Thanksgiving is a huge holiday in my family. Having a big family gathering and a traditional Thanksgiving meal is not too common with most Korean families, but our family has always celebrated a big traditional Thanksgiving holiday. I grew up eating Korean food every day, but for Thanksgiving my mom would go all out American and prepare all the standards and to this day she is still famous for her green bean casserole. I am so thankful to her for making Thanksgiving such a special holiday for our family.

I have always wanted to host my own little Friendsgiving gathering, and I finally did it this year. Here is a peek of my very first Friendsgiving!

Friendsgiving Place Setting (www.withmichellekim.com)

I wanted to create mini bouquets for each place setting instead of a larger floral arrangement for the center of the table. The guests can even take these home as a souvenir, and it creates a nice little personal touch for each setting.

Friendsgiving Flowers (www.withmichellekim.com)

I used milk bottles and thrifted glass medicine bottles as vases for the name card bouquets, and made larger arrangements for the bar area. I knew I wanted the color palette for the flowers to be a little more muted and neutral, so I went with seeded eucalyptus, dusty miller, wax flower and snow on the mountain. I really liked the different textures and I was really happy with how these came out!

I used 24-gauge gold wire to attach the name tags to the bottles. It was very simple - just wrap the wire around the neck of the bottle a few times, cut it to size using wire cutters and attach it to the name card by punching two holes in the tag. Easy!

Friendsgiving Wreath (www.withmichellekim.com)

I also made some wreaths for the occasion - I used the seeded eucalyptus and dried flowers and attached it to the wreath by wrapping around the 24-gauge gold wire. If you wanted to hang this on a door, the flowers and leaves would need to be secured and reinforced with some glue, but this was perfect for having it hang on the wall as decor! I used clear plastic adhesive wall hooks so I wouldn't have to make any holes in the walls.

We drank my Pomegranate Honey Rosemary cocktail, and I added some cranberries on skewers to use as a stirrer and make the drink a little more festive!

Friendsgiving Tablescape (www.withmichellekim.com)

Some dried lavender on the plate settings added a sweet little touch!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my very first Friendsgiving! Cheers and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This DIY was inspired by a product I came across at Anthropologie that used dried blooms in a hair and body oil, and when I saw it I thought I would try making my own DIY version using the oils and fragrances I love. I love using oils as a moisturizer, and there was even a time when my skin care regimen consisted only of raw organic honey as a cleanser and coconut oil as a moisturizer. Now that I am older and wrinklier, I have since added many more steps to my skin care routine but I still love using oils as a hair and body moisturizer. I have tried many throughout the years including high end ones like L'Occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil and Josie Maran Argan oil, and others from Whole Foods like jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, etc. I combined all the oils I really love, and this DIY is so easy and great because you can customize it however you like! It also looks really lovely on your vanity, and smells and feels so luxurious.

DIY: Floral Hair and Body Oil (www.withmichellekim.com)

I wanted to make these oils as Christmas gifts for all the women in my life, so I knew I would need supplies in large quantities. I still wanted to maintain quality, so I tried to use mostly organic oils and use the oils that I personally love using. This blend is really wonderful and I am very happy with it, but you can definitely customize it however you please. If the color is important to you and you want to achieve a clearer color, I would recommend coconut oil and sweet almond oil as those oils are more clear and less yellow. If you do use a good percentage of coconut oil, the oil will smell faintly of coconut but I found that the coconut smell fades and the perfume scent lingers.

My oil blend:

Additional materials:

dried rose buds (I bought mine in bulk!)
dried jasmine flowers
perfume oils (I got these and this)
clear boston round bottles with white droppers

I prefer having a dropper when using oils, so I ordered 4 oz. boston round bottles with white droppers here and 2 oz. boston round bottles with white droppers here. Oils are usually packaged in dark bottles as to avoid photo-oxidation (when the oil goes bad from being exposed to UV light), so it is very important to store these bottles in a place where it will not be exposed to direct sunlight.

I used a funnel to fill the bottles, which was a little messy! I think a large pipette would have maybe been a better method.

You can leave the bottles as is, but I wanted to make labels so the recipient would know the perfume scent in addition to the ingredients used. I printed them out on white card stock, cut them out, sealed it and adhered it to the bottle using M od Podge (satin finish). So easy and it makes a big difference!

My little army of oils! I'm excited to give these out as Christmas gifts, and I hope all the ladies in my life will love them as much as I do!

Friendsgiving 2015

DIY: Floral Hair and Body Oil

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