items. This is such a creative idea and if you love christmas trees like I do, here is one more reason to make a thanksgiving tree! Click on the link above for the details!

Holliday also shared her Elegant Halloween Tablescape with Pumpkins. The colors are the traditional halloween black and orange, but Holliday added in some softer colors that make this table a little more elegant. I absolutely love how this turned out! For the details, click on the the link above.

Home with HollyJ

This week I shared my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin recipe on the blog.  This is one of my favorite fall recipes.  My family loves it when I make theses and they don’t last long when they come out of the oven.  I also shared a recipe on how to make your own Pumpkin Spice.  This can be used in any recipe that calls for pumpkin spice or pumpkin pie spice.  You can make your own spice mix and never run out! Both recipes are linked above in the same post.

A few weeks ago I shared my favorite homemade roll recipe.  This is the best roll recipe! I make these for every holiday and on special occasions.  You won’t be disappointed when you try these delicious rolls! Click here for the recipe and details: The Best Homemade Rolls

Holliday “Holly” at Home with Holliday

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Lory at To Have + To Host

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Elegant Halloween Tablescape

The post Holiday Hosting at Home #3: Holiday Decor, Tablescapes and Entertaining Ideas appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape

When I saw these cute pumpkin dishes at HomeGoods, I knew I had to do a Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape. I often search for unique dishes for my tablescapes and when I found these cute pumpkin plates and bowls, I envisioned this festive table with different types of pumpkins.

The one downside with HomeGoods is that there is not always a full set of any place setting.  After searching six different stores in two different states, I finally had enough for 10 place settings!  Whew!  It was a lot of work tracking these dishes down but it has been so worth it. My sweet husband actually found half of them for me! He’s a keeper!

I did two different tablescapes with these dishes, mainly because I forgot to use the pumpkins the first go-round!  In the first attempt, I used the pumpkin dinner plate, salad plate, and bowl.  For the middle of the table, I used a garland and then layered in more greenery with white and orange faux flowers.

For the second version of the pumpkin table, I put a large wooden pumpkin in the middle as a centerpiece and nestled in orange, tan, and brown, velvet pumpkins throughout the greenery and flowers. I changed out the salad plate to a beautiful orange colored plate to help tie in more orange hues and add some contrast to the tan pumpkin plates. Also, I added in more orange flowers and some different cream-colored flowers as well.  The second version is my favorite!

I used tan colored napkins, wicker napkin rings, white chargers, and hyacinth placemats.

Everyone always asks me where I find all my dishes and the truth is, it’s like a treasure hunt!  Check HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Marshalls, and Tuesday Morning if your looking for a bargain.  You can often find cute sets for a decent price if you’re willing to do a little shopping and hunt them down at different locations. I also find great items for my tablescapes at Target, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Pier1, Anthropology, West Elm, and Crate and Barrell.

I find the greenery and flowers at different hobby stores like Hobby Lobby, Kirklands, Michaels, Ben Franklin, Target, Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn. Find local home decor stores and garden centers near you for inspiration and unique finds!

I’ve linked the sources I could find at the bottom of the post for you. I hope you enjoy this fun, festive, pumpkin themed fall tablescape!

Holly’s Helpful Hints

Glasses are from Target-Hearth and Hand Fluted Tumblers.  If they are not available anymore, I’ve linked similar items below.  The chargers are from Hobby Lobby. I couldn’t find them on their website so I’ve linked another option below too.

A great resource for the authentic velvet pumpkins is from HotSkwash.  Be prepared though as they are not cheap!  There are YouTube videos on how to make them if you are a DIY’er.  I’ve linked another source below and you can find less expensive options if you don’t mind them having a fake stem.  I prefer the real stems though as they are cuter and more authentic but it’s an investment and they will keep for years if you care for them properly. Make sure they are filled with rice or beans and not just batting. The batting filled pumpkins don’t weigh much so they aren’t as easy to work with.

If you can’t find the pumpkin plates, look for another plain option that is tan or off white and use other plates, like I did in the second version and use different kinds of pumpkins to create the same look.

I hope you enjoyed this Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape! If you’d like to see more pumpkin themed tablescapes here are a few others I’ve shared over the years! All have pumpkins mixed in somewhere.

