Whether throwing him a huge birthday party, or just looking for a reason to show him you care, there are so many ways to celebrate the guy in your life. From glasses and decanters right down to the napkin rings, we have all the details that will make your get-together one to remember.

To create a table with sophisticated masculinity, try using a plaid or striped tablecloths. We love Libeco Home‘s refined rustic style.

For a rugged, eclectic feel, try mixing a variety of textures and materials for a look that feels special and unique. Use antler accents and leather finishes to off set fine cut glass and glistening metallics.

Like what you see? Check out more party ideas here.

Hosting for the holidays? Now’s the time to start planning those parties. And because all custom table linens are made to order, it can take up to 10-12 weeks to complete production, so get out your measuring tape! As these orders cannot be changed or cancelled after they are placed, here are six helpful tips to ensure you order the perfect table linens:

1. Count your expected guests. You may need to add additional leaves to your table for these special occasions, so be sure to measure the fullest length you need. Ordering additional napkins can be a great way to ensure you’re prepared for anything.

2. Consider shape. If you have an oval table, both an oval or rectangular cloth will work. Take a look at Sferra’s Classico, which has elegant long corners draping from an oval table shape:

3. Calculate your desired drop. We recommend a 10-15 inch drop on all sides, so be sure to add 20-30 inches to both the length and width of your table. Casual settings typically require a shorter drop, while some formal linens may reach all the way to the floor.

Not sure how long your drop should be? Place one of your dining chairs at your table and measure the gap between the bottom of the table and the top of the seat, and use this as your guide.

4. Choose your material. While linen shows classic elegance and tradition, you may also consider an easy-care option if you need to use these cloths frequently in a short period of time. Options like Egyptian Cotton allow for a texture with a beautiful, subtle sheen, while a synthetic option may be the right choice for those who need to quickly wash and dry to prepare for the next event. Easy care materials require little to no ironing, but if you opt for linen, try ironing your cloth while it’s still damp, which makes wrinkles much easier to erase.

5. Remember, these may shrink! All of our custom tablecloths are made slightly larger to compensate for shrinkage. If you would prefer to have the cloth cut exactly to your specific dimensions, without any additional fabric, please feel free to indicate this in Special Instructions at Checkout.

6. Have fun! Don’t forget the reason for the occasion: the celebrate with the ones you love! If you want to bring life to a white or ecru tablecloth, try colorful dinnerware or vibrant seasonal flowers on your table. If you love bright linens, choose from over 100 colors in the aptly named Festival Collection. Please note that the Festival fabric cannot be cut in an oval shape, but looks beautiful in round or rectangle.

For all of our custom table linens, click here.

How will you make this Holiday Season shine?

Need a little pampering? Chances are, your girlfriends do, too! Catch up with friends while enjoying some downtime with a relaxing and rejuvenating spa party.

Indulge in comfort and luxury with soft bath robes. We love how Yves Delorme combines the silkiest materials with floral, feminine designs, perfect for girl time.

To view more party ideas, click here.

With proper care, your down comforters and pillows should last many years.

– Comforters should always be used inside a duvet cover.  For additional protection, pillows should be used with a pillow protector.

– Fluff your pillows and comforters every day when you make your bed.

– Comforters may be spot cleaned for spills and aired out occasionally.

– While frequent washing is not advised, down products may either be washed or dry cleaned.  Dry cleaning should only be performed by a company experienced with down products, as dirty cleaning fluid will cause the down to clump, lose its lofting ability and occasionally develop a mild odor.

– Wash in a front-loading commercial capacity washer.  Avoid machines with agitators, as these are too rough and can tear the baffles.

– Use a low sudsing detergent or a product specifically designed for washing down products (like Le Blanc Down Wash).  Do not use bleach or fabric softener.

– Run through the rinse cycle twice to remove all soap.

– Place in large capacity dryer on the lowest heat setting and dry for 3-4 hours. If you’d like, place a couple of clean tennis or dryer balls inside the dryer to help fluff the down.  Dry well beyond the point where the outer fabric feels dry, as you want to make sure that the down clusters are fully dry.

– Allow the comforter to air dry for an additional 24 hours before placing it inside a duvet cover.  If you notice any lingering odors or clumping, place it in the dryer again and continue to dry it.

– We do not recommend cleaning down more than twice a year.

Want to learn more?  Click here to view all our linen care products.  To shop for down, click here to view all our down products.

We have a kitchen shelf full of condiments, but the one I reach for most often is salt.  Now, if you’re ready to move beyond regular table salt for baking and kosher salt for cooking, here are the best finishing salts you need to own.  And remember, since they’re only used on finished food, a little goes a long way.

Maldon Flake Salt – loved by chefs around the world, Maldon flakes have a clean, fresh taste with no bitter flavors.  Amazing on cooked eggs and sprinkled on brownie batter, it brings an explosion of flavor to the mouth.

