Ahhhhhhhhhhh! It's Fall again and the wonderful holiday party season is upon us.

Dinner parties and open houses are the norm for the season! And what would these soirees be without a small token of friendship from you the hostess to your guests? What am I talking about? Party favors! Party favors are the perfect accent to a tablescape and a perfect little gift to celebrate the presence of your guests in your home. We tend to associate favors with weddings and other large special events in one's life, but what is more special than having friends over for dinner? Party favors are fun, easy to do, fits a theme, and adds another dimension to your tablescape!

aclassicpartyrental.com

A clever idea wrapping the favor up in an napkin and securing the top with a napkin ring. How cute!

Purchased split bottles of wine and wrapped in purple and orange tulle and tied with black bow for my Halloween Bash last year.

Michele and I participated in the McHenry Mansion Foundation Tablesetting fundraiser

last year with a our theme Rockin' Morrocan. As our party favor we used a jeweled box

from Pier One, filled it with a yummy lavender truffle, added a name card that matched

the theme and tied with a bow.

savingprettypennies.com

What a cute idea! A ice cream bar favor make with Rice Krsipie bars dipped in chocolate with added candy sprinkles, a pretzel for the stick and tied with a orange bow!

interiordec.about.com

What a fun favor for a fall or thanksgiving table! A little gold spray glitter perhaps to dress it up! I am all about the glam!

thriftyfun.com

What says fall like a yummy caramel apple? This one wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with a leaf and raffia. Very special to your guests because you took the time to make something for them!

perfect-party-favors.com

This little jar of honey is perfect for the Fall season as a favor. Tie a bow on the bottle and place the guest's name on it! Favors can double as place cards!

Be creative and have fun with your party favors! Favor ideas include candles, tea towels, wine stops, truffles, tree ornaments, note pads, kitchen gadgets, and for the guys try a little bottle of liquor or a cigar. We love to shop World Market, Pier One, Target, or even the Dollar Store to come up with inexpensive but unique party favors! Your guests will be impressed!

Elementally,

Linda and Michele

Intentions and Leading Into Fall

in·ten·tion
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noun /inˈtenCHən/  intentions, plural A thing intended; an aim or plan- she was full of good intentions The action or fact of intending- intention is just one of the factors that will be considered Most of us have good intentions; the voice inside that says you need to call your mom today or go to church every week; schedule date night with your significant other; workout; eat better, read that book everyone is talking about, blah, blah, blah.  We try, we really do.  It's just that sometimes, well life happens and good intentions get replaced by making dinner, taking kids to dance, soccer or college campuses, laundry, errands, working late, meeting a deadline, running a business and a part-time job and OK I'll admit it...watching "So You Think You Can Dance."  I have been blogging off and on for a couple of years now and it's always kind of been something I did when the right subject came along or I wanted to highlight an event that was happening or in which I was participating.  Kind of another offering of my design business.  I had every intention of doing it more regularly...read all the articles that said it was a necessary part of a small business and I enjoy it.  I love writing and sharing interesting things, products and inspiration out there in the design world.  THERE IS SO MUCH COOL STUFF!  Endless things to write about right?   When Linda and I joined forces, we discussed blogging...a lot...and how important it could be to our business.  We were very excited and have much to share and we had every intention of doing it on a regular basis.  Well guess what...a new business and there's all these things we need to do, see and figure out, not to mention get our name out there; do the jobs we were hired to do and we occasionally put out a blog post.  It was right there on our calendar and To Do List, seriously!  I subscribe to several blogs that land in my email box on a regular basis (see, they can do it).  One of which is Darren Rowse' blog called Problogger to get tips and information for my good blog intentions. Well, he recently posted a video on his site that I watched and watched again.  He used the analogy of blogging as a muscle and if you don't use it, it's never going to get strong or take you anywhere.  Wow, light bulb, aha, whamo, Oprah moment.  Maybe it's obvious to you but I just needed to see/hear that video at that exact time because I have also been trying to up my exercise game so putting the two together was the epiphany I needed. So why are we telling you all this you ask?  Because we are giving ourselves a challenge; HUGE,  to fullfill our good intentions.  To rock this blog thing and even if no one but us and one or two family members read it, we will have completed our intent.  So for the next four weeks, Monday thru Friday, we will be posting.  If you can believe it,  Fall officially starts on the 23rd so we'll be sharing some tips, ideas, inspiration, links to talented, creative people we love and hopefully you will too.  So hang out with us, send us some comments cuz we're going to need all the encouragement we can get and let's have some fun together as we head into the last part of the year.  Like us on our Elements of Chic Facebook page and watch for some fun giveaways coming up! Elementally, Michele and Linda