Holiday Party Planning 101 with Jenni Kayne, Ann Dexter-Jones, and Peter Som Inline

“Normally I start with a color scheme, an idea, and then it all kind of comes together,” explains Jenni Kayne, who usually opts for a more neutral white and green palette for her Jewish family, but decided to channel Americana plaids, flannels, and a mixture of reds this past Monday for her how-to holiday soiree, complete with a pre-Christmas lunch cohosted by her friend and interior designer Nathan Turner. Kayne chose a favorite forest-green silk dupioni ensemble from her fall 2013 collection to coordinate with her Christmas decor. The party favors are wrapped well ahead of time. “Prepare in advance, so that you can be relaxed because if you’re uptight, then your guests aren’t going to have a good time,” confides Kayne. The elegant yet easy California aesthetic her brand is known for, combined with Kayne’s consummate attention to every detail, makes for a perfectly appointed afternoon. Kayne lays out the custom-made cashmere-blend tartan tablecloth Turner sourced specifically for the occasion. Turner admits the cashmere-blend fashion fabric for a tablecloth is “kind of insane,” but after seeing it on the table he declares, “It’s perfect.” Turner’s seamstress sewed a jute trim on the edge of the tablecloth. “Being that Jenni’s house is so clean and contemporary-feeling, I didn’t want it to go down to the floor or cover up her pretty chairs,” explains Turner, who designed the cloth with Kayne’s natural wood asymmetrical dining room table in mind. Once the cloth is set and Kayne has ensured all wrinkles have been banished, with a little help from some double-sided tape, the Bloom and Plume arrangements of peonies, garden roses, eucalyptus, and hops are placed. The “pièce de résistance:” a Portuguese cork bowl from Turner’s shop. Kayne chose “Christmasy materials and scents” for the florals, but the Friday before the party decided to make the arrangements “a little bit more wild and colorful.” She scoured the Internet weeks ahead of time to secure a collection of vintage Heath Sea and Sand ceramics, with its green and brown tones, “I’m obsessed!” Mismatched antique flatware from Anthropologie grounds each place setting. For Kayne’s requested plaid-on-plaid tablescape, Turner found a heavy linen and had an open plaid printed to make napkins. Before guests arrive, Kayne strategically sets each ornament place card, printed by her friend and Apartment Number 9 boutique owner Amy Blessing. “To ensure everybody has a good time, I try and seat friends together or people that are like-minded that I think will enjoy meeting each other,” says the consummate hostess. In order to give each guest personal attention and maintain a relaxed setting, she advises, “Keep it intimate . . . I think ten is the perfect number.” “Now let’s tackle the dessert table!” Kayne declares. It’s a continuous process of trial and error. Kayne, who prefers a more relaxed buffet or family-style service, switches out the wicker basket holding the party favors and adds some paper at the bottom of the ceramic bowl to prop up the spoons. “Jenni is a master at editing,” Turner explains, “I’m a little more-is-more, and Jenni has the discipline to be more edited, which makes for a cleaner look.” Kayne’s one Christmas tradition: a tree decorated with owl and feather ornaments from her store. Each guest receives an owl ornament as a parting gift. “We do have a lot of owls, I guess,” Kayne laughs. For dessert: A gingerbread trifle with poached pears on Pottery Barn plates. Three of the glasses are marked with stickers designating them for the gluten-free guests. Kayne says, “I ask if anyone is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, or vegan. I think that’s important. It’s such a bummer if you go to someone’s house for dinner and you can’t eat because you’re a vegan or a veggie.” The guests arrive and are seated for their cooking class with chef Pamela Salzman. Although Kayne loves to cook, for parties, she likes to have additional help in the kitchen, “Working and throwing a party, there’s not that much time to do it all.” Kayne devised a menu with Salzman that would be Christmas-appropriate, yet easy for her guests to learn and re-create, including whole roasted branzino, potatoes, and a fennel salad—“it’s really good with pomegranate seeds.” Before lunch, each guest was tasked with de-boning her own fish because the multitalented hostess divulged, “I wanted to learn how to do that.” **Ann Dexter-Jones’**s entertaining style is more spontaneous. “I just do everything at the last minute, I even invite guests with just a few days’ notice,” she says with a laugh. Last week, she found herself hosting a party with Rupert Sanderson in her Greenwich Village home. “I saw his shoes and I thought they were fabulous, and Rupert is actually wearing one of my bracelets so we do have a mutual admiration for each other,” she says of her fellow Brit accessories designer. “We wanted to come up with something that shows what we do, but not completely consume the apartment and party. You don’t want to overdress something,” explains Sanderson. He also shared his own secret to a good party. “I think a good festive cocktail is always important. My Randy Robin always goes down as a treat.” (In case you’re wondering, mix a bit of sherry brandy, red martini, vermouth, special bitters, and soda water and you’re set.) In terms of party music, you could say Dexter-Jones has an unfair advantage. “Well, I have to play my children’s music,” she says, of her DJ-heavy family which includes Mark and Samantha Ronson and Alexander Dexter-Jones. One of the center pieces at the party at Dexter-Jones’s home. “Whenever I entertain, people ask, ‘well shouldn’t we move this out of the way or that out of the way,’ and I always say: ‘No! This is a home, and it should feel like a home,’ ” says Dexter-Jones. Designer Peter Som has his own take on a holiday cocktail as well. “Right now I’m really into champagne, usually with a splash of Domaine de Canton, a kind of ginger liquor, or St. Germain,” he says. “One is a little more spicy and one is a little sweeter.” Som hosts low-key gatherings year-round at his New York apartment and loves to cook. “I kind of just go really old-school,” says Som. “This time of year, there are so many parties, and they’re so fancy, but you know at the end of the day everyone loves a good pig in a blanket.” “Those are magnolia branches. I love how they are green on one side and red on the other. I’m not a huge decoration person, but I love minimal, easy, pretty things.” “I used to have a Christmas tree, but I’ve been traveling so much, it’s been crazy!” Som says. “This time I’m just going to have to do with my three wreaths.” “I entertain a lot, I don’t throw a holiday party every year per se, but I do entertain a lot, I love to cook, a lot of times it’s very food related.” Som also likes to prepare well in advance, and even foresees any potential problems that could lie ahead. “I use white cranberry juice for cocktails—it tastes the same and I don’t have to worry about spills!”