Fleur de Sel de Guerande – hand-harvested from pristine salt marshes in Brittany, France, this salt is unprocessed, so it’s moist and retains a complex flavor of the sea. Use it on leafy green salads, grilled fish, fruit, and caramel sauce.

Himalayan Pink Salt – hand-mined salt found deep within the Himalayan mountains, these beautiful salts are best appreciated on lighter-colored foods like fish or chicken.

 Truffle salt – sprinkled on fresh pasta with butter, roasted potatoes, and buttered popcorn, this packs a fragrant punch. The truffle aroma is super addictive.

Salts this beautiful should be served in the right container.  For casual meals I love this olivewood container from Williams-Sonoma …

… but for evening there’s nothing more stunning than silver next to candlelight:

Looking for one?  Click here to view all our condiment servers and butter dishes, and here to view more salt & pepper shakers.

Created in collaboration with Zuber & Cie, Haviland’s Le Bresil Dinnerware is as much a work of art as Zuber’s famous Les Vues du Bresil scenic mural wallpaper collection.  Originally introduced in 1829 and printed in 247 colors from 1693 blocks, Bresil is one of Zuber’s most complex productions.

Each Zuber panel contains large expanses of color and incredibly ornate details, many of which are recreated in the dinnerware.

With tropical trees and exotic birds, the elaborate imagery of the dessert plate captures the imaginative spirit of Zuber’s colorful scenes.

By balancing the delicacy of the bird in the foreground with the intricacy of the trees behind, Haviland’s artisans used dimension to perfect Zuber’s meticulous style in this stunning tray.

If you love this as much as we do, next time you’re in Switzerland, be sure to stop by the Musee du Papier Peint, which has a mural of the wallpaper in their Salon Bresilien:

For more pieces from this exquisite collection, click here.

It never rains in L.A. in August … except a couple of Sundays ago.  Which could have been a disaster, since we had planned a post-wedding garden brunch for 45 relatives.  At the last minute, we cleared the living and dining rooms to set up the party indoors, and the party turned out to be a big hit.  The smaller, more intimate space got people closer, the guests talked a lot more with each other, and everybody had a great time.  What could’ve been a two hour brunch lasted five hours until the final guest ambled out.

We spent the next few days thinking and talking about our guests and the party, what we learned and what we’d do differently, and here are some tips and lessons from our experience:

Put the Early Guests to Work

Somebody always shows up early.  Relax — they’re usually your best friends (or at least think they are), so put them to work setting out food and drinks or finishing up the decorations.  They’ll feel useful, and you’ll get some help.

Smaller Spaces Make It More Fun

Putting people a little closer makes it easier to talk, so use smaller tables and put some food in the kitchen to encourage mingling. If someone can’t chat easily with the person across the table, then the table is too large.

Make the Food Easy

The food has to be easy to serve, easy to keep, and easy to understand.  Everybody got the grilled vegetables and seafood paella, but the chilled peanut noodles (our personal favorite) was left behind.  The leafy salads also got soggy by the end of the party, so we’ll have to rethink that one for next time.  Avoid foods that require pan searing, deep frying, or chilling — they won’t look or taste so good after a while.

Have Different Food and Drink Stations

Keep people moving around with food and drinks in different places.  It’ll give everyone more chance to walk around, graze, and mingle with each other.

Plan for a Longer Party

A good party keeps itself going, so think about how everything would look if the party went on for longer.  Plan for more drinkware (people ended up using on average two glasses each, even after marking their glasses.)   Have more forks than the other flatware pieces available.  Use paper lanterns instead of balloons.  They can be set up a few days before and will last through the whole day.

Spontaneity Instead of Speeches

Ever sat through a speech or slideshow wondering when it’ll end?  It’s better when people are just having a good time chatting with each other.  Try to move your guests around if the conversation starts to flag.

Get Some Games Started

Checkers, chess, Scrabble, Monopoly, Pictionary.  Set them out, then start a game with a few guests.  If they’re in the mood for fun, they’ll pick up all on their own.  Unusual games (Chinese chess in our case) are especially good conversation starters.

Serve Some Sinful Desserts

When people are having fun, they break their diets, so make sure you have a few desserts they wouldn’t normally eat.  The tres leches cake, which we thought few people would touch, was gone before halftime.  Our guests then went on to polish off a full box of macaroons and half a box of tea cakes.  The fruit salad, on the other hand, was still plentiful at the end.

Have Lots of Trash Bins

Not glamorous but very useful.  Set one near every table.

Old Habits Die Hard

Since it was a brunch in the middle of summer, we’d only planned to serve cold drinks.  But old habits die hard, and guests asked for tea to go with their Chinese food.  Luckily, this was super fast to fix, but next time we’ll be sure to have both tea and coffee ready to go.

