The Party That Started It All: Fall Holiday Festivus, 2013

Before Pinkies Up Events ever had a name, it had a heartbeat, and it began on a warm night in New Orleans, in the common area of a high-rise apartment on Poydras Street (image is from my second annual festivus at my now-husband’s house with his roomates).

It was 2013, and I was 26. I had been living in New Orleans for about a year and a half, freshly rooted but ready to celebrate something more than just another Friday night on Frenchmen Street. I wanted to host something intentional … something a little grown up, a little sparkly, and full of good food, better wine, and that unmistakable feeling of early holiday magic.

So I threw my very first annual holiday party. I called it the Fall Holiday Festivus — a cheeky, stylish nod to the season before the season, held in early November to kick off the holidays our way.

I went to St. James Cheese Company and nervously asked the monger for help curating my first proper cheese and charcuterie board. I picked up crowd-pleasing wines from a bottle shop on Magazine Street, including my first real introduction to a dry Riesling: not cloying, but elegant and complex. I emailed out invitations. I asked my friends to dress up. This was going to be my first adult party, and we were going to look the part.

And then… magic.

Chiso, my boyfriend at the time (now my husband), made deviled eggs. Kristina brought baked brie. I wore a maroon mini dress that hugged my hips just right. The playlist was low-key, cozy, and classy — until Chiso tried to sneak in Firework by Katy Perry. (I vetoed it. Hard. Little did I know he’d eventually become my full-time music director for every event we hosted together.)

Everyone came. Everyone stayed. And by the end of the night, everyone was talking about it.

That party became the one people remembered. The one they referenced for months. And for me, it was more than just a successful evening — it was the start of something I didn’t even realize I was building.

Looking back now, I’d tell that 26-year-old in the maroon dress: You have no idea how much fun this is going to become. That night would be the first of many. Over the years, the parties grew, the guest lists expanded, the grazing tables got more decadent, and the sense of purpose only deepened.

Eventually, the thing I did for fun — pulling people together over food, wine, and the joy of being alive — became Pinkies Up Events.

Because really, what is life for if not to celebrate it while we can? So we dress up. We eat well. We toast to today. We put on good music and we boogie.

And we keep the Festivus spirit alive, year after year.