Archive for the ‘Favors’ Category

2010 Christmas Cookie Exchange

Posted on January 14th, 2011 by Brenda | Comments Off

Last week I shared the Save the Date invitations for my annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. Here are some pictures from the party (please ignore the hideous wallpaper, we are in a rental property while our new house is being built!).

I used white tablecloths on the tables with wrapping paper runners for the center (Target Dollar Spot roll wrapping paper is just the right width & price).

The savory buffet included sweet & sour meatballs, mini pigs in a blanket, pepperoni dip with bagel chips, holiday tortilla chips with hot queso dip and vegetable tray with ranch dressing.

The dessert buffet included peppermint chocolate cupcakes, Oreo cheesecakes, mini eclairs, dipped Milano cookies, Rice Krispie Treats and Rolo pretzel turtles.

The beverage station. I also had a Hot Cocoa Bar set up (oops, no pictures).

The Bakers:

Mmmm...cookies! Bakers were asked to bring 1 package of 6 cookies for each guest with attached recipe card.

Creative packaging:

Most Creative Packaging winner:

Most Festive Cookie winner:

Favors were mini containers filled with chocolate and jingle bell rings. Tutorial for container here.

I am so excited to have 2011's Cookie Exchange at our new house!

Ice Cream Inspiration

Posted on June 8th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

Aren't these ice cream bowls and spoons awesome?? We used these for my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout Ice Cream Social. The best part....they are from Dollar Tree and come 3 bowls & 3 bowls to a package for ONLY $1.oo!

Just think of all the fun parties you could use these adorable spoons and bowls for. They are even perfect just to use for your own bowl of creamy goodness after the kiddos are in bed!

Pink & Brown Baby Shower

Posted on March 21st, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

Recently I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for my friend Tamara. Since the baby is a girl, we chose a pink and brown color scheme.

The invitation:

The day of the shower brought lovely weather and we were able to have the party on one of the host's lanai. Since the buffet was so pretty and the outdoors were all around, we kept decorations to a minimum.

One the wall of the lanai we strung a pink clothesline held by 2 sequined butterflies. On the clothesline we used pink clothespins to hang an assortment of baby outfits, which were later given to the mother-to-be as a gift (forgot to take picture).

The buffet table was divided into savory foods, beverages & the candy and dessert buffet.

The savory menu included cheese & crackers, vegetables and dip, fruit and dip and chips & salsa.

In keeping with the color scheme, all of the candy and desserts were picked in pink or brown.

Here is pink cotton candy in customized cups. I pleated and glued pink crepe streamers to Wilton nut cups. Around the middle I glued a strip of scrapbook paper. The tags are brown cardstock circles with Martha Stewart "It's A Girl" transfers.

Hershey Bars wrapped in scrapbook paper:

An assortment of yummy candy:

These little favor boxes were used for guests to hold candy. They were purchased plain 12/$1 at Dollar Tree. They are decorated with ribbons and plastic baby carriages charms.

The water bottles were decorated with scrapbook paper, ribbon and plastic pacifier charms.

One of my favorite drinks is Sonic's Diet Cherry Limeade. I tried to recreate this with Sprite Zero, maraschino cherry flavoring (found in ice cream topping aisle of the grocery store), lime juice and lime slices for color. We also had a yummy punch made with Sprite, pineapple juice and pink sherbet.

Chinet cups were rimmed with lime juice and pink sanding sugar.

We played 3 games at the shower. One was the traditional "How Big is Mother's Belly." A second game played was "The Price Is Right."

Guests had to guess the price of 8 baby items. The guest with the most correct won a prize and all of the baby items were given to the Mother-To-Be.

The third game was "Bun In The Oven." I made felt dresses with a small slit cut into the back which allowed a cotton ball to be inserted into the dress (looks like a baby bump!). Guests were asked to take one dress. When everyone had a dress, they pulled out the cotton ball looking for the "bun" (made from my daughter's playdough and painted with white icing and glitter). The person who found the bun won a prize.

These favors were these little paper Mary Janes (find pattern here) filled with Dove chocolate eggs. The extra shoes were filled with raffia grass and flowers and used as decorations on the buffet table.

Here is the Mother-To-Be opening her gifts:

It was a wonderful shower spent with good friends!

Ready to House Party!

Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

I'm so excited! The party pack for my Spring Into Brunch House Party came today! Some of my mom friends thought it would be fun to start a monthly Moms Breakfast Club. We plan on rotating house and getting together for some good food and conversation.

My awesome party pack includes:

1 package of Velveeta
16 free Maxwell House coffee coupons for me & my guests
16 Velveeta coupons for me & my guests
1 Velveeta oven mitt (will make a great door prize)
16 Velveeta spatulas & recipe cards (perfect party favors)
Napkins & coffee cups

I've been searching the Internet for yummy Velveeta and Maxwell House recipes for a delicious brunch!

Movie Party ~ Favors

Posted on February 23rd, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

Inspired by these plastic popcorn boxes found in Michaels' dollar section, the theme colors of Nathan's movie party became black, red & gold. The popcorn boxes were the perfect container for guest favors.

Once filled, I wrapped each container with clear cellophane and tied them with black, red & gold curling ribbon (also from Michaels). It is hard to see, but each little package is personalized with a gold star & the guest's name.

