WAYS TO GEAR UP FOR SUMMER ENTERTAINING || OUTDOOR PATIO || DECOR & ESSENTIALS || 2022

Welcome back to my channel. If you are new, welcome, my name is Hannah and I'm the mom of muscle. And in today's video, we are talking about summer gearing up for entertaining. So if this is something you're interested in watching, just keep on watching. But if you haven't already though, please be sure to like, comment and subscribe. You know, hit that bell button for every time I upload a video. And if you're not already following me on Instagram, I would love to have you over at mom with muscle. Without further ado, let's get into this video. You guys are probably thinking, Hannah, if we just got into spring, why are we talking about summer? And that is definitely true. But when it comes to the seasons for fashion and for anything home related, they are already two seasons ahead of us. They have already ordered items, decor, furniture pieces for the fall and winter months. Have you ever noticed when you go into a store looking for a swimsuit in the summertime and there's no swimsuits to be found and there's already winter jackets out? That's how the seasons work when it comes to fashion and home decor type items. So I figured I would get this video out to you if you are planning on entertaining, gearing up for the summertime. So I have composed a very short list of things that you can kind of have in your toolbox when it comes to updating your spaces and whatnot. So let's get into this video. The biggest thing for updating your space, entertaining is your outdoor furniture. Now, if you can't afford outdoor furniture, which it is very costly, I totally understand that. As a side note, the reason why I have not showed you guys my outdoor space or doing like a patio type video is because I need to update it. The furniture that we have currently is very undersized. It came from our old home and it's just one of those things on my list that I need to replace and it costs money. Outdoor furniture is just as expensive as indoor furniture. It has to hold up within the elements. So that is an area I have not updated and or have filmed yet. But when I do, I will be sure to fill you guys in on that. But like I said, outdoor furniture is huge. Now, if you can't afford outdoor furniture, totally understand. Simple things to do, update your pillows, update an outdoor rug, especially with things being in the elements. The sun is so damaging to our outdoor items. So a simple thing to do is freshen up your pillows. You can either, if you're a super crafty person, a DIY-er, you can go grab fabric from a Joann's or Michael's and do it yourself, or you could go to an inexpensive department store to freshen up those pillows. And one thing that's fun with that is you get to change your color scheme. If you did black one year, maybe you can throw some florals in this year. It's kind of fun to switch it up every now and then. So that is a really simple thing to update is your outdoor pillows and or your outdoor rug area for an all over new color scheme. So that's the first item. Everything will be linked down below. Some of my favorite items when it comes to furniture, decor, all the accessories, things that I have been loving that are in my shopping cart will be down in the description box. So be sure to check that out. Let's get into item number two. Set the mood. Market lighting, bistro lighting, ping pong lighting, whatever you want to call it. That is super, super key when it comes to entertaining. Now if you are in an apartment or if you're in a condo, a simple thing to do is just string it along the railing. You don't have to have it overhead. I think market lighting is super important when it comes to entertaining. Everybody's usually outdoors having a great time and that lighting is just going to set the tone. I even have market lighting in my, hung on my railing in my garden and I love the look of it when it's nighttime. We have our bonfire going. I can see the market lighting in my garden and it just, it just makes it seem more inviting. It just seems more cozy in a sense, especially if you are outside for summertime. I think lighting is super important. So that is the next item on this list. Item number three is flame. Now if you can't have a fire pit, which I definitely recommend if you're in a home, a bonfire pit is huge, but if you're in an apartment, if you're in a condo, no worries. They make super great little portable fire like pits on Amazon that are smaller. Now if that's still something you can't have in your area, they have the coolest little fire pits that are portable that go on a tabletop. I will link two of my favorites. I found a really cool one on target that's like a little tiki torch type situation and I also found a really cool one on Amazon that you could even use for roasting s'mores and marshmallows in. Another really cool way to bring in that kind of cozy, inviting environment is bringing some sort of flame aspect. You could also bring a ton of candles in if you love lanterns. That's also another really cool thing to bring out to any outdoor space by putting your lanterns and some beautiful candles in it. But I think flame is really, it's another element, another layer to your environment, to entertaining and to make it feel really cozy and inviting. So that is the third item on my list. Now this fourth item is not going to be for everybody. If you are in a home, this is going to be for you