Barbara “Babs” Costello (aka @brunchwithbabs) has more than earned the title of “The Internet’s Favorite Grandma.” With 3.8 million followers on Instagram and 4.1 million followers on TikTok, people from around the world tune in for the expert cooking and hosting tips of the Ridgefield, Connecticut-based mom and grandmother. Famously, her daughter Liz convinced her to start sharing her recipes and family tips online in April of 2020, when the world needed lightness and everyone was glued to their phones. Babs’ charming, infectious enthusiasm grew her following into the millions. “Four years ago, I wasn’t on social media!” she says with a laugh. The retired preschool teacher has also become the author of two cookbooks– Celebrate With Babs and the upcoming Everyday With Babs (April 2025)—and has collaborated with Birch Lane to curate collections of tableware and decor. Whether it’s for a family meal or a large gathering, you can trust that Babs will have delicious food and a warm, welcoming table. Which is why Westport Lifestyle chose her for the cover of our December issue: who better to give holiday-season advice?
In fact, there’s a reason Babs’ first cookbook was all about celebrations– she loves holidays and has hosted memorable gatherings for her family for the last 40-plus years. “Growing up in the Chicago area, we always went to my grandma’s. There were 18 aunts and uncles and 22 grandchildren. It was full of family and noise and wine and laughter,” she says. When her husband, whom she met in high school, had to move for work— first to Virginia for about four years, and then to the TriState area in 1983— “it was so scary for me,” she says. “I was like ‘we can’t breathe outside Chicago.’” Once they settled in Ridgefield, Babs realized she would have to institute traditions and ways to make holidays special for her husband and four kids, since they couldn’t always travel. She’d set the table with place cards, even if it was just the six of them. She used her Christmas china, from the day after Thanksgiving until “little Christmas” on January 6th. She’d get their family dog, Buttons, an extra meaty bone from the butcher’s and boil it so she’d have a special holiday meal, too. One year, she invited a friend of her daughter’s and their family to an American Thanksgiving, as the family was French and had never hard one. “I think that’s what I brought with me from my own upbringing,” she says. “This openness and warmth to invite others in.”
That invitation is now extended to millions of followers who devour (no pun intended) her holiday hosting, cooking, and prep tips. (Some to file away: it only takes two years to create a tradition, so don’t be afraid to try something new. Pre-make your mashed potatoes and warm them up in a slow cooker with some milk and butter the day of your event. Place a bean at each person’s place setting, then pass around a bowl at the table and have everyone say what they’re thankful for as they drop their bean in the bowl. Add the beans to create a Gratitude Soup with leftovers! And make more than you’ll think you’ll need: “I’m Italian and Lebanese. The sin of all sin would be running out of food!”) Her holiday menus have become the stuff of legend, like her overnight breakfast casserole that she makes on Christmas Eve and serves on Christmas Day, and her monkey bread, which she makes for her four kids and nine grandkids, most of whom also call Fairfield County home. “Connecticut is our home now,” she says. “I’ve been blessed that three of my four kids own homes here, and seven of my nine grandkids are within a half-hour drive.”
While Babs has had many years to hone her hosting and celebration skills, her number one tip for folks this holiday season is not to overthink things. “Don’t second guess yourself,” she says. “Take the plunge, once you get the date on the calendar, start! If you hesitate, these holidays are going to go by and so will the opportunities that you could have been using to make memories.” The tablescapes don’t have to be magazine-worthy, the food doesn’t have to be perfect. “Your family seeing you open your heart and your home is better than anything you could tell them. That’s what hospitality looks like.”