reprinted by permission of William Morrow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Darcy Miller is the master of all things party decor and elegant DIY. Give her a reason to throw a party, and she will throw a spectacular one, from baby showers to 50th anniversaries and anything in between. In her new book, Celebrate Everything!, she talks about the ins and outs of what goes into a great party, offering recipes, inspiration, insider sources and real tips for creating special details that everyone will remember. She pulled from her deep vault of past party experience as an entertaining authority and as the editor-at-large at Martha Stewart Weddings. Here, Miller talks decor and some special holiday memories (including that time Stewart set her up on a blind date).
The inspiration behind my new book, Celebrate Everything!
I’ve always loved entertaining even when I was young. As a kid, I remember my mom made celebrations at home personal and festive. I’ve always enjoyed the “do it together” aspect of planning parties, from making invitations to my childhood birthday parties with my mom to starting a business making party favors with a friend in college at the University of Pennsylvania (which is why I like to think of these parties as not just DIY, but also DIT). After having planned many, many weddings — including my own, I had my first daughter, whose name is Daisy. When she turned one, I had a daisy-themed birthday party for her and photographed it. It’s now over twelve years later, and I’ve been wanting to put all those years of parties together in one place. For Celebrate Everything! I wanted it to be a place where I could share my tips, tricks, insider info and inspirations as well as the incredibly talented people and huge range of sources that I’ve collected over the years (from Etsy vendors who make deer-shaped cookies to where to get the best confetti–not to mention pages from experts like event designer David Stark or caterer Peter Callahan, who share some of their own tips and recipes, too). And that’s how Celebrate Everything! came to be… along with a lot of hours and cupcake tastings!
It’s important for people to celebrate — the big, little, in between moments — because…
There’s a reason I called my book Celebrate Everything! Whether it’s coming together for the big milestones or gathering your friends for something smaller, the one thing that any celebration has in common is that you’re doing it with people that you love and enjoy. Spending time with friends and family is what makes me want to celebrate, so I’m always looking for a reason to do just that. There will always be a baby shower or 50th birthday party, but it’s things like a candle in a croissant for a half birthday or sending 21 balloons to your friend on their 21st birthday that are the unexpected and sometimes more meaningful things to celebrate. It’s not about how much things cost or how elaborate the celebration is — it’s all about being thoughtful and including those personal touches. A few of my favorite lines in the book are, “the best things in life are free, and the best things in life aren’t things,” and “Life is short: celebrate everything!”
My favorite holiday…
My favorite holiday is actually something that happens every day — celebrating birthdays. There’s something great about making people feel special on their birthdays. It goes it without saying that when you’re a little kid, you anticipate your birthday, and in my house that means everything from brainstorming party ideas to decorating their sisters’ rooms with hand-drawn garlands and banners. Suffice it to say, we have a decent amount of candles and confetti that have made appearances at many a breakfast table. I love drawing my colleagues and friends wearing their birthday outfits of the day on cards if I can. The funniest thing about it, though, is that I don’t really like a lot of fuss on my own birthday — I used to hide under the table when my mom brought out my birthday cake when I was little!
And favorite holiday to decorate and entertain for…
My favorite things about any celebration (aside from doing it together!) are the details that make it personal to who or what you are celebrating. I’m always asked about my favorite party or favorite thing to celebrate and that’s such a difficult question to answer! It’s never about just one party or one holiday, but how I can find the details to make that party meaningful and special. It’s so easy to decorate in someone’s favorite color, but you can go one step further with a specialty cocktail named for the occasion or guest of honor (Jack Frost Juleps, anyone?) or a holiday playlist curated by gathering favorite songs from all of your guests. Every celebration can be so different when you consider who or what it was for — I had a candy-themed bridal shower for my friend Dylan of Dylan’s Candy Bar, ring pop candy favors and all!
Favorite holiday tradition with the family…
We always do a fun birthday breakfast on the morning of whoever has a birthday that day. The table is filled with cards, confetti, notes and pictures from siblings and anything else that will make the birthday person feel special. Cake is on the menu and we make sure to have candles to blow out before school. Even though we all expect it, we still love pretending it’s a “surprise,” including the kids hiding under the table until my husband comes down for breakfast!
And favorite holiday memory…
I may have been the founding weddings editor at Martha Stewart, but during those early years, I was always single… and went on a lot of blind dates! Martha ended up fixing me up with my husband, Andy, and when we started dating, we tried to keep it a secret so we didn’t prove her right! To help keep things quiet, we even snuck in a trip to LA for New Year’s Eve for the millennium. Martha found out anyway soon after that, and obviously, the rest is history!
My holidays decorations include…
The holidays are all about family and friends for me. The kids and I love to decorate our house for the holidays. Metallic and glitter is always my palette of choice. Actually, since my birthday is in December, my mom used to decorate the birthday table with these snowy little glitter cardboard houses, which she still has today. Our collection is comprised of glitter letters of the kids’ names, snowy, wintry trees and painted walnuts. Since the Nutcracker is such a holiday favorite around my house, we have everything from wooden Nutcrackers (glittery, of course!) to paper angels we made out of doilies and cut glitter paper that decorated a Nutcracker-inspired party I once threw (and you can see those in my book!). A lot of our decorations are things that we have made over the years, from nursery school to now. It’s a combination of things that we’ve collected and made and it just keeps growing… but it always sparkles!
To alleviate stress when entertaining during the holidays, I recommend…
The biggest thing is to remember that the holidays are more about spending time with people you love than anything else. If you’re planning to have friends over for a cocktail party, choose your priorities. Maybe a fun specialty cocktail and a trivia game about holiday classic movies to get your guests talking will be your focus and you don’t worry so much about an elaborate menu or intricate décor. Why not have your guests help, too? Let your food be taken care of with a cookie swap or why not have everyone bring their favorite holiday dish to share. You just provide the wine!
And to combat end-of-the-holidays blues…
There’s something anticlimactic about the end of the holidays, but there’s also something nice about having some quiet and downtime, too. It’s a chance to catch up, catch a breath and get organized for the new year. Actually, one of my favorite holidays comes up soon after the New Year begins — Valentine’s Day! Everyone is planning and partying around the end-of-year holidays and so it’s nice to get a little something sweet and memorable on a more unexpected day. It doesn’t have to be about your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife, because who doesn’t like getting a Valentine? Teachers, doctors, co-workers and friends will appreciate being thought of, too. This started when my daughter was a baby and I made some Valentine cards for my friends at work — now it’s become a yearly tradition. Personally, I do something with a drawing of mine and the kids and candy packaged in a cute way, but even sending someone a note whether it’s snail mail or email will make them smile.
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