Inside the popcorn box was red shredded paper filler, bubble gum (left over from invitations), a full size Hershey bar, mini microwave movie butter popcorn, Mike & Ike's theater box candy, Admit One coaster (package of 8/$1 from Michaels), homemade chocolate star pop & dino Silly Bandz (for the movie theme Land of the Lost).

I'm not sure about your kids, but mine are CRAZY for Silly Bandz! I thought the dino bands would be perfect for the movie theme and purchased two packages of 24. I separated the bands into groups of six and created individual cello bags for each of the sets.

The cello bags are Wilton lollipop bags. I used 2 different colors of cardstock, a star punch & gold staples to create the header. With a silver glitter pen I wrote, "Thanks for a REEL fun time!" across the header.

The favors looked impressive, but with some coupon shopping, cost very little to make!

Fairy Party ~ Welcome to Emma’s Pixie Hollow!

Posted on February 16th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off

After days of rain, the day of the party brought cloudy skies, slightly chilly weather and a super muddy backyard. The party that was supposed to be outdoors was brought inside. Seventeen excited fairies and some of their parents made for quite a cramped, yet cozy party.

As each guest arrived, they were asked to pick a Tinkerbell foam puzzle piece out of a bag. I found the foam puzzles at Dollar Tree and was able to color-coordinate the pieces to match the fairy tutus & wings. This made it easy to split the girls into 3 different groups for crafts.

A blue puzzle piece meant your talent was a Water Fairy with a blue ensemble, a pink puzzle piece meant your talent was a Garden Fairy with a pink ensemble and purple meant your talent was Fast-Flying.

After the girls were dressed, they were taken to the "Pretty Pixie Salon." Here the grandmothers did nails, light glittery make-up, press-on earrings & glittery hair spray. Each girl also received a fairy crown. The crowns were easy to make with decorative wire garland from Dollar Tree formed into a crown and lots of curling ribbon tied to the back.

Once the girls were made-up, they had their pictures taken in the "Fairy Forest." We included a picture of each girl with the thank you notes.

While waiting to visit the Pretty Pixie Salon or after the photo, they decorated colorful handle bags with pictures of Tinkerbell, crayons, markers & stickers. The girls used the bags throughout the party to collect their crafts and treasures.

To be official fairies, everyone had to recite the Fairy Pledge and spin 3 times while saying "I believe in fairies!"

Each fairy received a magical flower fairy wand. The wands were made with wooden dowels from the Walmart craft section painted gold. I hot glued ribbon, tulle, a flower and jingle bell to the top of the dowel.

Following the Fairy Ceremony, the fairies were divided into 3 groups according to their talent (and color wings!). Since my daughter absolutely loves do do crafts, I created 3 different craft stations for groups rotate through.

Station #1 - Make Pixie Dust

Each fairy was given a plastic container to mix her very own pixie dust. The lidded containers were purchased 6/$1 at Dollar Tree and I hot glued a flower and leaf to the lid for decoration. The Pixie Dust ingredients included colored sand, iridescent glitter and special Tinkerbell confetti found only at the Disney theme parks.

Since this station didn't take very long, the girls listened to a Tinkerbell story until it was time to rotate.

Station #2 - Fairy Gardens

Before the party I glued small bamboo skewers into the bottom of unpainted wooden drawer knobs (from craft store). The knobs were painted red with white polka dots to resemble mushrooms and the lids of the baby food jars were also painted red. Directions for the mini terrariums can be found here.

Station #3 - Fairy Dolls

At this craft stop the girls assembled fairy dolls from clothespins. Instead of using wax paper wings, we used tie-dyed small coffee filters (color coffee filters with markers, lightly spray with water & let dry). All of the components were cut & painted prior to the party, so the girls just had to put them together.

After crafts, it was time for a Fairy Picnic. The menu consisted of Fairy Juice (Sprite mixed with a little maraschino cherry syrup) and Fairy Salad (a last-minute mix of mini goldfish crackers, mini colored marshmallows and Tinkerbell fruit snacks). Believe it or not, the Fairy Salad was a huge hit!

Following snacks we sang "Happy Birthday" and gave out cake & ice cream. Instead of 1 large cake, I made small individual flower cakes for each guest. Each little cake had a Tinkerbell topper (made by Wilton & purchased at Michaels) and sat on a plastic plate (Dollar Tree) that I had hot glued silk flower petals to the bottom.

The last activity for the party was "Tinkerbell's Treasure Hunt." The girls were each given a list of items to find in the backyard. The items included 7 colored Easter eggs, a bottle of fairy kisses (miniature bottle of bubbles from Dollar Tree wedding section with a fairy sticker & bow) and a magical bird (feather bird from craft store).

The treasures inside the eggs included tiny glittered sea shells, plastic bird eggs, colorful feathers, Tinkerbell candy, Tinkerbell stickers, a blue moonstone (glass decorative pebble) and butterfly hair clips.

Each fairy left with her wings, tutu, crown, wand, crafts and treasures. Emma also handed out star lollipops that I made from pink candy melts and colorful sprinkles.

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time! Most importantly, my daughter said it was her favorite party ever!