Top Five Tips for Holiday Entertaining from Event Designer Jung Lee

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Jung Lee, one of the world’s most sought-after event designers, respected for her passion, elegance and ground-breaking creativity understands not everyone has the time, inclination or even desire to tackle the holiday events with what has become her signature style.

Classy, panache, stunning are just a few of the words that have been used to describe Lee’s flair for event design, wedding planning and holiday entertaining.

For over a decade, Fête, her full-service event planning and design production firm founded with husband Josh Brooks, has been one of the world’s celebrated event companies. Fête and Jung Lee have been featured in most quintessential New York magazines and publications such as the New York Times, New Yorker and New York Magazine.

Here Jung offers her Top Five Tips for Holiday Entertaining.

1. Be a great host, but enjoy the party! Outsource wherever you can, and make it work for you. Whether it’s ordering in a portion of the meal, having drinks pre-made, or pulling out great desserts from the freezer - keep it easy so you can enjoy time with your guests.

2. Make sure your party has movement. You shouldn’t be in a space for more than 90 minutes. Start in the kitchen with drinks and small bites, move to the table for dinner, and then get up and head into the living room for desserts, more drinks...and dancing!

3. Mix up the music! Changing up the music throughout the night will help to engage your guests and set the scene for how you would like the evening to play out. I love starting with nostalgic music that everyone knows when people arrive, and then going to a European mix that you can’t really sing to during dinner. Afterwards, it’s great to have upbeat, danceable music to get people out of their seats!

4. Have all the basics, but add your personal flavor. You want all of your guests to be happy - with wine, mixed drinks, something sparkling, great foods, etc. - but you have to add things that you love and want to share with your guests. Whether it’s particular spices or your favorite foods - adding elements you love makes the party feel really personal and special.

5. Make the memories last. I love having a guest book and Polaroid camera - your friends and family can take pictures throughout the night and add them to the book with a note. They are also fun for the guests to take home!

Jung Lee Creates Holiday Happiness

Lee is entering into a new venture with her first ever hotel partnership. New York City’s unique display of Holiday Decorations, from the magical window displays lining the luxury boutiques of Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center with all its majestic beauty to every hotel, building that graces the skyline in a city that loves, lives and thrives on the sights and sounds of the holiday season.

Jung Lee and The Quin Hotel

This Holiday Season Jung Lee will be adding her magical touch to The Quin hotel at the corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue. She will artfully style the windows and lobby of the hotel for a quintessential “Home for the Holidays,” New York experience. 

The lobby will feature festive, uniquely decorated trees and a holiday pop-up shop with gifts exclusive to the Quin, as well as gift items from Jung Lee’s revolutionary retail store in NoMad, Jung Lee NY.

The collaboration marks the first-ever hotel partnership for Jung Lee, who commented, “It’s such a wonderful tradition for visitors in New York to take in elaborate store windows decorated for the holidays, but in decorating the lobby at the Quin, I wanted to create a window people could walk right into. Storefront windows are such remarkable productions, but these displays are inaccessible. The glass is a barrier. At the Quin, we’re instead inviting visitors to be a part of the magic—to touch the objects and to experience the spectacle first hand. We’ve also created a pop-up boutique at the Quin filled with incredible, unique home gifts.”

The style expert, who also assists the Quin’s new triplex Penthouse Suite guests with Holiday event planning, offered a primer on seasonal entertaining:

At the Quin, two large trees take center stage in the lobby, each flocked with festive frosting and decorated with separate themes – the first with an edible, candy and spice theme, evoking child-like joy and wonder. The second tree nods to the Quin’s artistic heritage and includes hand-blown glass ornaments from Romania (also available for sale in the holiday boutique shop). At the far end of the lobby, a 15-foot video art wall adds to the festive spirit with a look back on the Quin’s past artist-in-residence videos.   

Holly Breuche, General Manager of the Quin, commented, “Few things carry the feeling of coming home for the holidays. With modern families more mobile than ever, we want to recreate that quintessential moment and welcome guests with an equally enriching experience as they gather with loved ones in New York City.  When shoppers conclude a journey of browsing the windows and offerings of Quin partners like Bergdorf Goodman along Fifth Avenue by stepping into the Quin lobby, they will be transported by the spirit of the season.  We want them to feel as if they’ve really returned home for the holidays – or at least come to their home away from home.”

The pop-up boutique shop, an extension of Jung Lee NY in NoMad, affords visitors a relaxing opportunity to shop for gifts for friends, relatives and work colleagues.  Jung Lee has created hand-crafted wrapping paper exclusive to the Quin, as she seeks to counteract what she calls, “the lost art of gift-wrapping.” Gifts can be hand-wrapped on the spot, sent for next-day delivery anywhere in NYC, or shipped throughout the country.  

The boutique features items ideal for travelers and city residents alike, ranging from hand-blown glass ornaments to pillows custom-created for the Quin, and from scented candles to personalized luggage tags or coasters (also created specifically for the Quin) to gifts that make holiday entertaining effortless. 

Home For The Holidays

Visitors to the Quin experience all the comforts f home with the expected amenities of a luxury high end hotel. Stepping through the interior lobby doors of the Quin to The Wayfarer restaurant to celebrate the spirit of the holidays and delight in a bit of respite. 

The Jung Lee NY boutique at the Quin is open from 10:00am – 7:00pm, November 27- December 24. Further information and reservations for overnight stays are available at www.thequinhotel.com

The Quin, New York City’s quintessential luxury lifestyle hotel, is located on the corner of 57th Street and 6th Avenue. At the intersection of art, music, and fashion, its privileged Midtown location provides effortless access to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Museum of Modern Art and Fifth Avenue couture. The Quin melds modern opulence with its rich artistic heritage in each of its 208 thoughtfully appointed guestrooms including 28 suites.

Guests enjoy urbane and intelligent services, from the Attaché, who curate a guest’s New York experience, to distinguished amenities including a state-of-the-art Technogym fitness center, Apple equipped drawing room, Dux® beds by Duxiana®, Fresh® Spa Products and a two-story, 130-seat artisanal American seafood grill, The Wayfarer, showcasing a menu of fresh regional seafood. 

Quin Arts is an interactive arts program that celebrates the property’s rich artistic heritage and produces exciting new platforms for contemporary artists. Renowned architecture and interior design firm, Perkins Eastman, has transposed a contemporary masterpiece on the classical foundation that was once home to cultural icons like pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski and artist Georgia O'Keeffe.  http://www.theQuinhotel.com

Jung Lee New York

Jung knew she could put a fresh, modern spin on the process as modern sensibilities driving architecture, interior design and hotels had not taken hold in the event world. In the years since she began, her passion has led her to open her namesake home, lifestyle and wedding registry store in New York offering a revolutionary retail experience of unique, one-of-a-kind and exclusive pieces from around the world. www.jungleeny.com

 

Images courtesy of Fete and used with permission.

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