Eclatante Boutique and some of the other very cool shops here on Liberties Walk have joined up to give you a Valentine’s Day shopping experience like none other. Every day from February 8th through Valentine’s Day (which is Sunday, February 14th), each of our friends is offering you something a little different.

This postcard and poster will give you the details about what we’re all doing!

For our part, Eclatante Boutique will be offering free, beautiful Valentine’s Day cards and wrapping paper with every $15 purchase made every day during the Romancing The Walk event.  Plus, we’ll be offering fun chocolate stuff and yummy bubbly all along the way.

And a really great part of this is that every participating shop will offering you the opportunity to enter a great raffle to benefit the American Heart Association’s GO RED FOR WOMEN CAMPAIGN.  (it is HEART month y, know!)

Your raffle ticket only costs $5 (which you can get that back when you shop at Eclatante Boutique or at any of our friend’s shops).   You will not only be contributing to the American Heart Association – a great organization that has done so much to educate women about taking care of themselves and protecting their hearts – you will have a chance to win a grand prize which includes some pretty incredible gifts from our friends’ shops AND a romantic night’s stay at the very very chic new boutique hotel,  the Hotel Palomar in Philadelphia. All for $5 which you can get back!   How amazing is that?

If you haven’t made it down to Liberties Walk yet, this is the perfect reason to come down.   Talk about falling in love!!!!

We were so excited to be asked to showcase ourselves to the brides of the Please Touch Museum.    It is such a wonderful, unique and fun place in Philadelphia to have a really spectacular celebration.   It’s unusual to have a place in the City (other than a hotel) where so many people can be seated with room enough for a good size dance floor.   Plus, the place is just gorgeous and is a joy to work in.

photo from the Please Touch Museum website

What more can I say?  Oh yeah, it has a carousel!!

Sofia Negron took some wonderful photos of the table we created for the occasion. We did something a little different this time and people really loved it. Thank you so much Sofia!

We often get asked by our clients to create tablescapes instead of centerpieces — which is one of our very favorite things to do. We think these lovely red flowers (provided by Beautiful Blooms) are the perfect floral accent when you don’t want the flowers to dominate the decor.   And the napkins rings are perfect – they have a little hole to insert a single flower stem.   You can get a set for yourself at the Eclatante Boutique.

Lately, we’ve seen a bit more family-style service on the dinner tables. Here, we’re serving dessert family-style, on pretty plexiglass platforms filled with petals. Just a little different. And it gives the table some dimension and interest.

These individual little butterfly seating cards are among our favorite things in the Eclatante Boutique.  The birds are adorable, too.   People really really love them!   And guests are totally enchanted when there is one at their placesetting.

By the way, it’s taken me a long time to like stemless wine glasses.  I know I’m behind the curve on that, but I’m finally here.   I actually like them now!  Especially since we got a gorgeous set for Christmas.

Thanks to Kelley, Scott & Kimberly at Max & Me Catering!  It is pure pleasure working with everyone at Max & Me who really put this whole thing together!  Not only is their service and food absolutely amazing, their people are GREAT to work with!

We’ll do a more complete blog on the Please Touch Museum soon.  There is so much to that incredible place!

Let’s go for the easy answer first:  It’s almost NEVER a problem to bring a gift to someone, silly.

To alleviate some of the guesswork for when you should bring a gift, and what kind of gift you should bring, here are a few ‘lil guidelines:

If you are attending a cocktail party at someone’s home or a holiday open house, then a gift, while certainly appreciated, is not mandatory.  It is even less necessary if the cocktail party is being held someplace other than the hosts’ home.

If you are attending a dinner party, then a small gift is probably a good idea.

If you’re just casually getting together at someone’s home for a quick bite, then probably nothing more than a side dish or dessert would be necessary — but please, please, please coordinate any food you bring with the hostess.

Will you be sleeping at your hosts’ home?  Then, by all means, you should bring a gift in appreciation of your hosts’ hospitality.

