Inside Ayesha Curry’s Playbook for the Perfect Holiday Party
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This year, the holidays at Ayesha and Steph Curry’s house will be warm and festive and welcoming. What they won’t be is an explosion of red and green and tinsel. “I love the monochromatic look,” Ayesha says. “I’m doing brown trees this year, trying to make a statement.”
While that approach to Christmas cheer might be controversial for some, Curry has learned to trust her gut when it comes to aesthetics. “I’ve gotten really good at—this is gonna sound ridiculous but—opening up that throat chakra, vocalizing my desires. I used to feel really timid in that department, and now I realize that the only person that’s hurting is myself.” So this year, she’ll have white string lights and brown trees, whether the naysayers like it or not. She also absolutely will not be displaying inflatable lawn decorations. “That’s definitely a nay for me.” She hesitates slightly and then opens up her throat chakra: “I just think they’re tacky.”
For anyone who’s seen Curry in action—read her magazine, Sweet July; perused her beauty and tabletop collections; or eaten at the newly opened Sweet July café in Santa Monica, California—this instinct for monochromatic harmony won’t come as a surprise. A calm space makes Curry feel calmer, and she has adapted that philosophy to build a modern hospitality brand that’s rooted in making small, tangible improvements to your everyday life. “Sweet July is all about beautiful pieces that have longevity,” she says. “I like to design those staple pieces that will last and evolve with you and your style. Even something as simple as your morning cup of coffee can be something more with a beautiful mug.”
For Curry, order isn’t just an aesthetic preference—it’s a necessity given her demanding life. In addition to running her company, Ayesha and Steph, the star point guard for the Golden State Warriors, have four children, ages 12, nine, six, and six months. When asked about the juggling act of entrepreneurship and motherhood, Curry admits she has finally learned to delegate. “There’s been a couple of years where my family members have asked to contribute. I’ve said ‘Okay.’ Those are usually the years when I’m pregnant,” she says laughing.
Curry founded Sweet July four years ago. (It’s named for a time of year that brings her particular joy—she was married in July and three of her four children were also born in that month.) The company is the culmination of more than a decade of brand building in the hospitality space. She was an early YouTube adopter, working on recipes and vlogs about her life. She parlayed that into a Food Network show and two best-selling cookbooks. Now the brand has a production arm, kitchenware and tabletop products, and a skincare line.
Her new café in Santa Monica is an evolution of the one in the flagship Sweet July store on what’s called “The Block” in Oakland, a collective of Black- and female-owned businesses on a single city street. “A big part of Sweet July is uplifting the businesses and the community around us,” says Curry. “Being able to bring people along with us and uplifting female founders is our mission. If we can continue to do that, then I think we’ll all feel very fulfilled.”
The opportunity to partner with chef Michael Mina on a space in LA’s Regent Hotel was the springboard Curry needed to expand south. “Ayesha pours her heart into every detail,” says Mina. “The café reflects her deep commitment to creating spaces that are as welcoming and joyful as they are innovative.”
The café is also rooted in Curry’s first love: food. “Cooking is my love language,” she says. “I love to make the people around me happy, so if anybody has something that they’re just dying to have I’m for sure gonna make it.” For Curry, food is also a heritage touchstone. She was born in Canada into a blended family of Jamaican descent. Her father was American and moved the family to North Carolina when Curry was a teen. Occasionally, her accent slips out when she’s speaking about her native foods. “I think what I loved the most about my family growing up was that we kind of did this hybrid Thanksgiving holiday situation. We would have this melting pot of food on the table that wasn’t so traditional, but traditional to us. Everything from oxtail, rice and peas to plantains to curry goat. But then we’d have the traditional foods, like the ham and the mac and cheese and sweet potatoes.”
If you’re lucky enough to score an invite to a Curry holiday, it will likely be at her home. “I prefer to be a hostess 1,000 percent. When I’m in another situation or at somebody else’s home and they’re entertaining, I almost feel like I’m not doing enough to contribute. I become super self-conscious. I’m like, Am I being a good guest? Do I need to help? Should I start washing dishes? What do I do?”
Ayesha’s Holiday Dos and Don’ts
Do: Play Games
“We love Connect 4, Heads-up, Charades, Rumi, and karaoke.”
Do: Take Your Shoes Off in the House
“I grew up in a Jamaican household. We don’t wear shoes in the house. I married an American man. He wears shoes in the house. There’s conflict over that all the time, and I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Do: Dress Up
“When I doubt, black it out… and add some feathers for the culture.”
Don't: Over-Schedule Yourself.
“For the holidays, we make it a point to make sure that there’s no added extracurricular stuff on the calendar. We're just home more and we play board games and sing the Christmas songs and do all the things. And I think the kids really love that. And we love it too.”
Do: Get a Real Tree
“Most years I have a fake tree, but in my heart, I love a real tree. It just smells so good and it’s so nostalgic of my childhood.”
When she’s steering the ship, these worries disappear. On game days at the Curry house, you’ll encounter big platters of lasagna. For Christmas dinner, it will be prime rib and scalloped potatoes with leeks, plus pea soup with seared scallops. “It’s just to die for,” she says with a grin. It’s not hard to see why the friends she gathers around her table gush about her. Actress Lindsay Lohan has known Curry both professionally and personally. (She starred alongside Curry in the Netflix film Irish Wish and named Steph and Ayesha godparents to her son.) “She is an extraordinary businesswoman and entrepreneur whose creativity knows no bounds,” Lohan says of her friend. “She’s a devoted mother who leads with love and purpose, and a friend whose loyalty and generosity inspire everyone fortunate enough to know her.”
Even for a veteran multitasker, the coming days and weeks of the holiday season will come with their own challenges. Curry has been candid over the years about her experience with anxiety, and she’s found inventive ways to manage her stress. For example, both of the Currys have an at-home thermo-therapy routine that includes raising and lowering body temperature by oscillating between a sauna and a cold plunge. “Shout-out to my husband because he obviously dabbles in all of this stuff for his recovery with sports. There’s a method to the madness and it works. I find the cold plunge to be super invigorating. Even if it’s like two minutes, I swear it makes a difference. It really does work.”
Still, a cold plunge doesn’t replace the warmth of family time, which is what Ayesha is most excited about this season. “Hanging the stockings has become an event in our house that the whole family looks forward to. We blast Christmas music, serve up cocoa for the kids and cocktails for the adults, and it’s always such a fun time for the family, especially since this year we’re hanging one additional stocking.” (Baby Caius joined the family last May.)
Curry may be a self-proclaimed “control freak,” but she’s learned to let her kids take the wheel where it matters, and they relish the chance to design a tree for themselves that goes in their playroom. “They’re all really great artists—I know every parent says that,” she says. “But my side of the family has an art gene that I didn’t get. I can’t draw, but they can.”
Watching their creative endeavors may even have rubbed off on Curry. “I’ve always kept my space neutral because I have anxiety, and when you have too much going on, it drives me insane,” she says. “A neutral palette always helped me feel like things were somewhat cohesive, even if they were chaotic. But now I’m at the point where I’m willing to incorporate little bits of color like sage green and peach. Being able to add them into my life in a way that doesn’t stifle my brain has been really cool,” she says.
Who knows—maybe next year Christmas at the Currys will look entirely different.
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