Carolyn Thompson, the owner of Willow & Mabel Garden Co., put together a small function that was both a social gathering and an event on hosting called Cake & Tablescapes.
“It was a small, intimate event,” she says. Thompson advertised it to her email subscribers, who rapidly signed up within 24 hours. She barely had to promote the event with how excited everyone was to be a part of it — and for good reason.
Thompson explains, “I just wanted to try something different. It was like a gathering of people around the farm table, just talking about how to host and little tips like that. We talked about what it’s like to have people to come over to visit you at your house and how to entertain them but feel relaxed around the table.”
Thompson focuses on four areas when hosting her personal gatherings: the tablescape, conversation, relaxation and “good food.”
“I like to have interesting conversation and laughter,” she says. She also loves to have beautiful tablescapes.
The women at Cake & Tablescapes got a great opportunity to chat with one another and find joy in the event. Following the get-together, Thompson’s husband told her that he “heard so much laughter from around the table,” and attendee feedback proved to Thompson that “everybody loved it.”
Additionally, Thompson walked the Cake & Tablescapes attendees through getting a table ready for hosting.
“We basically started with a blank canvas of the table. We had lots of candles, candleholders, napkins, and flowers and bud vases,” she says. “They got to make several bud vase arrangements each and then place them on the table.”
Thompson showed the women how to place items, as well as where to source pieces like napkins and table runners.
“They had a flower bar to choose flowers from and make arrangements. Then they’d place the arrangements down the table,” she says. “They got to take those bud vases home with them.”
When it comes to sourcing, Thompson says, “Everything doesn’t have to be matchy-matchy. I like to do things mismatched, and so I get a lot of my place settings and things from Goodwill. … I think that adds to the atmosphere of the event.”
She recommends not focusing on perfection when you have guests because “people don’t notice the things that aren’t perfect.” Perfection is not the focus of hosting. “It’s just about gathering people around the table and not worrying about things that might go wrong or could go wrong,” Thompson says.
Thompson believes that people love to meet and gather. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in our world that is not positive and is not conducive to relaxing. I said, ‘There’s no time limit on this event. People can stay for as long as they want and as long as they felt comfortable for.’ I just love creating an environment where we don’t have to think of all the outside chatter that’s going on in the world at the moment, and we can just get back to basics and meet as a community,” she says.
Her sold-out Cake & Tablescapes event is proof of that. It gave participants the opportunity of “getting back to basics of life” through relaxation and a calm environment.
Cake & Tablescapes provided a moment to meet with other women and have a nice, long conversation.
“It was different ladies from the community, all from different walks of life,” Thompson says. “I served them cake and tea. … We basically sat around and talked about flowers, and gardening and entertaining. It was like having tea with friends. It was a really lovely afternoon.”
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