#SmallScreenScenes #ChezPeachy #HolidayPeachy HGTV AND FOOD NETWORK UNVEIL HOLIDAY ENTERTAINING INSIGHTS
The season of giving is the perfect time to celebrate loved ones through holiday parties with delicious food and festive décor, and this year the experts at HGTV and Food Network have teamed up to share insights to help party givers put on a magical holiday celebration. The survey, conducted in September 2019 by the digital teams at Discovery and Open Mind Strategy, shows that these holiday gatherings will be in full swing in 2019 as over half of Americans plan to host a holiday meal and nearly three in four plan to attend one.
To help hosts across America decorate, prepare and cook for their holiday gatherings this year, Food Network and HGTV digital experts have compiled their top insights for the ultimate festive party planning.
CREATING THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE
With eight in 10 Americans planning to decorate their home for the holidays this year, it has never been more important to keep an eye on what’s in vogue before decorating for the festivities. While the minimalist look is continuing to spread, HGTV found traditional style is posed to dominate households across America:
An eye for tradition: This year, over half (54%) of Americans are sticking to the classics as they plan to choose a red and green color scheme, and decorate with a tree (87%), string lights (84%), wreaths (69%) and candy canes (65%).
‘Tacky Christmas’ is out: Americans are ditching the funky-but-festive faux decor that dominates retail shelves across the nation with a quarter noting they would never decorate with fake reindeer (25%), a blow up Santa Claus (33%) or fake snow (25%).
“There’s always room for spirited holiday fun but more Americans are embracing a traditional, seasonal look,” said Mariel Clark, Vice President of Digital for HGTV and Travel Channel. “Instead of a blow-up Santa and plastic reindeer, people are decorating in a classic, cozy style filled with personal and handmade touches.”
A great way to modernize this type of traditional décor is by incorporating natural elements such as branches and evergreen garland for a minimal but impactful look. HGTV also suggests a modern Scandinavian style as a great option for those looking for more pared-down, light-filled neutral interiors wherein black, white and wood tones are accented with cranberry reds and natural greenery. For this season, HGTV has a variety of nature-inspired décor ideas, including charming pine cone Christmas trees, “au naturel” tree trimmings and woodsy snow-free snowmen.
“This subdued palette reflects the wintry outdoors, where small colorful elements like red berries and green boughs really stand out against snow,” said Kelly Smith Trimble, Editorial Director of HGTV and Travel Channel. “Even those who live in warmer climates can appreciate the calming coziness of a wintry scene, and we could all use some calming during the holiday season.”
FULL BELLIES, FULL HEARTS
It’s no secret that the key to anyone’s heart is through their stomach, but creating dishes that are time efficient while satisfying the various tastes and preferences of holiday guests can be difficult for even the most seasoned entertainers.
“Entertaining for friends and family during the holiday season is a great way to express gratitude and appreciation for those around you,” said Michelle Buffardi, Vice President of Digital Editorial for Food Network, Cooking Channel and Food.com. “Hosts and their guests are always looking for new ways to bring joy to gatherings by creating crowd-pleasing treats, but it can be difficult to manage time constraints and varying preferences.”
A common challenge hosts face is carving out the large chunks of time needed to actually prepare a holiday feast, and this year that problem will be exacerbated as more than half (54%) plan to serve exclusively homemade dishes. Luckily, there are myriad options available to help make holiday entertaining more manageable:
Many hands make light work: Follow the lead of the three in four hosts who already enlist the help of family and friends in the kitchen to lighten the workload, most commonly from significant others (57%), followed by another family member (35%), parents (34%), kids (33%) and friends (14%).
Guests want to give: The overall majority (87%) of guests attending a holiday party plan on bringing some type of food or beverage, so why not take advantage? Party-goers bring dishes for a variety of reasons, but most commonly because they’ll feel guilty if they don’t contribute.
New recipes can be another great way to liven up a classic holiday menu, and while the majority of hosts get their inspiration from family recipes or traditions, there are a multitude of options available to expand one’s ingredient horizons. In recent years, digital channels such as blogs, apps and short-form series have proliferated and have proven to be a great resource for recipe inspiration. This year in fact, almost half (45%) of hosts also say they get inspiration from online recipes.
For those looking for some extra guidance this holiday season, the Food Network Kitchen app provides step-by-step instructions for Food Network’s most festive creations from seasonal series such as Christmas Cookie Challenge, Holiday Baking Championship, Holiday Gingerbread Showdown, Holiday Wars, Santa’s Baking Blizzard and Ultimate Hanukkah Challenge.
For more fun and easy ways to decorate your home for the holiday season, visit www.HGTV.com. For food and beverage recipe ideas on what to serve or bring to your holiday party, visit www.foodnetwork.com.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
This survey was conducted online by Open Mind Strategy on behalf of Food Network and HGTV, fielded 9/13 – 9/17, 2019, among 2,000 nationally representative respondents.
ABOUT HGTV
HGTV delivers the superstar experts, fascinating families, compelling renovations and stunning transformations that make all things home fun. America’s favorite way to get entertaining, relatable and inspirational home and lifestyle content, HGTV offers: a top 10 cable network that is distributed to more than 88 million U.S. households; a website, HGTV.com, that attracts an average of 9.7 million people each month; a social footprint of 16.8 million; HGTV Magazine, a monthly publication that reaches more than one million readers and exclusive collections of home-oriented products through the HGTV HOME™ consumer products line. Viewers can become fans of HGTV and interact with other home improvement enthusiasts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. HGTV is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories, whose portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
ABOUT FOOD NETWORK
FOOD NETWORK is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households and draws over 46 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine’s rate base has grown 13 times and is the No. 2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.5 million readers. Food Network is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories; the portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
