This book is jam packed with craft and recipe ideas for celebrations. It provides a great source of inspiration and is a good reference if you have an upcoming celebration you need to prepare for

This book is full of themed party ideas. I was more impressed with the recipes than the crafts. Of course I can see that this book is geared more toward families with children in a suburb versus scattered families in a rural area. I think most people could find a few ideas to implement to make a weeknight meal more fun!

I think this book is good for inspiring people. I won't say it is my favorite of books I've read of this type, but I think it holds a lot of merit. Pick this up if you're looking to spruce up your next gathering.

I got a free ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to read this book but for me it felt a little bit basic/amateur. Obviously since Pinterest was invented we've all had to step up our game when it comes to hosting and parties and just in general, so I felt like this was a bit lackluster. It would be a good addition to a gift basket for someone who's just starting out, in their early twenties, but for the rest of us it just doesn't fit the bill in my opinion.

Really good book, I love the combinations of crafts as well as recipes to bake. Its kinda an "all in one" book

A delightful addition to the world of craft books! I've been a fan of Maria Provenzano since I first saw her on Hallmark Channel's Home & Family show. She brings a fresh voice to the world of crafting, cooking, baking, and entertaining. While I don't have children myself, I enjoyed seeing the crafts she does with her own children.

I will definitely be doing spa days with my friends using her spa creations. And I'll enjoy using her recipes for entertaining.

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to receive an advanced copy to read and enjoy, and I'm happy to leave my review. on Everyday Celebrations from Scratch.

Great ideas for food and gatherings, all achievable and all have the sprinkling of celebration of the little but important things in life.
Cupcakes with gorgeous giant butterflies, spa day ideas to host in your own home and lots of ways to involve the whole family including small children.
I can see this book being useful through all stages of family life, from babies to grown ups, it is full of lovely, creative ways to celebrate each other. There are lots of fun ideas to celebrate from kids soccer games to snow day activites.

Everyday Celebrations from Scratch was such an enjoyable book. I got excited about making little events out of ordinary days, and I am looking forward to trying some of the crafts and recipes that Maria Provenzano provides. Some of the recipes I’d like to try are Caprese Pasta Salad, Italian Sandwiches, and Watermelon Lavender Lemonade (plus many more!). Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

beautiful book that really does what the tootle promised.
i confess that i am a little skeptical every time some says things are made from scratch because sadly for many that means using some type of mixes and adding a few things to them. which for someone with food allergies makes it very hard to use those recipes.

this book holds it me promise through and i loved it! the recipes are great. highly recommend.

This book so many amazing recipes that I will for sure try.

Love the photos and just the whole book as a story in total. This was a fun read.

A truly unique and beautiful book! Everyday Celebrations From Scratch combines recipes and crafts to infuse more celebration in our lives. The photography and layout are so aesthetically pleasing. I love the idea of more festive meals and gatherings and that children are encouraged to help. This would make a wonderful gift.

Thank you NetGalley and the publsiher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

If you like to celebrate, well, anything, you'll enjoy EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS FROM SCRATCH. Author Maria Provenzano will show you how to make every occasion the best it can be. Following some of the wonderful ideas in this book, your parties/events will be the ones all of your friends and family talk about!

Because I was seeking inspiration and ideas to return to hosting parties in my living room, I read a different book earlier in the year that aimed to give the reader the tools and insight needed to be confident in hosting their own party. Overall, that book was an interesting resource of fairly quick and easy dinner party recipes. I was hoping that Everyday Celebrations would be more sophisticated and classic (or at least as fun and quirky) because it aimed to inspire the reader to seek creative ways to commemorate all the good in their life. While other readers may have a different experience, Everyday Celebrations unfortunately missed the mark by a wide margin for me. After reading four of the five sections of celebrations, I decided not to finish it with approximately 20-percent left (page 283).

After a brief introduction, the book kicks off with a section on essential materials for crafting and essential pantry stock. Most of these supplies were obvious - felt, clay, foam core boards - but the lists also included a whacky item or two - resin, fabric paint. The pantry stock section listed tools and ingredients that would be fairly common in a well-stocked US kitchen.

The meat of the book is divided into five types of celebrations: weeknight meals, family, friendship, sports, seasons. Each celebration section is further subdivided into individual celebrations, which include some personal stories, recipes, and a craft. The content of these individual celebrations is fairly banal. The personal anecdotes focus on the author’s idyllic family life, with one fleeting exception of when she was suffering and turned to her female friends for support. The recipes were basic; several didn’t even specify cooking times. For example, the recipe for creamy eggs simply states to cook until the eggs are almost done. No timing. No contextual clues. Nothing to help out a kitchen novice. The general variety of food offered was limited, with very few tips on how to accommodate gluten free, dairy free, alcohol free, vegetarian, and/or vegan diets. The crafts are predominantly quick time killers to distract bored children, such as dried pasta art, dry erase placemats, macrame keychains, felt pennants, and homemade trophies.

Overall, the heteronormative traditional nuclear family focus of this book was of negligible value in my quest to be the hostess with the mostest within my local circle of friends, which is quite diverse in terms of ethnicity, marital status, veteran status, and sexual identification/orientation. I was hoping to be inspired by unique recipes for dinner with friends and by crafts that created quirky fun table decorations and party favors. I was seriously underwhelmed. The Introduction set such high expectations, and the remainder of the book didn’t come close to fulfilling them.