Do you have any party planning tips of your own?  We’d love to hear them!

Written in the late 18th Century, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, or The Magic Flute, is one of the best-loved operas in history. With this as his inspiration, whimsical Danish artist Bjørn Wiinblad created the Sarastro dinnerware collection for Rosenthal.

Each piece in the line features a different scene from the opera depicted in relief, so they all sport exceptionally wide rims.

The genius is in the details.  Here are a few of the ones we’ve discovered:

Fowl Play: The symbol of the bird is used throughout this opera.  For example, one of the central characters, Papageno the bird catcher, sings playful tunes intended to mimic the sound of chirping birds. Look closely at pieces from Wiinblad’s dinnerware collection, and you’ll see that the theme of the bird is shown in beautiful relief throughout.

Up to No Good: With elaborate costumes and heavenly melodies, Mozart created many of his characters to be deceptively beautiful. The Queen, who initially appears to be harmless, later reveals her malicious intent to destroy Sarastro. In Wiinblad’s depictions of these characters, they are intentionally shown in an aura of ambiguous elegance.

Hidden Secrets: There are beautiful secrets and surprises hidden throughout the opera.  For his part, Wiinblad surprises his audience by using his own handwriting to paint the names of the arias and scenes depicted on each piece.  But they’re not obvious … he’s hidden them in the crevices and underneath each piece.

It is a collection that looks as good on the table as it does on the shelf.  Available in gold or plain white, each piece is delightful.

To view all pieces from this extraordinary collection, click here.

We’re seeing flowers everywhere, and we couldn’t resist bringing them indoors.

For more blooming summer ideas, click here.

Wedding season is in full swing! I’ve sent in my RSVP’s, picked out my outfits but have yet to buy a gifts for my friends. There’s something impersonal to me about a wedding registry… yes, I know that one absolutely needs to have flatware and matching towels, but I feel that my friendship with the bride and groom deserves more than just an item from a list.

I suggest taking the time to think about what it is you love about the newlyweds … What do they like to do? What is a shared experience you’ve had? What tradition can you help them continue? I’ve put together five items that are inspired by some of the best couples I know.

First, I should mention that the most important part of being a thoughtful gift giver is the card. You must include a card that tells the couple how special they are to you and explain why you thought this gift would be perfect for them. Nothing beats a heartfelt message. They’ll surely hold on to the sentiment of that card whenever they use your gift.

1. Flower Vase

My friend Krystal’s husband brings her fresh flowers ever week. It’s something sweet that he’s done consistently through out their four year courtship. Sure, they have plenty of vases lying around but I got them a really special vase specifically meant to commemorate their wedding. They loved it and I often get photos from my friend of the weekly flowers in my off-registry gift.

2. Honeymoon Essentials

Weddings are expensive. My friend Janice and her husband spent three years working two jobs to pay for their wedding and reception. As you can imagine, they have not had very much time for a vacation… I knew that they were going to Fiji for their Honeymoon (and that they both hate flying) so I got them a Honeymoon Travel Kit. I included earplugs, pillow, sleep mask, tote bag, snacks, travel size sunscreen and much more. They loved it and I felt like I helped make their Honeymoon more special.

3. Cuddly Throws

I spent a weekend in Santa Barbara in the home of a wonderful couple who has been married for 24 years. The thing that struck me the most about their home was how welcoming it felt. No matter if we were sitting around the fire under the stars or with popcorn in front of a movie, there was always a cozy throw nearby. I think this would make for a great gift for any couple that entertains, likes to stay in for movie-nights or even for those who have kids.

4. Robes

My mom got married a few months ago and she and her new husband have matching robes. I’ll admit that I made fun of them at first but then she explained that they wake up every morning, take turns making breakfast/coffee and enjoy a few moments together in their robes before they start their day. They are both incredibly busy people but they have made a promise to always start their days together like this. I think it’s a lovely tradition to start and end the day in a comfy and luxurious robe with your spouse.

5. Love-ly Art

I am an artist, so I have been known to gift my friends either photographs, books, sculptures or paintings. This can be a little trickier than most gifts because everyone has different aesthetics and you don’t want to spend too much money on something that is not going to get used. A few years back, I found some art that I thought embodied my friend Lauren’s relationship with her husband. They were gracious enough to host me in their guest room several times so I knew their decor very well. I asked Lauren if it would be okay for me to get her some surprise artwork for their wedding, she said yes and said she could use something for over their fire place. Great! I took the dimensions and asked her a few questions about what she would prefer in terms of framing and a few weeks later they had a wonderful new piece of art that was not only a symbol of their marriage but a reminder of our friendship.

I hope my personal gifting experiences help you find a thoughtful gift for the very special couple!

For more wedding gift ideas, click here.