Hosting & Entertaining: Page 5

Gift baskets are a great way to celebrate the holidays and special occasions. They also are a great way for you to cheer a friend up and cure their blues. In this quick guide you will learn how to put together a kind and caring gift basket for someone recovering from illness.

Naturally dyed eggs is the way to go for Easter time. Aside from just using your normal dyes for Easter eggs, add a unique look by just using onion skins. Onion skins will dye your Easter eggs with a cook natural color, great for eating or for decoration.

Lifestyle expert Clinton Kelly shares tips for setting the table for a dinner party, either casual or more formal. For a casual dinner party he recommends using only a water glass and a non-specific wine glass. The plate goes in the center with a napkin in a ring placed on top of the plate. Two knives are placed to the right of the plate and two forks to the left.

This video is a tutorial on how to make a diaper cake. The cake is not edible. To begin, you will need a pack of diapers and rubber bands. Roll up the diapers from the waist down and secure them with the rubber bands. Put several rubber bands around a bottle of wine and secure the diapers in tiers around the bottle of wine. Cover each tier with tissue paper before adding the next one. Wrap each tier in blankets. Top off the cake with a can of formula wrapped in a decorate blanket. At this...

Candy is not just for the kiddies. You're wedding guests will feel like they're in Candyland when they are presented with the whimsical wonderment of a candy buffet. You can easily match candy to your wedding's color scheme and theme.

This is a sped-up video of the FlowerGod showing how to make a beautiful feather anklet. The video is sped up to four times its normal speed. He begins by putting a basic feather anklet around a girl's ankle. Then he gets a piece of paper, to have a safe place to use some glue. He deposits a small amount of glue from a bottle of glue, and then uses this glue to secure several more decorations onto the anklet. These include some pink and white flowers, as well as a green feather. In the end, the...

The Flower god gets us all ready for the Chinese New year with a quick and very simple flower arrangement for a table centerpiece. You'll need some good luck bamboo, some ivy, little pieces of ginger and some passion flowers to accent the green. Take some of the ivy leaves and cover the centerpiece base. Cut them short at a sharp angle to cover everything. Next use the good luck bamboo to add height. Cut these at a sharp angle as well so that they will stay secure. The angles help it work...

The creator of The Flower God demonstrates how to create a flower armband that links around the hand. The very quick video begins by the illustrator wrapping wire around the model's arm, hand and finger. It is not restrictive, but allows flowers to be added all around the model's arm, including her fingers. The wire is flexible and cut to fit the model exactly, no one size fits all in this design. After the wire is placed and cut, flowers are applied to the wire. While the video is shown at 6x...

The video shows the making of a rose wire anklet for a wedding. The flower guy in the video takes a string a kind of lengthy wire and makes a small round shape in one end of it, then he inserts the other end through the upper front side of the lady's sandal so that the small circle fits exactly in the portion above the toes, then he glues a red rose and a rose leaf and fixes it in the circle with glue, then he puts the other end of the wire around her leg just above the foot, makes about two...

TheFlowergod teaches you how to design an exotic bride's bouquet for a wedding. You will first need a stand for the flower bouquet, which you can make out of plastic or wood. Place the longer stem flowers inside so you have a working station. For this bouquet you will be working with a few ferns as the base and then flowers with similar colors, like red, yellow, purple. The whole bouquet should say warmth and pleasant weather. Once you are done with the designing, you simply extract the bouquet...

The Flowergod demonstrates how to create a sweet pea and rose halo for a wedding or a luau. First, find and shape a dual ring of wire into a halo. Ensure that the halo fits on the head of your subject. Then weave foliage into the halo, creating a nice green bed for the flowers. After the green foliage is woven into a ring, insert the sweet pea and rose flowers in between the wires of the halo. Shape the flowers and the foliage as needed as you are weaving it through the metal rings. In a few...

The video gives tips to participate in a toilet paper wedding dress making contest. It gives the participant tips on how to make a winner's dress. Contestants are asked to begin with some inspiration by looking at previous winner's dresses, going through real dresses or by using their own imagination. Their next step is to gather the required materials. Participants must take good photos of their dresses in multiple angles and they can even shoot a video of their dress making. Some points on...

In this video tutorial you will learn how to decorate for a party using household stuff. The materials you will according to the hosts are wires of all sizes and colors (whatever you'd like), beads (the bigger the easier), a drill, an ice bucket, and indoor outdoor lights. With these materials you can learn how to decorate a ice bucket, and your stemware. Its very fun and easy according to the hosts and they will guide you step by step sharing there ideas and ways to decorate these items so...

