While many celebrities outsource the work of bringing holiday cheer to their sprawling estates—showing off towering Christmas trees and colorful décor dreamed up by interior designers and stylists—former NBA champion and MVP Dwyane Wade is hands-on. He’s choosing color palettes, working with his staff to plan the right music and food for gatherings at his home, and these days, happily assembling Pinterest boards to capture inspiration for how the Wade household, including wife Gabrielle Union-Wade, will celebrate. A retired Hall of Famer, the holiday season, not the start of the NBA season, has become his favorite time of the year.
“All my kids, and my entire family, know that Thanksgiving is my favorite day,” Wade says over Zoom. And it shows. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, he and his family were “fortunate enough” to be pushed to get creative each time November and December rolled around because of financial constraints. “From my childhood, I have just understood the importance of being thankful for everything that we have. And it’s one day on the calendar that really tells you, you have to be thankful on this day.”
These days, things look very different, of course, but the creativity has remained. The new Pinterest partner shares the inspiration behind his upcoming plans through a multifaceted board titled “Holiday Entertaining.” On it is a mix of cool pins: candle holders that make fantastic centerpieces, menu concepts (smothered turkey thighs and lemon pound cake? Yes, please!), lighting concepts, karaoke song lists, table settings, style ideas for what to wear, and more.
And while there’s plenty that goes into how Wade enjoys this time of year, the true “centerpiece” of it all is the chance to spend quality time with his family—including his oldest children, Zaya and Zaire, one in college and the other finding their way as an adult living on their own. We talked to Wade about his growing love of planning his favorite festivities and using Pinterest to do so, essentials for a top-tier celebration, and what the best gift he’s ever received is.
ESSENCE: What are some of your favorite memories from when you were a kid in Chicago during the holiday season with your family?
Dwyane Wade: Growing up in the inner city of Chicago, not having the financial ability to be able to celebrate holidays in a way that’s “traditional” compared to what you see in the world, my family and I had to get really creative on holidays. I think what I took from it, and something that I bring into this world, is really just how nothing really mattered, but us just being together ultimately. And so I try to create family so much whenever I can, especially around the holidays. Thanksgiving is one of the most important days of the year, my favorite day of the year, actually. And everyone knows that.
So what are Thanksgivings like with that in mind in your household? Based on your Pinterest board, I’m seeing you got card games ready, you’re frying turkeys, y’all are doing karaoke, it’s a whole vibe. It definitely sounds like a great time. Can you take us inside of your celebrations?
This year, actually, we are not doing Thanksgiving at home. And it’s a little different for our family because my wife is working in Rome this year. So we’re not going to do Thanksgiving at home without the misses being here. But normally, I am full into the planning of Thanksgiving. My wife doesn’t even know what’s going on. I am full into planning mode of Thanksgiving. And for me, and obviously I have different people that I reach out to help me with inspiration. But before I do that, the Pinterest board is so important for someone like myself because you have so many things in your mind, and if you’re a creative person, it’s like, how do I get all these things out of my head, and how do I put them somewhere?
So I start immediately just throwing stuff on my board: inspiration, color palettes, what color do I want? Is it the greens, the browns, the oranges? And then we kind of create from there. So each year obviously has a different theme and a different feel, but the biggest thing is you want a traditional feel to it because that’s why we are doing it. It builds some tradition within our family. And so I’m the kind of person where I start with the palettes first. Right now, the browns are where I’m going. So the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to go find the browns that bring a room together or make a room stand out, and I’ll just start throwing these things on my board.
Are you doing a Roman holiday then?
No. Well, yeah. Yeah, I am. I will be here for Thanksgiving, but I am traveling. I will travel there before. My mom does Thanksgiving Eve, and it’s like a tradition of hers out here in LA that she started. So I will be back for that. But we will do something in Rome that would feel like family, something small and intimate. And so I’m already off to planning those things because that’s me, that’s who I am. I’m the planner in this family when it comes to something that I’ve always dreamed of. And I’ve always dreamed of bringing family together in these moments when we can. Especially when you have a mother and a father like Gab and me, we’re always working, we’re busy, we travel a lot. So those moments really mean something.
What are the top three failproof essentials to an immaculate holiday gathering for you?
Food! Number one. I say it all the time. Listen, all this decor is cool, but if that food ain’t right, the holiday is messed up. So food will always be number one. I think something that we really focus on in our house is the music element of it. We have this beautiful piano that only our daughter plays, and so we really get a lot of usage out of it around the holidays. We make sure someone comes in singing holiday carols, and I think it just sets the tone, right? So music, and then after that, it is entertainment. It’s fun. So karaoke, as you’ve seen on my board, is a big part of it. We’re so competitive. My dad hosts karaoke every year, and that’s the entertainment part. That’s the part the kids and the adults are part of. And that’s when you can just let your hair down in a sense and just go have fun and be a kid again. So food, music, and entertainment. Those are the three.
And what do you love most about opening up your own home to host the celebrations? Why is your home the best place to have everybody come over and just vibe out?
