I’ve always been a fan of a great at-home bar. I strongly believe it’s a must-learn life skill to mix up classic cocktails, and as an avid host, it’s important to provide an array...
Looking back on Easter as a child, I remember how excited I was to dig through my Easter basket. Full of chocolate bunnies, malt ball Easter eggs, Peeps, golden coins, and my favorite Cadbury...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
It’s that time of year, friends, and oh do we have some MAJOR goodness in store for you! We’re kicking off a round of five, that’s right…FIVE holiday gift guides and giveaways this month to celebrate the season.
Over the next week we’ll be sharing everything we’re planning on gifting this year; the what, the to who, and the why we’re gifting it, plus we’re giving it all away!! That’s right we’re giving it all away to one lucky winner! Almost everything you see in this picture, customized in colors, sizes and selects, just for one lucky, lucky winner! Well technically 5 lucky winners since we’re doing five guides.
Anyway, check out all the details from Gift Guide Number One below, and of course the giveaway entry form widget. A big thanks to our generous friends at Simply Framed, Williams-Sonoma, Mark & Graham, Ashley Brooke Designs, Emily Ley, One Love Organics, Thimble Press and Daily Harvest for making all of our giveaway dreams come true! Without further adieu, I invite you to check out all of the products below (with shoppable links if you just can’t wait until the giveaway is through!). Good luck, good luck and let’s cheers to a great start to gift guide season! Truly, MKR
It’s an inspirational book that encourages women to simplify and prioritize. Designed with EL’s stunning signature aesthetic, this book gives us tangible ways to simplify our lives to give space to what matters most.
We’d gift this to a friend, sister, cousin, or coworker who does it all.
Simply Framed helps make gifting a whole lot easier this holiday season. Simply send in your art, pick your frame, and receive your custom framed piece, ready to hang on the gallery wall!
We’d gift art to one of those they’ve-got-everything people on our list!
Receive a 10% discount on your custom framing project with code WAITMARTH10. xo
Easily two of our favorite products by One Love Organics, the Skin Dew and Vitamin E Eye Balm are true essentials for your everyday skincare routine. See the difference of all natural products on your skin and tell us you’re not in love, too!!!
We’d gift these to our beauty-obsessed bestie or mother.
An everyday must-have, this gorgeous leather cosmetic case is perfect for keeping makeup, coins and small items in your bag while you run around town…and even better when going wheels-up on your next vacay!
We’d gift these to a sister, friend (or any jet-setter!).
*Giveaway winner will receive a customized cosmetic bag with color of their choice.
These irresistibly easy and delicious ready-to-blend smoothies are a freezer staple for Team WOM. Not only do they taste amazing, they’re packed with all the good stuff we need to be fueled for the day.
We’d gift these to a health-conscious bestie.
*Giveaway winner will receive six smoothies of choice.
Quite possibly THE softest pajamas around, LAKE gives us reason to stay in bed all day long. Classic prints in separates, shorts sets and pants sets have us living in LAKE all year ’round.
We’d gift these to a sister or mother to enjoy our Christmas morning movie marathon!
*Giveaway winner will receive a pajamas set of their choice.
This planner is more than just a planner; it’s a place to track ideas, notes, to-do lists, inspiration, and the random things that fill up any day. It’s the the perfect companion for those of us who also use an online calendar to schedule their lives. It’s the perfect place to be creative, plan and explore!
We’d gift this to a fellow dreamer, hustler and shaker.
After talking with our friend Anna recently about thoughtful holiday traditions for the family, we got to thinking about a few new memories we can make this year to commemorate the holiday season. Anna introduced us to St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6) where her kids leave out their shoes for St. Nick to fill them up with candies and goodies, and both MKR and I just loved that. The tradition immediately made me think of Three Kings Day (Jan. 6 aka Epiphany), a holiday we celebrated in southern Spain when I lived there for a few years as a little girl. It was always a delight waking up to find chocolate coins and taffy in our shoes!
Does your family partake in any cherished holiday traditions this time of year? Do you set up an Advent Calendar or watch the same marathon of Christmas movies with holiday hot chocolate? As the team sets out to start their own holiday traditions this year, we’d love to hear about any you do to add to our list! And these aren’t just for the little ones..we included our new favorite southern cream liqueur in the mix…proof that kids of all ages can have a little fun with these new holiday traditions! Cheers, Kat
There are old Christian traditions surrounding St. Nicholas’ feast day on December 6; kids leave their shoes out overnight in front of the fireplace, on the windowsill, or outside their bedroom door so that St. Nicholas can fill them with special fruits like tangerines, candies like chocolate coins and taffy, as well as other small gifts and treats.
We especially love this tradition for kids of all ages (hence the Jackson Morgan southern cream liqueur!). And if you have little ones at home, encourage them to leave carrots or hay in their shoes St. Nicholas’ donkey to eat too. St. Nicholas will replace it with treats to enjoy in the morning!