The lady presenting the video shows us how to make a pomander ourselves which can be used for decoration in the church or at home or at the reception hall for your wedding. She says that she used artificial flowers which are a bit expensive but you can always use the flowers you want, either real or artificial. She says that the pomander she is going to make has a ribbon going through it so that you can hang it wherever you want. She asks you to pick up a Styrofoam ball and punch a hole...

Head shrinking is not only a thing of legends. Make your own cute, shrunken apple heads to add to the spirit of the season. Gather the family and get creative, carving whatever kind of face you would like on a legion of little apple heads.

This is a time lapse version of Flowergod episode 28. In this episode the Flowergod designs a bubble bowl centerpiece for a wedding. The demonstration focuses on color and flower choice as it relates to theme, floral depth and composition, and the overall shape and balance of the piece. Flowergod discusses techniques for arranging and concealing stones while emphasizing the bowl, as well as some general do's and don'ts for any floral arrangement. This centerpiece features white hydrangea,...

So, your buddy's getting married and it's time for that age-old tradition the "bachelor party". Make sure the party goes off with out a hitch by remembering the goal is to have fun and not to ruin the wedding, get a DUI or destroy the reputation of your friends. Plan accordingly.

How to create Mario power up mushroom pouches in six easy steps. Use cardboard as a template. Fold peach felt in half and cut around the template. Cut half circle out while holding template and felt in place. Make a mushroom head template for the mushroom caps/tops. Fold red felt in half to cut around the edges. (Do same for the green mushroom). Make a circle template to use as the spots. Use white felt for the spots and start following the template. Use black felt for the eyes and start to put...

Lifestyle expert Hal Owen teaches us the correct way to set a table place setting. 1. Place the "charger" plate in the middle of the place setting. This is the plate on which you will place all of the other plates. 2. Place your "dinner plate" in the middle of the "charger". 3. Place your "soup plate" in the middle of the "dinner plate". 4. Place your fork on the left of the plate and your dinner knife and spoon on the right, with the soup spoon on the outside. 5. Place your dessert fork and...

Follow these simple steps and learn the fundamentals of setting a perfect table for your next dinner party. This video is an easy guide to setting a formal table. Your forks always go on the left side, the salad fork on the outside, the dinner fork closest to the plate. Remember to always work from the outside to the inside. Your knife goes on the right hand side, with the blade pointing inward towards the plate. if you are serving soup, your spoon goes directly next to your knife. Your dessert...

The ability to tie a ribbon bow is a basic skill that can dress up any drab looking gift box. With this video tutorial, learn how to tie a bow for wrapping a present using wire ribbon. Start with a basic knot to secure the ribbon to the box. Next, fold the ribbon repeatedly back over itself until reaching the desired amount of layers. Using the excess ribbon length, bind the center of the layered folds by wrapping down the center.

Bows are so beautiful. They make a great accessory and an awesome accent to any gift. The bigger the bow, however, the more likely it is to flop and not look as beautiful as it should. This tutorial will show you how to make a beautifully large holiday bow using wired ribbon so that it doesn't wilt. Soon, your gift will be the talk of the party and no one will ever want to open it - it will be too perfect!

Wrapping a gift is great but adding a giant bow to the top of it makes the present that much more appealing. In this tutorial, learn how to make a huge bow to put on top of gifts.. you can also use the bow as a decoration for a wreath, Christmas tree, wall decoration, etc. Making this bow is not as difficult as you would think and takes a little under five minutes to finish. Excite the recipient of your gift with a big, beautiful bow.

Ever been impressed by fancy gift wrap but didn't know how to create it on your own? This video will show you how to make that perfect decorative bow. In this tutorial you will go step by step about how to use normal ribbon to create a special bow. You'll take two separate lengths of ribbon, one thick and one thin and combine them for a fancier look. This tutorial will show you how to adjust the length of the loops and tie the look off for a final look.

In this video, with hostess Candy, we are taught how to construct a hair bow for any occasion. With a mellow manner, Candy reveals that we need very few materials, just a ribbon and a clip, and, from there, shows us, distinctly and helpfully, each fold necessary to achieve the bow shape. After clipping it together, it's set, and she shows it off in her own hair. Perfect for any occasion, from Christmas to Valentine's Day to Easter, these festive looking holiday bows are indeed very charming,...

