The Middleton family has quite the success story. Mother Carole Middleton found and created her own party supply company, Party Pieces. Kate Middleton, well, we all know her success story, and Kate’s younger sister, Pippa, recently published her first book, Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Family and Friends. While this book has received not-so-royal reviews, I found it to be a beautiful book filled with great suggestions for easy projects and recipes for nearly every occasion.
Organized by season, Celebrate is filled with easy ideas for major holidays like Halloween and Christmas, as well as fun celebrations, such as birthday parties, garden parties, tea parties, and even Pancake Day. The book itself is beautiful to look at, filled with hundreds of photos, tutorials, and recipes that are simple to make.
Throughout the book, Pippa does have a habit of stating obvious facts (“ice goes great with drinks” and “a turkey at Christmas time is good for large gatherings”)…however even the crafting goddess herself, Martha Stewart, falls back on factual slogans to help prove a point. What Pippa does in Celebrate, and what I found most enduring about this book, is that she incorporates youth into her designs. Her decorations, recipes, and party games are simple and budget-friendly, giving us 20 and 30 somethings more fashionable ideas for parties and gatherings. While seasoned Martha Lovers may look at this book as an armature’s guide to cooking and crafting, I look at it as a great go-to guide for easy, doable, non-stressful party ideas and suggestions.
Looking for a new book to read? Check in every Friday for a “Bee Happy” post, where I share reviews of books I’ve read or other book-themed lists.
The Hob-bee Hive 