By: Cynthia Litman
Mompreneurs Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno have been friends for over 13 years and embarked on a journey to enrich and enhance the party planning experience for every host and guest.
They launched the PartyBluPrints blog and it became a runaway success. Upon popular demand, the embarked , to create a book that captures the many moving pieces of a perfect party puzzle.
Plan To Party (Oct. 1, 2010 Yorkshire Publishing) is a beautiful and carefully crafted centerpiece to home entertaining. I love this concept in and of itself. Anyone can plan a party at a venue, heck venues host multiple parties daily, but there is something particularly special about opening up your home to celebrate with others.
Homespun parties are making a comeback. These ladies genuinely wish for you to feel welcome at any party and comfortable being a host. They remind you that life is to be celebrated and not to take your guests presence for granted but rather to honor each of them as well as the host.
It is an honor, to be a host and to be a guest. We forget this as we attend party after party (especially after the 4th kids party in 2 days), but it is true. The host goes through great effort, time and money to make a party and the guest goes through great effort, time and money to attend.
The book offers a myriad of planning advice and party ideas to coach you through the party planning process and ensure you can feel like a guest at your own party. If you've never hosted before Elizabeth and Dawn advise you to start small and let your personal party planning develop over time. Before long, these girls will have you partying like a rock star!
The photographs, most of which were captured by Elizabeth's teenage daughter, Ally, are quite exquisite. I was stunned to learn on the Mommas Pearls radio show with Elizabeth and Dawn, that ALL of the food portrayed in the book were prepared and styled by Elizabeth. Having a very good friend who is a professional food stylist, this I promise is not the norm.
Elizabeth and Dawn gracefully stand behind all of their bluprints as they have all been tried and tested. They travel together to different parts of the world, Nappa Valley, Venice, etc. to capture the essence of the local flare and fare and then re-craft their experience with their family and friends with a party inspired by their trip, an experience they dub Virtual Tourism.
With this book by your side, you will welcome and embrace the joy of home entertaining and let all the stress go out the window. What I immediately took away from the book and in speaking with Elizabeth and Dawn was that the advice they offer in planning a party such as to be organized, realistic, thorough and set a timeline, is truly lifestyle advice at its finest and can translate into your business, home and personal life.
You will devour this book and refer to it time and again and no doubt feel empowered and be excited to round up your nearest and dearest friends and party!
Whether a host or a guest, you will no doubt be the life of the party!
Full Disclosure:
Elizabeth Mascali is my cousin-in-law