Green, Gold, and White Thanksgiving Tablescape

Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape 

Thanksgiving Silver and White Tablescape

Outdoor Farm to Table Entertaining

Blue and Orange Pumpkin Themed Tablescape

Enjoy!

xoxo,

All Sources Linked Below

White and Brown charger – less expensive version is linked here: HobbyLobby

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Sage Green and White Fall Transitional Tablescape

As we start heading towards fall, I thought it would be nice to create a neutral tablescape that still works for summer but also works as a fall transitional tablescape.   I had invited three different families over for “Lasagna Night” and wanted to try out a new recipe I had for peaches since they were in season.  I planned on having about twenty guests.  I decided to use the outdoor table for the kids’ table, and the indoor table for the adults.  I also utilized the bar for four more place settings for some of the bigger kids.  (Holly’s Homemade Lasagna Recipe) (Fresh Peach Dessert)

I pulled out my sage green dishes, white dishes, all my tan and white napkins, and wicker napkin rings. I also pulled out some woven placemats that mixed nicely with both sets of dishes and linens.  I played around with the different plates and linens to see what looked nice together. I knew I didn’t have enough of each of the dinner and salad plates to do twenty place-settings so I decided to use the white dinner plates and sage green salad plates for the inside table with the white and tan checked gingham napkins and reverse it for the outside table.

The Place-Settings

 Mixing up the two sets of dishes allowed me to use the same dishes and colors and still be able to create enough place settings for a large crowd.  When I entertain adults and kids, I tend to take a more casual approach and this idea helped keep things simple for me.  

This is the outdoor version above.

This is the indoor version.

On the outdoor table I reversed the plates using the sage green dinner plate on the bottom and the white salad plate on the top, a white antiqued charger and a white washed wicker place mat.  I used solid tan linen napkins with a lace edge to bring in some some softer elements. The napkin rings were were white antiqued wicker.

Both tables I used simple stemware and silver flatware. 

Details of the Indoor Table

For the indoor table, I used a tan linen table runner to build the table swag on.  I always start with a base faux garland and build on top of that. I then added in faux greenery that had similar leaves and color and some small white flowers.  Then I added in some lighter green leafed picks to add height and width to the swag. The last thing I added was a mix of white stem flowers.

I used a variety of faux peonies, roses, and other white floral flowers.  I added silver candlesticks at varying heights, and nestled some small silver mercury glass votive candle holders into the swag. I also used my antique salt and pepper shakers that were from each of my husbands grandmas. They both had the exact same salt and pepper shakers and somehow I was lucky enough to get them both!

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/31-peony-spray-white?_pos=22&_sid=f082a33da&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/43-inch-white-hollyhock-stem?_pos=84&_sid=f082a33da&_ss=r&variant=48241459036449

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/copy-of-12-hand-dipped-taper-candles-blush-1?_pos=2&_sid=264f13809&_ss=r

I like to use corresponding pillows in my end chairs. 

The indoor table is from Restoration Hardware and I’ve linked some similar ones  a handful of of other items I used at the bottom of the post.  I buy my faux flowers from wherever I can find them.  Hobby Lobby, Michaels, HomeGoods, Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, and a local store in Utah called GatehouseNo1.  I keep a stash of flowers in a closet and I reuse them over and over again to make my tablescapes and arrangements.  

Details of the Outdoor Table

For the outdoor table centerpiece, I used two premade boxes of white and green flowers that I found at HomeGoods.  I kept this tablescape more simple for the kids.

Creating a tablescape is a fun way to create a welcoming and warm feeling in your home. I enjoy the process of creating something that is beautiful. The best part is when I can use things I already have.  Look around your home and see what pretty things you have that can be used to create a beautiful tablescape. Sometimes mine are more elaborate and sometimes they are more simple. I love being able to use fresh flowers, but I also like being able to mix it up with faux flowers and greenery! I hope this helps inspire you to create something that fits with your style and taste. 

Here’s a few more photos of both tables.

[holly_healthful_tips]  

Holly’s Helpful Tips

I reuse the same flowers, greenery and flowers for my tablescapes.  I keep floral containers in a closet and store all of them in like colors.  When I want to do a tablescape or create a faux arrangement, I pull from the things I already have. It’s an investment up front for nice faux flowers but if you take care of them and store them in floral containers, they can be used time and time again.

Mix up your dishes or mix and match different sized plates if you have more people than you have one full set of dishes.

[/holly_healthful_tips]

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing both the indoor and outdoor versions of  this Sage Green and White Fall Transitional Tablescape.

Sources linked here:

*if items are out of stock, similar options linked to recreate the look.

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/31-peony-spray-white?_pos=22&_sid=f082a33da&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/43-inch-white-hollyhock-stem?_pos=84&_sid=f082a33da&_ss=r&variant=48241459036449

Similar Stoneware Plate w/ Scalloped Edge

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FALL TRANSITIONAL TABLESCAPE

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