It’s Never Too Early To Celebrate Christmas…Is It?


Hilton Garden Inn Celebrates โ€˜Christmas In Julyโ€™ With Food, Santa & Fun!ย 

Congratulations to Lisa Moore (to Santaโ€™s left), Bradley Sandler and everyone at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel (26640 Silver Maple Pkwy., off S.R. 56), for hosting a super-successful (and FREE!) โ€œChristmas in Julyโ€ event. 

โ€œThe whole idea was to let the community know that we have great rooms where we can host your next business or family holiday party,โ€ Moore said during the event, โ€œand a large catering menu with a wide selection of delicious food that we make in-house and everything else you need to make your party special.โ€ 

The Christmas in July event had Santa Claus himself, DJ music, a premium liquor bar, lots of great raffles prizes, a charcuterie table (below), fresh fruit and hot appetizers like mini egg rolls and crab cakes, meatballs and more. 

To book your next party, call Moore at (813) 591-6930 or email her at lisamoore2@ hilton.com. Or, call Sandler at (813) 591-6907 or email him at bradley.sandler@hilton.com. โ€” GN, all photos by Charmaine George 

Hyatt Place Hotel Also Gets Into The Christmas Spirit With Its โ€˜Jingle Mingleโ€™ย 

We also give kudos to (l.-r. in photo right) assistant GM Brian Jackman, director of sales Lorna Petchey and GM Gerald Mandosia of the Hyatt Place Hotel Tampa-Wesley Chapel (26000 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz) for its impressive (also FREE) โ€œJingle Mingle,โ€ which featured amazing samples of foods you can get from the hotelโ€™s in-house catering department โ€” like pomegranate-glazed, mint chimichurri lamb chops (below right), extra large shrimp cocktail (bottom right), mini-beef Wellingtons and mini-crab cakes, a Sโ€™mores station โ€” plus holiday-themed cocktails (The Grinch, Mrs. Claus Punch & more), a DJ and both Santa and Mrs. Claus (above) in the hotelโ€™s beautiful Sierra Conference Center ballroom that you can โ€” and should โ€” reserve for your upcoming holiday party.ย 

For more info, call Lorna Petchey at (813) 803-5600. โ€” GN

Hilton Garden Inn Celebrates Five Years In Wesley Chapel With A Donationย 

The Hilton Garden Innโ€™s fifth anniversary celebration included a $1,000 donation (above) and more than 150 toys (left) donated to the Celebrate Birthdays nonprofit organization. Pictured above are (l.-r.) Lori Behrendt of Emerald Hospitality Assoc. (which owns the hotel), Celebrate Birthdays co-founder Belinda Leto and Lisa Moore and Charlie Whiteacre of the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel. (Photos by Charmaine George)ย 

Sometimes, the most exciting thing about a ribbon-cutting event is the food. But, while the fifth anniversary celebration for the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel did include some pretty great food โ€” and free drinks โ€” the hotels market director of sales Lisa Moore and area general manager Charlie Whiteacre turned their North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting on Oct. 12 into something much more impressive, with more than 100 people attending.ย 

First of all, Moore had unique set-ups in three of the Hiltonโ€™s meeting rooms โ€” one with rows of chairs, as though for a lecture, one with a circular conference table and the third with tables and chairs with black linens and gold sashes around the chairs, as you would have for a wedding or other special event.ย 

She also set loose the hotelโ€™s catering staff, led by Chef Marcia, which provided a beautiful fruit display, deviled eggs, wrap sandwiches cut sushi-style, as well as pulled pork sliders, big fried shrimp, crispy egg rolls and more. 

But, perhaps the best thing was that Whiteacre and Moore had the Hilton gave a $1,000 donation and asked attendees to bring unwrapped toys to donate to โ€œCelebrate Birthdays,โ€ a 501(c) (3) nonprofit whose mission is โ€œto ensure that every foster child, and all children, have the opportunity to celebrate their birthday and receive a present.โ€ย 

In addition to the big check, Moore says that more than 150 presents were collected and all of them were donated to Celebrate Birthdays. 

โ€œIt was a great event,โ€ Moore said afterward. โ€œWe appeciate the communityโ€™s support and hope people also saw a lot of the ways they can utilize the hotel.โ€ 

For more info about Celebrate Birthdays, visit CelebrateBirthdays.org. For info about the Hilton Garden Inn, call Moore at (813) 591-6907.ย 

Are You Looking To Have Your Dream Wedding…On A Budget?

In case you hadnโ€™t heard, one of the more unexpected effects of the 2020 pandemic was the cancellation of many weddings โ€” as people werenโ€™t allowed or were afraid to travel, or even go out to eat, much less spend hours in a room full of people. Many were even skittish about staying in hotels.

To that end, our friends at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel on S.R. 56 have come up with a unique idea to help those who lost deposits or otherwise had to cancel or postpone their nuptials, as well as those who were hoping to still make their wedding a beautiful occasion on a budget they can afford.

The concept is called โ€œMy Dream Micro Weddingโ€ and it offers the opportunity for a wedding event that will be intimate, as well as budget-friendly.

Youโ€™ll be able to invite a small guest list of your family and dearest friends, all for one cost that will include everything you need to have the glamorous feel of a large wedding, with all of the โ€œtrimmings,โ€ at a fraction of what it would normally cost.

