Gatherings Ideas, Tips & Guides

Everyone wants a pristine kitchen counter—it’s the ultimate sign of a sparkly-clean home. But it’s not exactly practical to have a totally empty working surface, either. Not everyone has the cupboard or drawer space to store every single item that’s left out on a kitchen counter—and even if you do, some things are best left out where they’re more accessible. Who wants to sort through kitchen cupboards to find the salt and pepper while cooking?

With the first official day of summer only a few weeks away, the editors at BHG have been gathering warm-weather essentials in anticipation for the months ahead—and we're sharing them with you! Prep for summer entertaining with suggestions from our home and food editors, including a genius charcuterie board that comes with compartments for all your favorite meats and cheeses. Spruce up your summer tablescape with checkered linen napkins, or take the party on-the-go with a padded cooler bag that's perfect for picnics.

Rachel Marek. Prop Styling: Addelyn Evans

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Georgia has many different red mushrooms, growing on the ground or trees and having all kinds of shapes and sizes. We’ll help you distinguish these properly.

Gardening and landscaping can be a rewarding endeavor—transforming outdoor spaces into beautiful and functional retreats. However, without proper planning and consideration, common mistakes can detract from the overall beauty and functionality of your landscape.

Kuuleialoha Gaisoa determines whether a person is worthy of receiving her Hawaiian pa‘akai, or salt, based on whether they’ll help her protect the salt ponds of Hanapēpē on Kaua‘i.

As summer approaches and we’re faced with another season of determining what's for dinner, we're sharing a glimpse at how BHG readers gather for a meal. Welcome to our new series, Dinner Diaries, where we're asking readers to anonymously share how they get dinner on the table including grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and their favorite family recipes. Here, a family of three in Georgia works together to get dinner on the table. Read on to see how they shop, prep, and cook to get dinner, and weekend breakfasts, on the table.

Fire destroys, but it also purifies and enriches. For thousands of years, indigenous people used fire to manipulate the landscape. Burning was used to clear land for farming and settlement, maintain grasslands for forage and to aid in both hunting and gathering. We use it here at the South Carolina Botanical Garden to manage some of our habitats in the Natural Heritage Garden. In the Prairie Exhibit, fire is used to clear out woody plants that would ultimately shade out grasses. The ashes reinvigorate the soil with a nutrient dump. In the past, the resultant fresh new grasses would attract bison and other herbivores, which would then be hunted for meat and other materials. The Longleaf Pine Savannah Exhibit is also an example of a fire-maintained habitat. Burning consumes the leaf litter, enabling the longleaf pine seedlings to sprout; then, at most stages, they are fire-adapted and resistant. The suppression of fire throughout the United States rendered these habitats extremely rare.

You must have used branches or driftwood for hangers or to create garden bed boundaries, but have you ever used them for a trellis? A ladder, perhaps? Learn how with our DIYs!

As we’re faced with another year of determining what's for dinner, we're sharing a glimpse at how BHG readers gather for a meal. Welcome to our new series, Dinner Diaries, where we're asking readers to anonymously share how they get dinner on the table including grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and their favorite family recipes. Here, a family of five enjoys tacos, spaghetti, bulgogi, and other dishes from around the world.

On the one hand, the start of a new year is an excellent time to update your home. With fresh eyes and your goals for the months ahead in mind, you can assess your living space and see how you can make it better. On the other hand, though, upgrading your home can quickly become expensive—especially after the excess of the holidays.

In the Kelce home, guests are treated like family. Whether you’re there for a summer potluck or a Sunday football watch party, you’ll experience the same comfortable, everyone-for-themselves atmosphere you’d likely find at your own family gatherings. Donna Kelce’s home is a no-frills environment: You won’t be served on fancy dinner plates, but there will be plenty of snacks out when you arrive, and you’re never expected to take your shoes off.

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TikTok has a new design theory on the rise: anyone whose couch doesn’t touch their walls is living in luxury. Having your couch in the middle of the room, according to many TikTok users, is the mark of an expensive home.

This is that time of year when we take cuttings of our beloved plants. These are the indoor plants that grew too big over the summer months, the perennials we would like to increase in numbers rather than dividing, or from bringing in an entire annual plant from outside.

Whether you are planning a birthday party or a formal dinner for business associates, flowers can play an important role in the decorations. But you don’t have to settle for run-of-the-mill, one-color arrangements of carnations and daisies. Why not key the floral decor to the season or holidays and special events in the month?

Thinking about incorporating some thrifted or vintage pieces into your home? The pros are all for doing so, and we spoke with a number of secondhand-loving interior designers to gather their most useful takeaways for what to keep top of mind when decorating with preloved finds.

As winter approaches and we’re faced with another year of determining what's for dinner, we're sharing a glimpse at how BHG readers gather for a meal. Welcome to our new series, Dinner Diaries, where we're asking readers to anonymously share how they get dinner on the table including grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and their favorite family recipes. Here, a family of four in the Midwest enjoys eating seasonally. Right now, the menu includes hearty casseroles, soups, and homemade bread.

Le Creuset

Ann VanderWiel Wilde

Max Kim-Bee

Hello, new year, hello, newly organized home. The start of a fresh year is the ideal time to revamp your organizing ways, creating a clutter-free home that feels like you. Where should you start, though? We asked three professional organizers what organizing trends they see on the 2024 horizon. From what materials to use to areas to declutter to technologies to take advantage of, they were full of practical home organizing advice. Read on for their seven recommendations.

Micro-decluttering, or the art of sorting through clutter in your home in 10 or 15 minute increments, has become quite popular in recent years, and for good reason.

While the holiday season can be a time of excess, once the season has ended, it's a great time to declutter. Whether you’re making space to store holiday decor or eager to do a full clean-out once the festivities close, it’s a time to make your home feel cozy and comfortable. 

Ever wonder what an interior designer may be thinking when they set foot into someone's living room?

Whether you have a busy calendar full of parties to attend or plan to host a gathering of your own sometime soon, it's never a bad idea to refresh your entertaining knowledge.

Anthony Masterson

Better Homes & Gardens

Blaine Moats

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During the holidays, families gather together. Many will prepare meals that fit their holiday and family traditions. While certain meals can hold a special place in our hearts, it’s important to think about how meals are prepared in a healthy way or not.

Blaine Moats

Dive into the enchanting world of festive crafts by creating a mesmerizing Paper Christmas Star. You don't need fancy tools or expensive materials; just grab some coloured paper, scissors, and let your imagination take flight. This delightful project is not only a delightful addition to your seasonal decorations, but it also doubles as a fantastic family activity.

The Isles of Scilly are like an idealised version of England – where the sun always shines, the food is wonderful, there’s no traffic and no one locks their doors! To say the sun always shines is an exaggeration, but they’re among the sunniest and mildest places in the UK – sea breezes mean it’s never too hot or humid and thanks to the Jetstream, they almost never have frost.

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