and this was actually something that Colin and I recently just had done here in our home. Now when we moved into our house, it was a blank lot. We were 100% responsible for landscaping and hardscape. So we sat with a dirt lot for about two years before we started construction. And as you can imagine, the amount of dust that was thrown up from construction, from people around us, from construction, our windows were thrashed, you guys. Our windows were disgusting. So the moral of my rant was we recently had our windows cleaned and I cannot tell you what a difference that has made for our home. Everything just feels clean, it feels fresh, everything's brighter. You can see through our windows. If you're in a home, just make sure to think about that. That's something that we don't think about on a daily basis like, oh, I should probably get my windows cleaned, but it really does make a huge impact on your home and your home's visibility and everything. And to be honest, it really was not that expensive. We found a guy that charged us $7 per window and that included indoor, outdoor, and screen cleaning. So again, that was just one more thing I wanted to just add to this list if you are in a home to maybe think about getting your windows washed if you plan on having more people over the summer. So that is the next item on my list. Another thing you guys can do is update your stemware, update your glasses. If you are planning on entertaining a lot for the summer, which hopefully a lot of us are now that we are coming out of COVID, people are getting back to everyday life. I know we are going to be entertaining here a ton this summer because we were unable to last year since we were in the middle of construction, but updating your, your glasses, you can always pick up some super inexpensive, cheap plastic, you know, glasses from like Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx. They make some really aesthetically pleasing plastic stemware for entertaining if you don't want to have glass. If you do want to do glass, this is kind of like a push to, you know, updating those items. And I recently just picked up some beautiful glasses for my kitchen that I will be using here in my home. But that's just one thing that is another area that we can update fresh in. I thought that was a really great item to add to this list as people are drinking, they're having mimosas, they're having cocktails, and that's just an area that we tend to forget about. To be honest, it's a lot easier than doing a bunch of plastic cups that we're going to throw away. So think about maybe updating those plastic cups or stemware for this upcoming summer season. So that is the next item on my list. And the last and final item on this list is accessorizing. And what I mean by accessorizing is things that you, I don't know, maybe don't think about. Maybe think about getting some games. If you are entertaining, I love games. We have Cornhole, we have Cards Against Humanity, we have so many fun adult games for when people come over. It's a way to engage, it's a way to get everybody interacting, and it's a lot of fun. It makes for a really fun night, and I think that's one thing that you guys can all incorporate. If you are in an apartment or in a condo, pick up some cool board games. I think we all enjoy playing and having fun, so that was another thing that I wanted to add to this list. Now if you are in a home or have a small backyard, think about a Jenga set. Think about an oversized Jenga game. Think about Cornhole. Think about those things that just get people engaging with one another. It's a lot of fun. So that's another little thing I thought I would add. Think about your citronella candles if you are in an area that has a ton of mosquitoes and bugs. Think about bringing in some really cool type citronella candles. You could even put those in your lanterns, which is another thing for accessorizing your outdoor space like I had already talked about. But yeah, bringing in candles, bringing in citronella candles that are going to diffuse anything, any bugs if you are in an area that has a lot of them. And don't forget to bring in some potted plants if you have a space, if you have a patio. Bring in some beautiful potted plants. Things that represent the summertime, that bring color, bring some life, and something that's going to live on your patio in some beautiful pots. You can never have enough greenery and enough florals during the summertime because summertime is all about entertaining and having fun and enjoying the season. So that is the last and final item on my summer list. Alright you guys, and that is it for today's video. I hope you guys enjoyed. I hope you got some inspiration, some ideas if you are planning to entertain for the summer. Like I said, finger crossed that we are coming out of this COVID and people can start enjoying their spaces and having friends over and having get-togethers and gatherings. And I'm super excited for summertime. Like I said, I feel like last year was kind of a wash since I was almost nine months pregnant and our backyard was fully under construction so we didn't have family over, we didn't have friends over really. So this year now that everything is complete, we are gearing up here for summertime and I'm really looking forward to having some people over and hopefully you guys are too. I love you so, so much and until next time in my next video, we will see you guys then. Peace.