Your Dream Micro Wedding reduces your time frame to only two hours, but includes all of the following for one budget-friendly price: a beautiful venue, a wedding planner, white linens, white chair covers with gold bows, a wedding officiant, photography (and event photo book), a live DJ, hors dโ€™oeuvres, two-hour bar, brideโ€™s makeup done (day of wedding), custom bridal and maid of honor bouquets, custom boutonnieres for groom and groomsman, table floral dรฉcor, sweetheart table, cake cutting, plus a local engagement photo shoot prior to the event and a one-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn on the event date.

The only โ€œcatchโ€ is that My Dream Micro Wedding currently is only being offered on Saturday, June 19, and while your two-hour timeframe will be exclusively yours, there will be other couples getting married at the hotel the same day.ย 

Even so, Hilton Garden Inn director of market sales Lisa Moore promises that, โ€œWe have brought together the most awesome vendors in Florida, in order to make your special day perfect. All of the details have been taken care of for you โ€” all you have to do is give us a call ASAP to reserve your time and discuss all of those details with us.โ€

Moore also says that if this first-time โ€œMy Dream Micro Weddingโ€ event proves to be a success (as she fully expects), โ€œwe will begin offering to do the same thing on other dates in the future.โ€

To reserve your two-hour timeframe now, call Moore as soon as possible at (813) 591-6907. The Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel is located at 26640 Silver Maple Pkwy. For more information, visit TampaWesleyChapel.HGI.com or email Moore at Lisa.Moore2@hilton.com.

For Great Meals & Events, Try The Hilton Garden Inn!

Iโ€™m betting that most Wesley Chapel residents have never eaten an actual meal at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel, located off S.R. 56, less than a mile east of I-75.

And, that makes me a little sad. 

For those who have never stepped foot inside this beautiful, award-winning (the year-old hotel won the New Business of the Year honors at the North Tampa Bay Chamberโ€™s 2019 Awards of Excellence gala in Nov.), 124-room hotel, much less enjoyed a meal there, I hope this article will help you decide to go.

Even if you donโ€™t have relatives visiting or need a night in a local hotel room yourself, the Hilton Garden Innโ€™s restaurant โ€” also known as the Garden Grille โ€” serves outstanding food and drinks at great prices and will find its way into my top-10 favorite restaurants in Wesley Chapel when I release my list ofย favorites for 2019 in our March 13 issue.

I also hope that youโ€™ll sit down with the hotelโ€™s market director of sales Lisa Moore to discuss the possibility of hosting an event for 8-to-200 (and more) people at this contemporary hotel that still has that great new hotel smell.

Lisa, an ambassador with the NTBC who also is a member of the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, is a fellow New Yawka who will make sure that your event comes off without a hitch and will send everyone home happy afterward.

For example, when my stepdaughter Kristenโ€™s best friend Sami needed an affordable location last month for a bridal shower, Lisa sharpened her pencil for me, knowing that I was planning to write this story shortly afterward.

Sam and her fiancรฉ Tyler were definitely on a budget, and they knew they would have roughly 40 people at the shower, so Lisa helped them come up with a nice brunch menu โ€” including a unique French toast casserole, fresh breads and muffins and a mimosa bar, plus fresh fruit, mini-quiches and more. And, best of all was the service โ€” the trays and mimosa bar were all constantly refilled and everything was delicious and well worth the price tag.

The Hilton Garden Innโ€™s spacious ballroom (above) is easily subdividable to fit the size you need to host a variety of amazing events.

โ€œJust tell me what you need and we can make it happen,โ€ Lisa says. โ€œWe have a set menu for dinner, but we have an extensive catering menu and a great chef (Frank Skalitza) on the premises who can make pretty much anything you want.โ€

Jannah and I were on hand for the Grand Opening of the hotel in October of 2018 and we were so impressed (as was everyone who was there) with the filet mignon carving station and the four different pastas (top right) that also were created in front of the guests that we figured it must have been an outside catering company that was brought in for it.

โ€œNope,โ€ said Lisa, โ€œthat was all in-house. Pretty good, right?โ€

Actually, I would go so far as to say excellent, and the deliciousness doesnโ€™t end there. Although the Garden Grille only serves buffet and cooked-to-order breakfast (that I havenโ€™t tried yet) and dinner (I wish it was open for lunch), I have to say that virtually everything weโ€™ve sampled there has been delicious.

My favorite appetizers so far are the bruschetta (above), the spicy meatballs with fresh mozzarella and the wings โ€œyour wayโ€ (my way is extra crisp with the sweet chili & sesame sauce on the side). My favorite entrรฉes so far are the grilled 12.-oz ribeye steak and the fusilli carbonara. The burgers and sandwiches (my favorite is the yummy bistro chicken sandwich) are great, too, as are the variety of flatbreads.

In other words, thereโ€™s a good reason why the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel is going to make my Wesley Chapel top-10. The hotel is beautiful and has great amenities (nice pool, fitness center, etc.) and, even though weโ€™ve never stayed there, we have toured some of the beautiful rooms, too.

For info about the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel (26640 Silver Maple Pkwy.), call Lisa at (813) 591-6907 or visit TampaWesleyChapel.HGI.com