About Nadi&Kho

Hello and WELCOME to Nadi&Kho! First and foremost, thank you thank you THANK YOU for being here! It means so much to me to have people’s support, and I hope that you find joy here! This is all so new to me *side note I have no idea what I am actually doing!* I have wanted to start a blog for a while (3 years to be exact), but I put it off for the longest time because the simple thought of starting a blog was SO overwhelming to me. I am not tech-y, not really great at social media, I had NO CLUE where to start, and I didn’t really think people would be interested in what I had to offer (REALLY Nadia, not another party planning blog *eye roll*?!). My family has always hosted parties, taken pictures here and there of our creations, but when I started this journey I had NO CLUE what I was really getting into. There are so many things I didn’t realize that you had to do, and it’s a LOT more than just writing a few paragraphs and taking pictures. But, as we (and I will elaborate on the WE later on) hosted more and more events, my family and friends couldn’t rave enough about our ideas and creativity, and they are the ones who really inspired me to get this going!

I became even more motivated to start my own blog when I realized that I couldn’t always find what I was looking for in terms of ideas for decor or events. Thank goodness for Pinterest and Instagram, which are great platforms to share ideas and get inspiration (*it amazes me how many creative and talented people there are in the world!). But even with these platforms, I often find myself searching for more…for ideas that don’t exist. Which is when my creativity is triggered [uncontrollably at times…seriously sometimes I can’t sleep because the ideas just won’t stop] and new and innovative ideas come to fruition.

Our (*I promise I am getting to the part where I explain the WE/OUR) guests would always compliment us on our events so I decided maybe our ideas are worth sharing with the world. I am very detail-oriented (almost to a flaw) and like to customize every event (I got it from my momma). I love to challenge myself and I admire people who make it look seamless!

OKAY… now to the WE behind Nadi&Kho… and the main reason why I FINALLY (*I know my friends and family are totally cheering right now!) decided to start this journey… my BIG fat CrAzY family! Not only is my family my greatest support system in everything I do, and the ones to thank for pushing me to pursue this, but they are also the ones who are always helping my with my events. Anyone who knows our family knows we LOVE to have parties and we are ALWAYS celebrating EVERYTHING (we have a HUGE family so we have at least two parties/celebrations a month LOL). They are the KHO in Nadi&Kho. You might be thinking, “hmmm, sounds a lot like a little blue box jewelry co that I know of” and you are absolutely right! I am a Tiffany&Co. girl and always dreamed of having my own company one day, and it was just so fitting that my name fit with the idea. I couldn’t do what I do without the company of my family (& sometimes friends!).

When I host, it is 100% a team effort, especially with all of my crazy ideas! My entire family helps get ready and trust me, it isn’t all peachy! Sometimes I know they want to kill me because I have so many wild ideas and it takes days to prepare. Also, something always seems to go wrong before, during, or after our events. (I will gladly share stories in my posts LOL) I am typically the delegator trying to make my vision come to life. That means I usually have my brothers building stuff (because I really don’t know how to use tools), my dad fixing stuff (because he should’ve been an engineer), my sister-in-laws helping with my crazy long to-do list (they have gotten used to our events by now and have become great contributors to our events), my 3-year old niece making decorations (and messes LOL), my aunt doing whatever needs help (because she is like my second mom and is ALWAYS up for another event!), my SIL’s sister making goodies (check out Kookies by Kalia-she’s the best and ALWAYS pulls through for our events), my grandma helping clean up (because she always says she doesn’t know how else to help) and my mom… I don’t even know where to start with that woman!

Everything I know I owe to my mom. Imagine being raised by a Martha Stewart, party-planning extraordinaire *pre-Pinterest*! Events are definitely stressful, even small dinner parties have caused us to lose our shit while prepping. But I am so lucky to have my mom who has always helped me pull through and make it happen, and who taught us to celebrate EVERYTHING in life! She makes life so much fun and I have the best childhood memories because of it. She passed down her creativity to me and continues to amaze me with her ideas. I run every idea by her and we usually do it all together. I definitely get my creativity from her (thanks, MOM!). I couldn’t imagine hosting events (or staying up until 3am to get stuff done!) with anyone else. Even when she’s not there, she is helping me with planning and ideas. I never realized what a gift she had until I attended other events, or when people were so amazed by our simple parties.

Not only have they encouraged me from day one to start my own business (definitely not there YET), but they have let me practice my craft on their events time and time again. While I don’t really have the capacity to start a full-fledged business, and I have doubted myself and my ideas…they have never stopped encouraging me or supporting me, and in doing so they have given me the confidence to do this.