Again, this is just my experience with this book. Other readers may have a different experience with it. In addition to my interesting circle of friends, I typically read fiction with decently diverse representation. Therefore, my baseline tolerance for a book such as this is fairly low.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. I have yet to try any of the recipes from this book, but will update my review if I do.

This book has wonderful ideas, crafts and recipes for hosting all kinds of events. The collections are very well organized. This will be helpful for many people planning, with the possibility of some adjustments needed depending on resources and possible dietary needs. A big thank you to NetGalley and Harper for an advanced copy of this book.

I’m an avid cookbook reader and read them like a novel. I enjoyed this different kind of book that include recipes and crafts ideas.

I liked most of these recipes as I’m a fan of Italian cooking and many of the recipes have the Italian flair. I particularly enjoyed the Grilled Corn Salad, the Honey Basil Fruit Salad and the Watermelon Lavender Lemonade.

I haven’t tried any of the crafts projects yet but got good ideas for fun ways to decorate when I entertain.

I would offer this book to young mothers who can always use simple recipes made with easy to find ingredients. They would also appreciate the crafts ideas to do with their children or on their own to decorate their homes when they entertain.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Horizon for this ARC in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Everyday Celebrations From Scratch is a DIY guide with cooking and crafts written and curated by Maria Provenzano. Released 28th June 2022 by Harper Collins on their Harper Horizon imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The book is written around the idea that celebrations don't have to only occur on big occasions. It's enough to celebrate the everyday things as well. To that end, the chapters' recipes and crafts are grouped thematically: weeknight meals, family, friendship, sports, and seasonal celebrations with entries for each season.

Recipes are appealing and the book is styled to within an inch of its life. In fact, it reminds me more than a little bit of the Martha Stewart style/aesthetic with a bit more American Italian casual and a little less New England WASP. Recipes are written with an introduction, ingredients in a bullet list in a sidebar, and followed by step-by-step instructions. Measurements are provided with imperial (American) units only. There is no nutritional information included. Most of the ingredients for food and crafts will be relatively easy to source at any moderately large grocery store or big box crafts supplier.

The production values are top notch, but fair warning: the book seems to be a photo album of a hyper-imagined "instagram perfect" family (as I look around at my messy kitchen countertops and wash my 3rd load of laundry for the day). They're almost all blonde, beautiful, thin, with straight teeth and full heads of beautifully styled hair (even the older generation). There are abundant photos of the author's beautiful family, but not so many of the food or crafts.

The crafts are mostly kid-friendly, and I never really thought I would review a book which intentionally included pasta picture art, but here we are.

Three and a half stars. A careful read-through showed no glaring errors in the recipes or crafts tutorials.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS FROM SCRATCH by Maria Provenzano offers numerous suggestions, especially for families, to cook and craft together. She splits the book into 5 sections: weeknight meals, family, friendship, sports and seasons. Each of those offers multiple ideas like making Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos or Homemade Waffle Cone Dessert Tacos on Taco Tuesdays. The recipes, like Lemony Shrimp with Bucatini (or spaghetti) involve relatively few, easily obtainable ingredients – plenty of appeal, although nutrition information is not provided. The many crafts are showcased in colorful photos and Provenzano provides lists of helpful supplies for making items like Macrame Key Chains, Custom Bookmarks, or more adult-oriented Wine Glass Tags. There is a thorough index and while each section notes its recipes and activities at the start, this book could be improved with an overall list of crafts to make searching for ideas easier. Booklist describes EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS FROM SCRATCH as the "ultimate book for happy crafting and eating together." It seems like an especially wonderful resource for those end of summer days when kids are looking for ways to fill time. Have fun!

Some of you may remember Maria from Hallmark's Home and Family show. She brings those ideas and tips to book form. Maria shows us ways to make an ordinary Taco Tuesday into a fun family meal with special decorations to go along with the wonderful food. She gives tips and hints to make life easier for you when making these meals. She brings the whole family into preparations. She shares little touches such as edible flowers into ice cube trays and use them in an ice bucket for chilling wine. This is a fun book to take family nights and celebrations up just a notch.

The book is about finding ways to celebrate everyday. Sections are Celebrating Weeknight Meals, Family, Friendship, Sports, and Seasons. The weeknight section has a theme from each day. Family and Sports seemed to be mostly kid-related. The book was lacking in adult get-togethers, outside of girls nights.
I liked that there were lots of color photos and that the recipes all had tips. I also liked the intro section with lots of info on craft supplies and was excited to see crafts ideas throughout, but many of them seemed fairly basic. Lots of the recipes had an Italian feel because of the author's family being Italian.
I was a bit surprised that the book had two sponsors - a wine, and a craft paint brand. Led to lots of mentions of those products. The Friendship section was heavily focused on wine, which could be off-putting for those who do not drink.
Overall, this is a good book, but I don't think it has a ton of content that people who already enjoy cooking, entertaining, and crafting would feel was brand new.

This book is pleasing and enjoyable to read with its fresh ingredient recipes, colorful photos, craft ideas & tips for decorating. It shows how simple it can be to make every day special and delicious.