No Stress Holidays

Lyssa High:                          Welcome back to Good Day Kentucky. Now, the holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means; it’s time for festive holiday get togethers, and friends, and family, and colleagues coming over, and we are doing everything from entertaining to grocery shopping. The holidays are always full of seasonal favorites to enjoy all times and all types of festivities, but while the fun is an exciting time of year, it can also be very stressful to manage everything. In fact, according to a recent survey, nearly a quarter of Americans feel extreme stress during the holidays. So, how do you make it through in a way that makes everyone happy and keeps your stress at a minimum? Well, here to share some of her holiday plans, tips, and tricks is Emmy winner and entertaining expert, Raina Seitel. Thanks for joining us.

Raina Seitel:                       Thanks so much for having me.

Lyssa High:                          You know, let’s get right to it too. I think we can all related to the holiday stress, what are some tips and tricks to help you stay in the holiday spirit and plan for these holiday get togethers?

Raina Seitel:                       Sure, so when you’re hosting a holiday party, planning, as you said, is key. So go out, get your supplies and materials way before the party, bring them back, put them away, and the day of the party you’re a little bit less stressed. Also, when I’m sending out my evites to my guests I say to them, “Hey, bring a dish that you love.” That way it takes the onus off me to be cooking in the kitchen all night long. I’ll make a couple things, but it’s really fun to have your guests bring a dish that is meaningful to them. And then finally, snacking all year round is something we do in our family, and it’s especially important when it comes to the holidays. For a great holiday party you want to have great snacks, and that is why I am very excited today to be partnering with PepsiCo, because they are bringing you a limited time only variety of holiday treats, perfect for your holiday party, or if you have just a chilled night at home with your family, it’s great for that too.

So first on our snacking list, I love these, they’re the Rold Gold festive shapes pretzels. They sound delicious, they taste delicious, and they look delicious because they are in snowflake shapes, and candy cane shapes, perfect for the décor of the holiday season. Next up we have the Rold Gold dipped pretzels, again great flavors, we have chocolate dipped, and we have peppermint dipped. Super great, and also these are great to bring as a hostess gift as well if you’re attending a party.

Lyssa High:                          Oh, I love chocolate covered pretzels, can’t say it enough, and it sounds delicious and less stressful too. Now, what about beverages for holiday parties, Raina?

Raina Seitel:                       Sure. When it comes to beverages you want a variety, because people like to drink different things. So again, stack up early. I like to do a self serve bar at my parties, making it a little less stressful for the host, and people do like to get and mix their own drinks, so I love that. Now, in our house we do water year round, but at the holiday time I like to mix it up. So my go to is Bubly sparkling water. You can see the fun packaging here, lots of different colorful festive packaging. This holiday season it comes in a multi pack at Amazon and Walmart.com. Again, we have the strawberry flavor and the lime flavor, so delicious. And for the Mountain dew lovers out there, you want to listen up, because this is the Mountain Dew Merry Mashup. It sounds so fun, it tastes so good, it is a cranberry pomegranate twist, and people are loving this. Already gaining a huge following, lots of buzz around this drink.

Then finally for the adults on your list who are attending your party, you want to do a nice happy holiday cocktail. So Tropicana Coco Blends is my go to. Here’s what I do, we can drink this on its own or you mix it up. So what I like to do is mix up the peach passion fruit with vodka, with cinnamon syrup, put over some ice, mix it up, and when the guests walk through the door I hand them a lovely cocktail. And when it comes to guests saying over people always say, “What do I do for breakfast?” Make it simple and easy, my got to is Quaker Instant Oatmeal, gingerbread flavor this time of year. And of course Starbucks is back with its ever so popular peppermint mocha latte, that’s great for breakfast as well.

Then finally, for people on your gift list you need to gift for, I love personalization, and Gatorade has you covered. This is from Gatorade GX Fueling System, it is a personalized Gatorade water bottle, you put the recipients name on it and their favorite sports team, and this is going under the tree for my son this year.

Lyssa High:                          Awesome, Raina, thank you so much for all the tips. Can’t wait for all these big parties now, I’m looking forward to it, and thank you for joining us today. And we have more Good Day Kentucky coming up, keep it right here.