Haven't gotten any really great crazy-sexist marketing pitches lately; The DT Monday Mommy Mailbag must be working! And for that, I am thankful.
So to help make your holiday party the most harmonious ever, here are some handy tips to "Feng Shui Your Thanksgiving Dinner," courtesy of the Windy City's favorite healer/dentist, practitioner Dr. Andie Pearson, DMD!
HiGreg,
This Thanksgiving, use Feng Shui to ensure a warm, happy and positive environment for you and your guests. Following are simple tips from ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Dr. Andie Pearson, DMD:
* Clean and Clear: No matter what the occasion, the first step in Feng Shui is clearing clutter and cleaning the area.
* Analyze: After you have cleared, cleaned and organized the area where you will be entertaining, you need to decided on themes, purpose, how many people will be invited, who will be there, and what activities and foods will you have. This should help you with the rest of your planning.
* Color It Warm: Plan the decorations with warm relaxing colors. Use goldenrod, earthy greens, tans, amber, deep rich reds or maroons etc. You want a color scheme that will be both relaxing and welcoming. Fall and Thanksgiving colors lend themselves to this very well.
* Traffic Flow - Create a good flow of traffic thru out. Ask yourself - Are you having an actual sit down event , buffet or cocktails with appetizers ?
o If you are having a formal dinner, have that room separate from the rest of the party, allowing the rest of the party area to be designated as the place for social gathering.
o For a buffet-style Thanksgiving, have an area for the food and a section for drinks. You will also need to have seating scattered about in organized fashion that doesn't block flow of traffic.
o A Thanksgiving party that is just snacks, appetizers and cocktails has a bit of free flow. You can arrange several areas for food and drinks scattered through out the room so that people can stroll from place to place and socialize.
* Minimalist - Decorations should be pleasing to the eye, but kept to a minimum. Overly large or overwhelming items or too much clutter can create an environment of anxiety. The stimulation will be too much and will make it hard to relax into the party. Flower arrangements on the table or through out the room should be conservative and moderate to short. Anything big or tall will not allow for conversion across the table. Because people will be visiting and talking, music would be very nice, but needs to be low and soft so that it doesn't compete with everyone there.
If you stick to the basics of Feng Shui, your party will be a success. So remember, clear and clean, plan in detail, go low and conservative on decorations, and allow for good social flow patterns through out the party area.
