On Saturday 1st December I hosted my second instameet – ‘Just A Little Christmas’. As you may have guessed from the title, this was a Christmas inspired instameet and took place at the Tom Howley kitchen showroom in Beaconsfield. Over 60 people attended the event and I can honestly say, it was such a wonderful occasion to get everyone together, offline, for some good old-fashioned, festive fun!
The day was split across two sessions and both involved Christmas table-scaping with me, SJ, and cooking demonstrations with Sven-Hanson Britt, Miele’s Executive Chef and MasterChef Professionals finalist. The focus of the day was very much about bringing together like-minded individuals to enjoy some festive foods and be inspired with some Christmas styling. Plus… to treat everybody with a luxury goody bag (worth over £70!).
As part of my presentations, I shared some top tips on how to style your kitchen for Christmas. This included, how to take inspiration from your interiors, why using a pyramid shape to group items can work well, how you can add a festive touch by simply bringing out seasonal storage and why varying heights are so important.
Using an array of products from John Lewis, the showroom was filled with lots of beautiful baubles and a fully decorated Christmas table to inspire all my guests on how to style their home for Christmas.
I also talked about how important it is to coordinate your Christmas tablescape with the rest of the room. Calling upon the principle of room design where you need to consider all four walls, not just one, I discussed how this concept could also be applied to tablescaping.
To balance your design and to ensure it sits cohesively within your room, I touched on how you could consider bringing aspects of the table design to other areas. For example, by introducing the main colourway from your table on to side units, countertops or even on your kitchen shelving. A simple way to do this is by filling a bowl (you could use a salad bowl) with baubles which match the colour on your table – they could even be the same baubles that are used on your table.
One of the key elements of the day was the food which was all cooked in front of us by head chef Sven and his team. The festive menu was designed by Sven and included some mouthwatering recipes which we were able to recreate at home using our recipe cards.
We were treated to canapés of smoked salmon mousse tartlets, Ribblesdale goats curd with Parmesan sable, Westcombe cheddar Gougere and blinis of steamed crab, sorrel and Oscietra Caviar. Followed by spiced roasted duck, braised red cabbage, salt baked beetroot, beet juice and port sauce, apple gel and chestnuts. There was also a vegetarian option of braised red cabbage with all the side trimmings. Needless to say it was a real treat!
I would like to say thank you to everyone who came on Saturday and to all the brands that supported this event. I have had the pleasure of working with the following brands to make this event possible;
- Tom Howley who provided the venue, sourced the chef and ensured all my guests were well topped up with prosecco!
- John Lewis for all items featured in the tablescape and on the Christmas island centrepiece
- Oh Wonder Calligraphy for the stunning personalised agate place settings ohwondercalligraphy.com
- Robert Welch for the cookware which our chef used in his cooking demonstrations
- Hildon water who supplied all the natural mineral water and even custom designed the bottles, especially for the event! hildon.com
- Bloom & Wild who provided beautiful flowers and a mini Christmas tree for the showroom display bloomandwild.com
Secondly, a huge thank you goes out to all the brands that contributed to the goody bags. Some of these brands are relatively small so to contribute with over 60 products to the event, is amazing and something I am very grateful for. Here is what was included in the goody bags;
- Just A Little Build Apple Spiced Chutney – handmade by me!
- Necta & Hive Honey (which is AMAZING!) – They produce rare 100% unpasteurised, active honeys that heal, delight your taste buds, improve your well-being & soothe your soul. For 25% off use code ‘JUST25’ nectahive.com
- Seed & Bean Organic Sweet Orange & Thyme Fine Dark Chocolate seedandbean.co.uk
- Primrose’s Kitchen Organic Courgette & Cacao Granola primroseskitchen.com
- Honeywell Bakes Iced Star Biscuit honeywellbakes.com
- Tyrrell’s Poshcorn tyrrellscrisps.co.uk
- Tom Howley Apron tomhowley.co.uk
- Robert Welch Radford Silver Napkin Rings robertwelch.com
- Marquise & Dawe Pot Hangers (they were all different and so adorable!) marquiseanddawe.co.uk
- James and Co Fragrance Reed Diffuser available to buy on Amazon
- John Lewis Christmas Cracker as part of their Ruby Christmas range
- Tutti & Co Wrapping Paper tuttiandco.com
- Emily Rollings Christmas Card emilyrollings.com
- Blonde and Stone Marble Star Christmas Decoration blondeandstone.com
So there you have it, a snapshot of ‘Just A Little Christmas’ and what it was all about! I hope you enjoyed and thankyou for reading x
Looked like an amazing event – congratulations! Very inspired by the pics 😊🎄