Their encouragement and support has empowered me to do this for myself. This has become a way for me to document and curate our events so that I have a place to look back on and remember what we did. This is my creative outlet outside of my 9-5. The cherry on top is getting to share our ideas with the world and bringing love and joy into people’s lives. There’s nothing that makes me happier than bringing people together and I hope to inspire others to do the same. Whether one person sees this, or 1 million… I am happily enjoying this journey of curating our events and perfecting my hobby!

Creativity is a real gift and I am continuously shocked to learn how overwhelming hosting can be for people, even for small get-togethers. I get it-I’ve been there! I’m not going to lie, I used to dread helping my mom set-up for parties because I knew how much work it required and she is a perfectionist! She loved having everything matching and in its place, and there was to much to do! Wash the dishes, set the tables, iron the linens, go shopping, pull the decor out from the garage, plan games, cook the food, etc. etc. ETC.! It seemed never-ending and it was EXHAUSTING! Then after the events we had to clean up and put everything back in its place.

But as much as I dreaded the work, I always LOVED the events themselves. My mom always added special touches to make everyone feel so special and welcome. My birthday parties growing up were always the most fun and had my friends talking about them for weeks after. People would rave about her events, no matter how big or small. The holidays are always so warm around our house because of her and how beautiful she makes everything! At Christmas time our house smelled like a Christmas tree farm and looked like the North Pole. Birthdays were never short of surprises, balloons, flowers, and special dinners. When one of us did good in school, we were surprised with a special outing randomly in the middle of the week. In the Fall, my brothers and I were getting measured for handmade Halloween costumes and “BOO-ing” our neighbors (*more to come). It didn’t matter if it was a holiday, or if my brother hit a home-run, we celebrated!

So, over the years we began hosting more and more, and I became my mom’s partner-in-crime (naturally, as the only daughter in the family). I realized that hosting doesn’t have to be so stressful and it brings me so much joy. There are so many tips and tricks and easy DIY projects (that can add a lot to your events but aren’t super hard to make and can actually look like the Pinterest pictures!) that we have learned over the years that we hope to share with you, making your hosting as stress-free as possible.

With the evolution of social media and technology (*thank goodness for the CRICUT), it is actually super easy to DIY, but sometimes it’s hard to make things look like the pictures… and realistically they don’t always come out like you hope. Yes, there ideas are out there but executing them can be hard. And people don’t always have the money to do so. I totally get that- my money does not grow on trees either so I have become extremely resourceful, which is another reason why I wanted to start this blog. For years I have been shopping at stores like Dollar Tree and secondhand stores to make my vision come to life at an affordable cost. I am ALL about finding alternatives to match these magazine-worthy parties. I am by no means an expert but I have do a lot of experience and I hope that will help you host without breaking the bank!

Trust me, I have had so much practice and so many failures, but I think I am finally getting the hang of things. I thoroughly enjoy coming up with new and creative ideas and I think I am pretty good at it-or so I’ve been told! I’ve also realized many things along the way like sometimes you just have to keep it simple, but simple doesn’t have to mean boring! If I am on a super tight budget or just don’t have the time to plan something, I have to be realistic about the type of event I want to host and prioritize my to-do list. With that being said, you can still amaze your guests and I will share all of my tips and tricks throughout this blog. 

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout my experience: you don’t have to spend a million dollars to have a “million-dollar” event. I’ve been to birthday parties that cost more than my car, and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed because it was BEAUTIFUL but also so impersonal. I have hosted parties for a couple hundred bucks, but my guests thought I spent thousands and the guests always felt special with the small personalized details. It’s all about being resourceful and putting thought into it! I LOVE making everything themed and including small, personal details throughout. If I am helping plan an event for others, I ALWAYS ask questions about the guest of honor to make it as special for them.

And my favorite reason for hosting (aside from bringing people together) is to give back to my community. I am a HUGE advocate for turning events into something more, giving them a greater purpose. Whether it’s making the “entrance fee” to your Halloween carnival a new costume to donate to a local school for kids, or asking friends to bring supplies to put together wellness kits for a local shelter, you can always turn your events into something more and I have always advocated for giving back to your community.

Hosting an event is so much more than decorating or having the perfect menu. It’s about creating memories with loved ones and that’s really what I love most about hosting. It shouldn’t be so stressful to the point where you avoid hosting altogether because you aren’t creative or you are overwhelmed, or you don’t have a lot of extra money.

So, here I (really WE) am, just an extremely passionate hostess ready to share our “talents” with the world in the hopes of inspiring others to host their own events and bring people together. There will be triumphs, there will be failures…maybe some tears (and definitely some laughs guaranteed!), but don’t ever forget that you can have an amazing event even if you don’t have a lot of money or aren’t very creative. Life’s too short not to find a reason to celebrate everyday!

Thank you for following along on this journey, and I hope it brings warmth and happiness into your homes, offices, or wherever you choose to celebrate! 

Love, Nadi&Kho