Bows are a pretty accent to almost anything. You can put a bow in your hair, on your clothing, on accessories, around flowers, around your puppy's collar - anywhere - and they add a hint of adorable. In this tutorial, Nancy of Lady Bug Wreaths shows us how to make bows for beginners with detailed instructions, step by step. Nancy's ingenious tips make bow-making a breeze!

An interesting party decor idea is to place balloons inside other balloons. This can be accomplished easily by first inflating a large balloon. Using a small stick, push a second, smaller balloon inside the larger one and then inflate the smaller balloon while it is inside the larger one. You can then tie up the second balloon, leaving the smaller one inside the large balloon. This can be repeated with multiple small balloons, so your balloons will have a unique and interesting look. This...

Choose ribbon in an appropriate color, texture and width. Are you trying to match the ribbon color to a particular gift wrap? Will the ribbon width give you the size bow you want? How will you be using the bow?

Are you creatively changed? Pay to have your gifts wraped? This video with Shirley Frazier shows you step by step how to achieve beautiful bows. Bows perfect for enhancing a gift basket, single gifts, Christmas trees, or other creations. This is truly a easily to follow video anyone at any level of artistry can follow. A great active to envolve the whole family when wrapping those gifts, or tripping the tree. Full of tips, and where you can find all you need to achieve these great bows.

In this how-to video, you will learn how to make a Jordan almond flower. You will need Almond holders, rose leaves, stamens for the center, a favor card, Jordan Almonds, floral tape, and ribbon. Take five Almond holders and place the Almonds in the center. Fold the Almond holders in half. Take five stamens and fold them in half to make a flower center of ten. Take floral tape and wrap it around the bottom. Attach the group of stamens and attach it an Almond holder. Secure this...

To make a floating candle you will need a screw, a candle, and a glass of water. If you take the candle and just put it down in the glass of water the candle will not float. To make the candle float take the screw and screw it into the bottom of the candle. Then you can take the candle and put it down in the glass of water. With the screw screwed into the candle the candle will stand upright in the glass of water and the wick will float just above the water line. So now you can light the candle...

This video shows the viewer how to create a stylish centerpiece for a wedding reception using commonly available items. This is done by first placing a square mirror on top of a larger piece of light pink tulle. Then an artificial plant was selected and a number of glass beads were secured around the piece using another piece of tulle and a ribbon; this is to stop the plant floating. The plant is then placed in a tall square vase that is filled with water. A single drop of food dye is then...

This video is a demonstration by A-BnC parties on the making DIY poker theme centerpiece. This is a rather simple do-it yourself video. The start of video lists a couple of materials needed to make the centerpiece like over sized playing cards, play paper money, power chips, card stock, shish kabob sticks, optional sun glasses and a just add sand centerpiece. The optional things required are glue and scissors to make changes to the materials and to stick them together. Following this video one...

Making balloon art for a baby shower is explained easily and clearly. The step-by-step directions will have you making your own creations in no time. The various products needed are also clearly explained and demonstrated. Become the envy of your friends by throwing the best parties around with these balloon centerpieces.

Here is an interesting idea for a baby shower: a diaper cake. Using various materials such as a tube, a glue gun, some safety pins, string, rubber bands, scissors, and 63 diapers, you are on your way to making this bizarre yet interesting cake. After rolling together each individual diaper, holding them together with rubber bands, you are on your way to making this cake. While this cake is not meant to be eaten, it is a very interesting centerpiece or gift for your next baby shower.

The following Gourmandia napkin folding video will show you how to fold your napkins to resemble an ocean wave.

Not sure how to plan a funeral? A well-planned memorial service honors the deceased and comforts those who are grieving. Learn what steps to take when planning a funeral in this how-to video.

With Tim Burton's revival of Alice in Wonderland, throw one of the hottest parties in town with a "mad tea party" themed party. Recreating one of Alice in Wonderland's most famous adventures is a great theme for all kinds of celebrations. Set the scene with these suggestions.

This video shows you how to construct a creative invitation for a child's circus themed birthday party. You can put a letter inside the colorful packaging. There are also examples for a dollhouse tea party, a western-themed party, and a pirate party.

This easy tutorial will show you how to create fun birthday invitations in a variety of designs. With a few simple steps, you'll be able to invite guests using crafted cards themed after lady bugs, robots, monkeys, dinosaurs, sweet sixteen celebrations, or even a pretty pink tea party. This instructional video also offers tips on material costs and helpful printing hints.