So, now for the next level of complication – what to bring?

People LOVE to bring wine.   Because I entertain as often as possible, I have a great deal of wine in my basement from my very gracious guests (stored at the perfect temperature, of course!).   I think wine is a perfectly lovely hostess gift for a dinner party or anything other than an overnight stay.

To make things even nicer, consider giving the wine in a wine carrier that your host can use for the next dinner out at a BYOB (we were given wine in a wine carrier almost four years ago and we use it to this day.  And I still remember who gave it to us.) — and maybe a beautiful wine stopper to go with it all.

Gold Hatch Wine Carrier ($10)

• But if you’d like to bring something just a little off-the-beaten-trail, allow me to suggest a few little ideas that will make people feel really appreciated:

Perhaps you could make blueberry muffins and give it to them in a lovely basket tied with a bow — and include a great hot chocolate mix for your hosts to enjoy the next morning.

I LOVE these little Salt and Pepper Shakers – We’ve watched them fly out the door this season.

Are you staying for a day or two?  I think the most wonderful gift you can give someone is the gift of relaxation.   If you’re in Philly, allow me to make a suggestion. Right here on Liberties Walk, we have Spa East — a true urban oasis with the most amazing masseuses and body treatments I have ever encountered.

And here’s the final advice –

If you’re going to bring flowers (and that’s a lovely thing to do), then please bring the vase for them. You can pick up the most amazing flowers at the Beautiful Blooms Boutique just across from us on the Walk (but you already knew that, right?) along with a beautiful vase.

Or, of course, you can choose a different amazing vase or container at the Eclatante Boutique.

Okay, that’s my advice regarding host and hostess gifts.    Have a great time!

The holidays can bring out the best in us.   It’s the perfect time to step just a little outside of the box and give people unique gifts that they may not be expecting.

One of the great advantages to having a little boutique is that we only have the items that we really love.   Chances are, you wouldn’t be able to find them anywhere else.

Take, for instance, this gorgeous back and white 5 x 7 frame ($35.95).   And one of our new favorite things in the Boutique is the Lotus hands tealight holders ($20).   They are really beautiful.

For stocking stuffers, we have totally fallen for these handmade flower brooches.   Everyone who sees them loves them.   People walk in the Boutique and buy them immediately — at $20, they are pretty irresistible.

And how cool is this?  It’s a fruit pyramid (ornaments look pretty amazing in it, too!).   It’s a great, chrome-platted spacesaver and  looks very chic on a counter or a table.   $24

These rose tealight holders are absolutely lovely. We have theme in light creme and bronze.   People are buying them up at $16.   Small wonder – they’re stunning.

As a truly elegant gift, we recommend this stunning Peacock Tray from Fringe ($55).  For your people that truly appreciate beautiful things, this tray will absolutely thrill them.  Likewise, the mercury glass gold apothecary jars are just gorgeous.  We have them in two sizes, 13″ ($33) and 16″ ($43).

Here’s another fun stocking stuffer – these little scottie salt and pepper shakers are adorable, and incredibly priced at $10 for the pair.

Finally — our latest obsession — Totally organic, 100% bamboo robes.   Not a synthetic thread to be found. So incredibly plush, you won’t want to take it off!   They feature a detailed shawl collar, cuffed long sleeves, two front patch pockets and they’re extremely durable.  You’ll also find them in luxury hotels and resorts. We couldn’t resist putting a few in the Boutique for the holidays!   A truly wonderful price at $70.

We have them in white and in chocolate brown.  

Of course, these are just a few of our favorite things.   We have so many more unique, fun and beautiful things at the Boutique.   You should come visit us and see it all!   We located at 1031 North 3rd Street on Liberties Walk, right next to the Piazza.  Parking is a piece of cake.  Of course, if you already know you want something, just give us a buzz at 215.925.9911 or email us at celebrate@eclatantedesign.com, and we’ll send it out to you.

