Hello, holidays! We’re ready for you. We recently partnered with our friends at Parachute Home and the ever talented floral designer Yasmine Mei for a holiday wreath workshop inside Parachute’s gorgeous new hotel suite in Venice (watch for more on that soon!)

We were joined – amongst piles of locally foraged plants – by a few fave LA bloggers and TCM readers. The special two night event was made complete with light bites, Pressed Juicery cocktails and a mulled wine recipe that stopped us in our tracks.

Yasmine’s concept for these wreaths focused on dried California florals. Each workshopper started with a grapevine wreath and pulled from an amazing collection of pine, cotton buds, laurel and magnolia branches and pine cones to build out individual wreaths. Yasmine always plans floral workshops so that there’s not quite enough of each element for each participant. That way every wreath is different and there are none that match just perfectly.

The mulled wine prepared by chef Becky Reams – founder of the pop-up restaurant concept and catering service Bang Bang Brunch – had all of us begging for the recipe. Festive and boozy, but packed with enriching spices, this simple recipe is perfect for holiday entertaining. Make a batch, big or small, and be prepared for a home full of amazing smells and très impressed guests…