Summer Entertaining with World Market {Plus a Giveaway!}

My love affair with World Market started when I was just a kid.  I think I was in 6th grade when my friend and I would sometimes get dropped off at the mall to hang out and we’d always walk over to World Market.  They used to sell the most amazing little rose-flavored candies.  Yes, roses- as in the flowers.  They were so so good.  To this day every time I walk into a World Market store, I keep my eye out for them.  Now that I’m grown up and actually have use for the amazing household items in the store, I buy more than candy!  I buy much more than candy.  I love World Market like Kate loves Target.  We’re talking serious business here.  Some might classify it as an obsessive relationship.  I mentioned in a photography post that I did a while back that a huge number of the dishes and table linens you see in my food photographs, including the photos in our cookbook, have come from World Market.  They sell an amazing selection of cookware, dishes, and specialty items.  Remember the adorable little mugs you all were raving about in my hot chocolate post?  Yep.  World Market.   They also sell a great selection of furniture, housewares, gifts, jewelry, accessories (see the cute floral headband I’m wearing in the next pic?  World Market!), over 500 international wines, gourmet foods and specialty drinks imported from more than 50 countries.  It’s seriously one of my most favorite places, which is why I jumped at the chance to host a party compliments of World Market and Foodbuzz.  I had the perfect occasion this past weekend while I was in my home town of Seattle; my favorite sister (okay, she’s my only sister, but for reals, she’s my favorite) was having a birthday!

That’s my sister Becca.  She’s awesome.  She’s an amazing cook (I actually photographed her making something this weekend that I’m going to post soon)  She’s insanely creative (we’re talking like, she built a to-scale replica of my parents house in gingerbread last Christmas. Okay, and she has a college minor in art, but seriously the gingerbread was sweet) and she does crazy cool stuff like rescue orphaned animals and train them to release them back into the wild.  No joke.  She taught a half-dead bird how to eat.  And then fly.  She’s like an animal whisperer.  She’s also single.  In case you know someone.  Just sayin…

I had a perfectly lovely backyard meal in my mind and I found everything I needed at World Market.  Sometimes when you envision outdoor entertaining you immediately think of paper plates and plastic tablecloths.  I love to mix and match and bring some of my indoor things out.  I started out with a crisp white tablecloth, and added a bamboo table runner.  I love how the bamboo is kind of rustic and fits in with an outdoor theme.

Then I used some plain white plates.  This is a fabulous thing to have.  World Market sells a lot of these buffet sets; plain white dishes in all sizes that come in these nice holders.  They’re affordable, and great to have on hand for big group meals.

I didn’t want them to get lost on the white tablecloth though so I used these awesome chargers.  Aren’t they fantastic?  This is my most favorite color so I couldn’t resist.  They’re a heavy duty plastic so they’re super easy to clean too.  I love these.

On top of the white plates, I placed these fun melamine dessert plates.  They’re light weight and inexpensive; perfect for outdoor entertaining!  I love the colors in them, and found cloth napkins in a matching color too.

One of my favorite things to do on an outdoor table is light candles.  There’s something about a breeze, and summer weather, and flickering candles, that makes you want to stay at that table for hours.  I LOVE these purple glass lanterns.  Those things are big, and only 8 bucks!  They matched the purple in the plates perfectly.

World Market has a gazillion different styles of little votive holders.  I’m madly in love with these blue square ones.  I grabbed a bunch of different styles and colors and scattered them around.  All the colors tied into the plates so they all matched when put together.

See those cute drinks?  One of my favorite things.

World Market Italian Sodas.  They have a bunch of flavors; my family loves the Blood Orange.  The Mango Passion Fruit is yummy too.

The personal sized bottles look so cute on a dinner table.  Sort of casual-chic.

My sister bought her own flowers (okay, and she made  half of this meal herself too.  She’s rad like that.)  How crazy beautiful are these peonies??

Seriously I couldn’t stop staring at them.  I love fresh flowers on a dinner table, especially an outdoor one.

Just make sure when you’re entertaining that you use shallow vases or bowls so you don’t block people’s faces.

Okay I’ll stop swooning over the flowers.  Back to food.  For an appetizer, I grabbed a great pesto, and also a Piquillo and Artichoke Bruschetta spread.  Both were amazing.  I could eat that artichoke stuff with a spoon.  Okay I sort of did.  Both came from World Market.  Did I mention they have food there?  Food from all around the world?  Ya, they do.  And lots and lots of chocolate and treats too.

I need to make a knock-off of that artichoke spread asap.

My family also loves these chips.  They taste similar to those Pop Chips that are popular right now.