Oh, and don’t forget to come down for the Holiday Shopping Crawl here in Northern Liberties on December 19th from 11 am to 8 pm. Just about all the shops are doing something really special for you, including offering some interesting incentives that you definitely make you very very jolly!   Our Boutique is going all out — as usual.   We’d love to see you!

We love it when Style Me Pretty comes calling.   We’ve really had a great time over the past many months sharing our goings-on with them.   They’re always up for sharing new and fun things with their readers, who, apparently, just drink every drop of Style Me Pretty.  And who can blame them.  They don’t call it the Ultimate Wedding Blog for nothing!

It truly is an honor to be counted among the chosen few of Style Me Pretty!

…is easily accomplished if you have the right things at your fingertips.

It doesn’t have to be an expensive and drawn out ordeal to create a great holiday table when you’ve got friends and family coming over for dinner.   Just a few interesting elements on your table will give you all the charm you need.    Marie Labbancz brought a camera to our little Boutique on her last visit.  She loved the table we set up for the holidays, which we’d created from some of our favorite little items we have in our Boutique, so we thought we’d share the photos with you.

First, we love these very cool red lace cutout placemats!   They’re actually made out of thick felt and they look amazing on a simple white tablecloth.  And they’re only $9 each (or four for $30).    We also have fun white lace beverage coasters — four for $6.00.

I think placing monogrammed candles at each placesetting, then giving them as gifts to your guests is a really thoughtful and memorable thing to do.  Plus, they smell wonderful!   They’re $12.00 each and people just love them!

Again, we love to show off our napkin rings.   We have a large variety to choose from. For this particular table, we’re using the Bay Leaf Napkin Rings because they’re perfect for the holidays.   $44 for a set of four.

We have a really fun, beautiful and inexpensive way of displaying votives on your table or all over your home.   Our gold lace votive holders are just perfect.   They also come in silver, if that suits your decor better.   They’re only $7.50 each and will stay in shape year after year.

One of my very favorite things in the Boutique right now is this set of Dove salt and pepper shakers.  They are absolutely beautiful!   And extremely well priced at $30 for the pair.    They would also make a fantastic hostess gift or holiday present or housewarming gift.

Another absolutely beautiful way to display a simple tealight candle is within one of our rose tealight holders.   We’re displaying the creme colored one on our holiday table now, but we’re also in love with the copper rose tealight holder, which we used for Thanksgiving.

If you’d like a different way of identifying seats for your guests, we suggest these adorable paper snowflakes that slip right onto your glassware. A set of six is only $9! (We have butterflies, too, for an adorable springtime table.)

Personally, I really like almost any alternative to the traditional large centerpiece. For our display holiday table we chose these mini-handblown vases and placed little cuttings from a berry bush inside each one. I think it’s lovely, personal and takes up very little room.  A set of five mini-handblown vases is only $25.00.

Isn’t it nice when your guests bring wine?   And it’s even nicer when it arrives in a Gold Hatch Wine bag that you can use over and over when you go out to your favorite BYOB.   Include a lovely resin orchid bottle stopper and you have a really perfect hostess gift. The wine bag is $10 and the winestopper is only $13.50 and come in an array of different colors and flowers. There’s not a hostess in the world who wouldn’t love it.

And, as always, we LOVE our Ana candles.  A pair of red striped tapers is only $20. We placed them inside two of our colored glass bud vases —  a set of five is only $25.00.

So, there you have it.  An unusual, tasteful and fun holiday table that everyone will rave about and won’t dip into your holiday present budget!

We have lots of other things for decorating or gifts of course.   if you see something here you want us to send to you, just call 215.925.9911 or email celebrate@eclatantedesign.com, and we’ll get it right out to you.   Or feel free to come down to the Boutique.   We’re located at the amazing Liberties Walk at 1031 North 3rd Street – parking is a breeze.  We’ve been having such a great time finding things you might just love to give as gifts or take home for yourself.

Have a great time everyone!