Holiday Entertaining – Autumn Edition: Gifts For Your Guests

Green Door Hospitality is very excited to be joining several other bloggers for the monthly Collectively Creative!  This month’s theme is ‘Thankful’!  Please make sure to also check out the bottom of this post for links to other exciting blogs covering this topic!

We are so very thankful for our small group of friends attending our ‘Thankful with Friends’ dinner party and wanted to provide them a little token of our friendship.  Homemade and Edible gifts are always my favorite.  They don’t strain the budget, but most importantly they mean so much more!  Due to the dietary restrictions of our guests, the gift needed to be both vegan and gluten-free in order to accommodate everyone.  I decided to turn to Changing My Destiny who has just come out with a Crockpot Fruit Butter eBook!  She has a wonderful recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Butter that fit my (and my guests) needs perfectly!

Spiced Crockpot Pumpkin Butter — from Changing My Destiny

• Meat of 2 Pie Pumpkins
• 1/2 cup Apple Juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks, plus 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Remove the rind of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds.  Chop the meat of the pumpkin into 1 inch chunks.

Toss the sugar and ground spices with the chopped pumpkin.

Add the pumpkin mixture to the Crockpot.  Add the apple juice and cinnamon sticks.  Set the Crockpot on low and close the lid.

Let the pumpkin cook overnight, or for 8 hours.  When soft enough, remove the cinnamon sticks, and use an immersion blender to mash the pumpkin into a puree.  Add the 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and stir to combine.

Change the Crockpot temperature to high and remove the lid.  Le the mixture cook down until very thick, there should be no visible liquid left.  Cook on high for about 3 hours, though this step can vary per batch.  It may take more or less than 3 hours.

Once done, let it cool.  Depending on your preference you may want to blend it for smoother consistency.

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While deciding what gift to give our guests, I was also trying to decide on what to use as place cards.  I think place cards are a really fun element for a dinner party.  This is especially true when not all of your guests know each other very well.  It promotes mingling, conversation, and an overall feeling of comfort.  We’ll talk more about developing a seating chart in a later post.  In the meantime, I was trying to decide on a gift and trying to decide on a place card that was unique and would fit the mood of the table.  And suddenly, it hit me.  I could kill two birds with one stone!  With a permanent market and some fabric squares from Hobby Lobby, the gifts are now also the place cards!!

And make sure to check out these fantastic other blog posts that are part of Collectively Creative – The Thankful Edition!  Collectively Creative is put together by Kelly over at Cobwebs, Cupcakes, and Crayons.

Our Family’s Thankful Journal (Cobwebs, Cupcakes & Crayons)

Mrs. Hetherington’s Thanksgiving Pageant (Pillows A-La-Mode)

Creating a Thankfulness Photo Album (Organizing Living Essentials)

T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L. for my Kiddos! (Neaten Your Nest)

DIY ‘Thankful’ Dry-Erase Board (Inspire & Indulge)

What I’m Thankful for: Grandparents and Cinnamon Rolls (The Thing About Joan)

Healthy Chicken Sausage and Apple Stuffing (My Healthy ‘Ohana)

Roasted Squash And Garlic Apple Potage (Cul De Sac)

Vegan Creamed Corn Cornbread (The Pancake Princess)

Thanksgiving Requests (Ponytail Kind of Day)

Rustic DIY Thank You Cards (NorthStory)