Do you fear impromptu entertaining?

Don’t.

Really. I know it sounds intimidating to just say, “Hey, come on over and we’ll throw something together” but you really can. I never used to be able to entertain without a week-long cleaning spree, lists and menus and lots of stress. Now, I still have a deep love of entertaining, but just no time. Between the kids activities and school, my job and my husband’s job, if we wanted to keep entertaining, I just needed to lighten up!

And you know what I learned?

Our friends just want to hang out. They’re happy to come over to even if my kitchen floor has a few sticky spots where my son slipped apple juice. They don’t care if the playroom is a mess. They will happily pizza eat off paper plates.

Its not about perfection.

Its about friendship. And spending our most valuable resource – time – with people we care about.

This is a little backyard dinner I put together with items I had in my pantry. I picked up bread from the bakery, but everything else was just hanging around the house.  (Bonus: outside entertaining is awesome because you don’t even have to clean.)

 Menu: 

NIBBLES:
pistachios
Taro Chips
Crusty, warm french bread with Bertolli Olive Oil Dipping Oil (recipe here)
(Isn’t that bowl gorgeous? Its made of olive wood – we bought it while in Greece last year. It always makes me smile!) 

MAIN COURSE:
Pasta Arrabbata (Arrabbata Sauce has a great kick of red pepper, so it really turns up a traditional pasta & sauce dish! I garnished ours with fresh basil from the garden.)
Mixed Greens (simply drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and a bit of salt & pepper)

All this took was a quick forage in the pantry for some staples, a stop at the bakery and voila!

DECOR

Luckily, our whole meal was elevated by my recent delivery from The Bouqs Co. – the ONLY place I will send flowers from now! The Bouqs has tons of gorgeous flowers, priced between $40-50 and FREE SHIPPING! If you’ve ever sent flowers, you know that even if you get the cheapest, littlest bouquet (usually $35 or so for just a few stems), they KILL you be adding $15-20 for shipping!

Even my not-even-ironed tablecloth thrown over the patio table looked fabulous with these beauties:

This bouquet of 12 orange roses – the “Dawn” bouquet – is only $40, with shipping. You can send flowers straight from the farm, grown on an active volcano in South America, for under $50. SERIOUSLY. So gorgeous and they last forever. My mom got a huge bouquet of red roses with white accents for her birthday last week. She could not believe how well they were packed and how beautiful they were. She said they filled her whole kitchen with their fragrance!

Entertain with ease and confidence! RELAX about all the ‘rules’ of entertaining and just invite people over. The details will work themselves out.

disclosure: I am a Bouqs Ambassador. All opinions are my own and their awesomeness is not exaggerated.