POM Dinner Party Recap # 1: Preparations and Decorations

Happy Sunday morning to all of you!  I know I've been laying low this week as I prepared to host my POM Wonderful Dinner Party!  If you've been reading my blog, then you know that a couple of weeks ago, I was selected to host a pomegranate-inspired dinner party by POM Wonderful! 

Well, last night was the big night!  The dinner party was a great success! 


Now, you know the types of recipes that I usually make and post... and I am not what I would call "gourmet."  Most of my meals are easy-to-prepare and have just a few ingredients and are 30-minutes-or-less kind of meals.  This dinner party was different than my usual style.  I love eating pomegranates, but having a dinner party themed around one food item was a new ball game for me.  This took a lot of planning and preparation and it was a challenge for me!  But I am so glad that I had the opportunity to do this!  Thank you, POM Wonderful!


My planning really started about 2 weeks ago, and a lot of this took place in my head and in my spiral notebook. 

The cooking actually started on Thursday evening.  That night when I got home from teaching Zumba, I was busy juicing pomegranates and making Pom Molasses and a Balsamic-Pom Reduction for my salad dressing.  I was also busy playing around with the decorations.  I wanted to really show off all the beautiful pomegranates, but also incorporate the beauty of fall.  Luckily, the trees around my house are these amazing shades of fuscia, yellow, red, and purple, so I didn't have to bring in artificial leaves... I just gathered from my yard!

I created a display on my living room mantle using POM Wonderful pomegranates, autumn leaves, a candleabra, fall ribbon, leaf garland, and tea light candles.  I also brought in some artificla sunflowers, just to add a pop of yellow to the mix. 

I decided I would use our breakfast area to serve appetizers, so I created a centerpiece using a horn-a-plenty, articicial fruit, leaves, votive candles, a pumpkin, and of course pomegrantes!

I created another centerpiece for the dining room using pears I bought at the farmer's market, pomegranates, leaves from the yard, and some decorative acorns I found at a craft store!  (I would have used real ones, but I couldn't find any anywhere!)

I used the pomegranates as my place-card-holders.  Perfect!

I was pretty pleased with my little "tablescape." 

daylight...

candlelight

I had one more little "display."  I have a small server in my dining room that needed a little something.  So I paired a basket of poms with two fall tea-light holders I had and that brought it all together.

I thought the decor really celebrated pomegranates and the feel of autumn!

Now I know what you REALLY want to see... the FOOD!  Stay tuned for some tasty appetizers!