A Screaming Blast: Exceptional Entertaining

Gardner, founder of Houses & Parties, marks occasions with events known for their unabashed style, wit, and whimsy. Here she invites the reader to crash twenty of her parties, from weddings to intimate dinners at home, finding fabulous inspiration at every turn.

A swirl of elegantly offbeat parties and lush tablescapes, where ceramic snails creep under flower petals and chandelier girls covered in Swarovski crystals beckon guests to the dance floor: Gardner’s infectious irreverence shines in her glamorous approach to entertaining, where even the mundane is made delicious.

This book--like her parties--is a decadent feast for the eyes, with a foreword by Sofia Coppola and photography that captures the surprise and delight of Gardner’s hyperbolic entertaining style. From a brass band leading guests to dinner along the tracks of the Napa Valley Wine Train to a pink-poodle-themed holiday party with a bountiful buffet of retro desserts, the pages burst with entertainments, heavy pours, and flattering light as all the elements combine in a perfectly orchestrated yet seemingly effortless way that makes it impossible for guests not to have a screaming blast!

Readers will be inspired by Gardner’s over-the-top parties and mischievous winks. In a nostalgic and personal tone, she opines on the role of a good host and a good guest, why every party needs a Pied Piper, and how to create wonder for guests. Each chapter features gorgeous parties that illustrate the joy found in entertaining, in a writing style that is accessible and funny, filled with memories of childhood parties, grown-up parties, and the desire to somehow merge the two. A chapter on the anatomy of a successful party and a list of resources present practical information. It’s not a how-to, but more a why-not.

Rebecca Gardner is the founder and creative director of Houses & Parties, an events, interior design, and retail collective based in New York and Savannah, Georgia. She has been named a top event designer by Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Her design work and advice on entertaining have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, T Magazine, Elle Decor, Town & Country, Financial Times, and House Beautiful. And her online shop offers unnecessaries for devotees of the elegant and unusual. This is her first book for Rizzoli, though she contributed to Living Floral: Entertaining and Decorating with Flowers (Rizzoli, 2019). Adam Kuehl has collaborated with Rebecca Gardner for eighteen years. His photography has been exhibited internationally and has appeared in The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Vogue, and National Geographic Traveler, among many other publications.