My kiddos love ’em!  They also have lots of fun trinkets, toys, and novelty items at World Market.  My kids beg for stuff every time we go there and I usually say no, so this time I grabbed a bunch of toys to keep them busy while the grown-ups ate.  It worked brilliantly.

We also grilled up (and by we I mean my husband) one of my all-time-favorite summer meals, Italian Chicken and Vegetable Skewers.  Per my sister’s request we (and by we I mean my sister) also made  Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip.  (Are you starting to wonder if I cooked anything at all??) And a yummy Pear and Gorgonzola Salad.

My sister also made an awesome Orange-Teriyaki Steelhead, which I’m going to share her recipe for soon!  Heaven knows our Seafood Section can use all the help it can get.  I’m thinking I should have her do a monthly fish feature!

For dessert (seriously I made this one myself.  I mean, I bought this one myself.  It counts, I swear.) I picked up some Seattle-famed Trophy Cupcakes.  I have to be honest and say that when it comes to gourmet cupcake shops, I’ve been disappointed way more times than I’ve been pleased.  But Trophy came through!  These babies were amazing.

All in all it was a gorgeous night with fantastic company.  Nothing better than friends and family on a beautiful summer night at a beautiful summer table!

woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. If I won the gift card, I would use it to get new dinnerware. My plates are looking old!

  2. I would definitely spend it on dishes! I could use more plus who doesn’t like having fun items to use!

  3. wow, what would i use 100 world market gift card for??? let me think? um um um definitely for me and my kitchen! thank you!

  4. I love World Market. I see lots of things in the bakeware section of the catalog that I would love to buy with the $100.

  5. LOVE World Market! My story about World Market is similar to yours.. There was a store at the same center as a movie theatre…we would wander around World Market looking at everything, discussing how we would decorate our apartments with everything we saw. At the candy bar, I would get gummy coke bottles and my friend would get chocolate covered coffee beans…

    If I were to win the GC, I would look for a table topper…I don’t use tableclothes and my table is in need of a “pretty”…I would also hit up the dishware department. I’m in need of covered casserole dishes!

  6. SUMMER! I am in desperate need of something to serve beverages in and other serving dishes. Thanks for inspiring me~ 🙂

  7. If I won, I’d use the gift card on cute dishes! Seriously, my dishes need a little revamp (or a huge revamp)

  8. I think I would start with those cute sodas and then buy some new dishes. Just because you can never have too many dishes.

  9. OOOOOOH! So cool! I haven’t been able to comment much lately due to technical difficulties and life in general. I’ve been reading the emails as much as possible though! If I won the gift card, I’d probably spend it on a scarf, shawl, or pashmina! I’ve loved wearing them since I was little, but I only own a handful. I need to add a little new spice to my wardrobe as I’m going off to college this fall! Have a super day! I hope I win, of course, but congrats in advance to whoever does win, as odds are it won’t be me! 🙂

  10. I discovered World Market a couple years ago and it has become one of my favorite places! Having a mother from Germany, I grew up in a house full of German traditions and great German foods. I love that I can find many of these things at World Market. Especially the fabulous European chocolate. Yeah, I would definitely buy a lot of that!

  11. I also love dishes and food, so I would buy some of those white plates with the awesome holder and sample as many food products as my money would allow.

  12. Ooh. Tough choice. I would probably go for some baby-safe home decor, but it is hard to resist the cool foods and cute tableware.

  13. I might love World Market just as much as you do! It is the perfect mini-vacation when I really want to go out of town, but can’t. I love to travel and think that seeing new places is inspiring and energizing. Since visiting India, Europe, or Thailand are out of my budget at the moment, it’s fun to get to experience some of the beauty just browsing through the store. I love to look at the curtains, tablecloths, and other textiles because I love fabrics. I have to admit that I also love all the german and swiss chocolate and the thai cooking sauces. We finally got a world market in my town and it’s wonderful!

  14. I would spend the funds on furniture, I am in desperate need of a new kitchen table!!! Thanks for the giveaway!

  15. I LOVE WORLD MARKET!! I would use the gift card on some snazzy new dishes. Thanks for all of your hard work on this blog!

  16. I’d get my sweetie’s favorite treats…Macadamia Nuts, Chipotle Lime Cashews, etc and a supercool Toucan Pinata for my nephew’s birthday! Thanks!

  17. world market is one of my favorite stores too! I’ve spent WAY too many hours in there! I love the dishes for entertaining. and the scarves, headbands, jewelry…pretty much everything! If I won, I would buy some wine and more dishes!

  18. I would treat myself to some new serving dishes and a pitcher to inspire me to give more dinner parties.

  19. O my….I have never heard of world market and would spend the gift card on something really fun!! I am not sure what, maybe a little of everthing,….but what an amazing store!