Holiday Prep

Holiday time is, by far, my most favorite time of the year. The weather has changed from cool to chilly, the kids look forward to presents and school break, and all the chatter seems to revolve around the impeding festivities. While hanging with some a group of friends this weekend, we were already talking about recipes, gifts ideas, decorating schemes, family plans, and of course our bustling Christmas lists.

I’m excited to announce that this holiday season, I am a BJ’s Wholesale Club Smart Shopper, so I will be sharing lots of tips and trends on everything you need for the season. Last week, I drove to Kearny New Jersey, to visit a BJ’s Wholesale Club. I will admit, I haven’t been to BJ’s in ages, but following this experience, I see many trips there in my future. I was pretty impressed by their assortment of holiday items, including decor, gifts, toys and food.

In addition to my shopping trip, I was there for a few super fun design challenges with some of my favorite bloggers, Audrey from Mom Generations, Reesa from Momma Lew, and Cindy from Living Rich With Coupons. Our first challenge, and my favorite of the afternoon, was to create a holiday themed table scape, using items only found at BJ’s Wholesale, while simultaneuosly broadcasting our outing on Facebook live. Each participant was given a budget, some BJ coupons, and a time limit. Audrey served as the hostess of our challenge, while Reesa, Cindy, and I ran around the store, scooping up some of our favorite items.

I set out to create a fun, Christmas theme, finding a red linen table cloth with matching napkins. I am typically a fan of glass plates, but these paper plates with Christmas motif and silver plasticware (which almost looked real!) make for easy clean during this busy time of year. Rather than going plastic on the glass, I spotted these gorgeous Lenox wine glasses that were a must have for my table. Wine should always be in a pretty glass.

I added a ton of decor to my table (well, maybe even a bit too much when I look at it now), but I just couldn’t get over everything they offered. Scattered across the table were Lindor Truffles, fresh cranberries, some little ornaments, and these scented glitter acorns that I loved. This package of twin nutcracker tins filled with candy bookended both sides of the table, with two types of flameless candles. I am typically not a fan of fake candles, but these offered a cool feature, making their flame appear real. Not a bad idea when you have little kids passing heavy plates to one another.

Here are some photos of all three tables. It was amazing to see what my competition pulled together, and pretty cool to see just how different our tables really were! I loved that Cindy used apples as place cards, and Reesa’s neutral theme make her table suitable for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Our next challenge of the day was to buy items for five specific people in your life: the tech person, the creative kid, the busy mom, the always perfect hostess, and the foodie. Having 30 minutes to complete this task, I knew just what to choose for everyone. Here were my picks for this challenge:

the tech person: Virtual Reality 3D Headset, which I’ve heard is all the craze this season.

the creative kid: Look at this 195 piece All Media Artist Set, exclusively available at BJ’s Wholesale Club. My inspiration for this gift was definitely Siella and Gemma, because they absolutely love coloring.

the busy mom: I chose an Adrienne Vittadini Rose Gold Watch, which = came with matching bracelets. A busy mom always needs to know the time.

always perfect hostess: When showing up to our friends and family during the holidays, I always love to bring fresh flowers, and BJ’s Wholesale had the most gorgeous selection of orchards, and amazing prices.

for the foodie: I chose a three gift box set from Wine Country, filled with caramel, popcorn, and other goodies and snacks.

I am proud to say that I stayed within my $500 budget, and even had a little over hundred dollars left, which was pretty cool considering my husband likes to call me the big spender of the family.

These design challenges were truly a lot of fun, and although I didn’t win the entire challenge, I did get awarded for being most creative! So looking forward to heading back to BJ’s for all my holiday needs this season. Stay tuned for my next post, discussing their amazing Black Friday deals!

If you’re thinking about being a member, try out BJ’s Wholesale Club three month membership trial for free! Click here to print out this offer!

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