An advent calendar is a fun and easy way to signify the countdown to Christmas Day. While advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes these days, the original advent calendar can be traced back to the 19th century, when religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve.
Fill your advent calendar with small chocolates and treats to keep the excitement of the season alive for all.
We love the idea of adding one special ornament to the tree each year to commemorate times spent with family and friends. Plan a trip to pick out your ornaments together, or have them ordered by the time you decorate the tree. It will be such a treat to pull them out each year and remember the memories tied to them!
Opening just one gift on Christmas Eve is a fun tradition to do in eager anticipation for Santa Claus to arrive the following day. Invite your family to share this memory as you settle in after the presents are opened, reading holiday stories and cozying up with holiday hot chocolate.
Three Kings Day, aka“Feast of the Epiphany,” on Jan. 6 marks the day on the Christian calendar when the three kings brought gifts to baby Jesus (and also the last day of the 12 days of Christmas). The traditions originated in Spain and Latin American countries, though many in the US celebrate it now too. The tradition goes: children line their shoes outside the front door, in which the three kings leave candies and small gifts. Many people leave a box of hay or grass too, for the camels of course!
You know, a lot of people don’t realize all of the love (and sweat and tears) that go into running a small business. Sure, by now everyone’s read about the nonexistent weekends and the many nights spent burning the midnight oil. But perhaps the biggest unsung heroes behind Team WOM are my parents.
Ever since WOM was in its early years, my parents have bent over backwards to help me. They’ve been at all of the big moves, all of the install-days, all of the true milestones. I knew I wanted to find a way to thank them this year by giving back this Christmas. They are after all the ones who instilled my deep, undying love for the holiday season and Christmas decorations. And in true MKR-fashion, I had my heart set on surprising them in a way that would take their breath away. So when Frontgate proposed a holiday collaboration, I jumped at the opportunity to make a little Christmas magic happen.
See, my parents have worked on a huge home remodeling project this past year and my favorite room has easily become the dining room in all of it’s emerald green gorgeousness. The dining room was also the perfect choice since it becomes the heart of the home this time of year as we all find ourselves gathered around the table in our best holiday attire.
First on my list, of course, was bringing in a Christmas tree. Since this would be Mom and Dad’s secondary tree, I decided to have a little fun with it. I opted for this Noble Slim Artificial Pre-Lit Christmas tree (the dining room has lovely tall ceilings). Let’s just say this is a far cry from your old artificial tree in the attic; all the cords come inside the inner pole, so you don’t have to do anything but turn on the switch when setting it up. Seriously, it took me five minutes versus the typical hour!
Since the dining room is the most formal room in the home, I had fun stepping outside my parents’ classic holiday decor of red and green, going instead with a blue and white chinoiserie theme. My love for ginger jars and all things blue and white has always been enthusiastically welcomed by my mother and father. And ever since they painted the dining room that gorgeous emerald green, I’ve been dreaming of adding the details that chinoiserie dreams are made of (read: ginger jar galore). And by going this route it allowed me the perfect opportunity to add special occasion-worthy items that can be used long after the holidays are through.
To be exact, that meant: lining the dining table with as many ginger jars I could find, new and old. Bringing in these stunning hand-beaded Chinoiserie Ming placemats and Chinoiserie Ming coasters. Chinoiserie Ming embroidered napkins and Chinoiserie Ming napkin rings. Exquisite gold and white place settings and wine glasses. A pre-lit Christmas wreath with extra adornments to hang on the mirror. This French Manor tree skirt, hand-beaded to perfection. And of course, all of the blue and white ornaments I could find with Faux Pearl Droplets (because more is always more).
One thing I came to realize during all of this is that Frontgate makes it a total dream to decorate. They sell 60-piece ornament collections with a variety of 8-10 different styles within a handful of themes (in addition to single ornaments, of course). I obviously beelined to this French Blue & Linen collection to go along with my blue and white chinoiserie, but the Natural Elements collection and Mixed Metals both create just as stunning of an effect.
I couldn’t be happier with the final product…my parents were over the moon to find such a beautiful, magical space awaiting them. With pieces I know will be treasured for years and years to come, the room celebrates the season in extraordinary detail in an elegance that can really be enjoyed all year ’round. Truly, MKR
P.S. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of everything upon arrival; my holiday haul landed on my parents’ doorstep in 25 boxes filled with fragile, breakable items and nothing…I repeat, NOTHING was broken. That was especially huge for me with this project a complete surprise for my parents and all. I had an extremely quick turnaround while they went away for the weekend, and I was able to pull it all off without a hitch thanks to some good packing. All of the ornaments came with great boxes for storing for years to come (a necessity, really). xo
Photography, Rustic White for Waiting on Martha | This post is in collaboration with Frontgate, a brand we love and adore. All opinions are 100% our own.