I just wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s just who I am, how I have always been. I think we have the space, too. We know how to make things feel effortless, even though it’s been a lot of planning. But when people come here, there is no stress on them. It’s just come and have a good time. I think for me, we put so much time into the planning. I take this seriously. I meet with my chefs, my musicians, and my house manager, and make sure all things house-wise are taken care of. I meet with everybody leading up to it. And so, for me, who has a tattoo of it, one of the most important things to me is understanding the value of moments that turn into memories. And I think we do a very good job of that: building these moments that are going to turn into lifelong memories when you get together and you’re like, man, you remember that? And those are the kind of things that I feel like life is. Life is just a collage of memories from many moments. So that’s what we try to create. And I think I do a good job of it, and my family does, too.
Thanksgiving is going to be a little bit different for you guys this year because of Gabrielle traveling. So I’m assuming Christmas will probably be where you’ll get to really show your talents. And so in regards to Christmas, when it comes to gifting, I wanted to know how do you find the right gift for the most important people in your life? I feel like the better you do in life, the more grandiose you can be in your gifting. But how do you become more creative each year? What is the key to doing that and how does Pinterest help?
I used to be the person who tried to give everybody gifts and try to think for everybody. And then my life got busy, and I started being a terrible gift-giver. I was pulled to the side, and I was told I was a terrible gift-giver.
What were you doing!? Were you giving out gift cards?
I wasn’t focused on it. I was asking other people what was hot. And I was giving people gifts that they did not really need. Then I went to gift cards for everybody, and then I went to gift cards for everybody, but the main people who really allow my world to work. And so I think for me, the biggest thing about being able to utilize a tool like Pinterest, and I’m someone who has notebooks and notepads all around me. I’m always writing down an idea that I have, but sometimes those ideas are just scattered brain. So it allows my scattered brain to just be organized, and then it introduces me to other things that I didn’t know that I really wanted, right? And so I think Pinterest has allowed me to be a little bit more creative in gift-giving for the people I buy gifts for, and that’s all people want. They want effort. So it’s raised my level of effort because I have this other tool that helps me think a little further than I probably would, because sometimes you just want to be lazy and be like, “Hey, come get this gift card.” It’s turned me up a little bit.
I love that. And speaking of gifting, what’s the best gift that you can recall that you’ve received?
My answer is going to be so boring. You know the greatest gift in life is time. And so for me to be able to create these times and these moments with my family, it means everything. I’ve been on record about my childhood and how I grew up and what I did not have and the things I did not receive. And that’s not just material things. These are physical things when it comes to my mom being in prison and all the things that I’ve been through. So now in my life, literally the greatest gift that I can always get or that I can give is literally time. And I really spent a lot of my life doing that, giving my time, but also showing up. And I love the moments where other people can give me their time. That’s it. I don’t need anything from anyone from that standpoint. I work very hard. So all the things I want, I’m lucky enough to be able to purchase and get, but I can’t buy time. And so I know that’s so cliché in a sense, but really, when you live life and you experience things, you realize most things don’t matter. What’s important is time.
I was even going to say, I know you shared that you had an experience with cancer that you were able to overcome. So I’m sure that would play a great role in your appreciation for time and just being with loved ones. So I totally get it.
Yes. Yes, 100%. I mean, I have my actual vision boards, so through the holidays, I do my own personal vision boards. And sometimes I just want to touch and feel it. It’s like an old school magazine, newspaper, thing. I’m into that too. I’m here where I am, and I’m the Dwyane Wade that everyone knows because it all started with a vision for me. Obviously, I’m blessed by this guy upstairs, but I actually know that vision is so important. And so for me, I think around the end of the year, visualizing about the next year or what the next five years of your life will be, the things that you want to go out there and do are very important. And so this is my favorite time of the year to do that. And so that’s why I’m really excited now to be able to build an organic, I feel like, authentic relationship with Pinterest, because I already do my holiday boards. And so now to be able to have my holiday entertainment board here with them, it’s like, all right, this is cool. I get to share the things I’ve been working on and what I already do personally for my own wellness. So I’m excited about just having that opportunity.
I know now that you just love being around your family. Zaya’s in college, and I know that Zaire is a grown adult, and everybody’s busy. So how important is it to really enjoy each other’s company this year, knowing that everybody’s so grown and moving on and moving around and living their own lives?
I was FaceTiming Zaya the other day, and I didn’t even know she was coming home this weekend. The way I smiled, the way my whole day changed when I knew, I didn’t even know I was that parent! She’s like, “Yeah, I’m coming home this week, and then I’m coming back for Thanksgiving.” To be able to have these moments where your kids get older and they’re getting into their own lives, but they still find time to center you and center the things that mean something to you, there’s nothing that I can do in my life that feels as great as that, right? That’s a success. That’s like raising the trophy of you saying, “All right, I did well because my kids actually want to be around me.” And so I’m really excited about just the different places that all my kids are and how I get to experience them. And really, I think what’s important for me is they know the moments that are important for me and they show up in those moments, and that’s all I can ask for. I can’t wait to hug Zaire. I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s 23 years old. And so to be able to have your kids come and be around and share some of your favorite days and moments with you, that’s all you can ask for. I’m so blessed.
