Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends [Hardcover]

As the sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton is in an unenviable situation. In many ways, she cannot win and it is unfortunate that to some, she will always be known as the only maid of honor to ever wear a flattering dress. Never judged on her own efforts, but on the media and public perception of her. Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends, is her attempt to change that.

Given her low profile prior to the royal wedding, Celebrate could be viewed as a premature effort. However, she's not the first person to jump on the bandwagon of her own notoriety nor will she be the last. To Pippa's credit, she acknowledges this in the introduction to Celebrate. She has the opportunity and she's taking advantage of it. By admitting this she makes it redundant for those who scoff at her efforts. Now who is being unoriginal?

Several reviews for this book have criticized Pippa for stating the obvious: 'ice goes great with drinks', 'a turkey at Christmas time is good for large gatherings'. Yes, it's true, but let's be honest, even Martha Stewart falls back on 'Pumpkins add to the festive atmosphere of Halloween', 'Hearts make perfect Valentines' and 'Easter egg hunts are fun'. What Pippa does add to the field is her youth. Like her sister, she makes going the extra mile fashionable. Thus giving twenty-somethings options other than beer, wine, tortilla chips and brie cheese trays for their own parties.

Divided by seasons, Pippa presents crafts, recipes, nostalgic/traditional games and charming tidbits of trivia appropriate to the occasion. She offers small glimpses into how her family marked occasions like Easter and Mothers Day. While her tips for building bonfires may not apply to most of her readers, some her game instructions are hard to follow (Conker fights?) and hanging donuts from trees may be an attempt for the brave, her instructions for creating Christmas decorations and place settings using simple items can be for those willing to make the effort. Very reassuring for craft-challenged people like me.

With Celebrate, Pippa Middleton is not reinventing the wheel for entertaining. Instead her book is a fine attempt at reinterpreting it.

Critics have been overly-critical of this wonderful book! It is full of lovely, creative ideas, along with some basics that come together to make a warm & inviting package. I've already used some ideas for a recent party that were inventive and cranked the party up a knotch, for sure. For my daughter's birthday I made a rainbow cake, went outdoors with some sparklers, and even had a spaghetti and marshmallow tower building competition. I love that all aspects of entertaining are considered here, including the food, the decor, and even the activities. You have everything in this book to make your gatherings with friends and family special and personal!! I would absolutely recommend this to anyone.

This is a fun and entertaining book, and helpful to any person young or old who is looking for new creative ideas for complete small event planning.
Some interesting craft ideas ,(the pompom thistles were easy and look very realistic when stuck on real twigs). The millionaire's shortbread was easy to make and a hit with the expat Scots and Brits I work with.
It has been, I believe, much maligned by the media, but is certainly an update for the times on entertaining. The background stories on how certain celebrations came about are interesting, as are the games for both children and adults.
If I have one complaint, it is that the recipes are largely measured in grams, but this is easy enough to translate, if not entirely convenient.
It is a very pretty book, and the pictures do match the crafts and foods shown when you have completed them yourself.
I bought this book for my twenty year old daughter online at Amazon.ca for Christmas and she loved it.
In my pre-Christmas reading of it I enjoyed it enough to buy one for myself, and have found it a useful addition to my myriad collection of cook and craft books.