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!
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!
Posted on April 25th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off
How fun would these be at the
Old Fogey Potluck Bingo? A paper & plastic place setting becomes more dynamic with just a few print-outs from your computer.
These little treats are doughnut holes dipped in white chocolate with piped on letters and numbers.
Posted on March 31st, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off
Sponsor food recipes
Velveeta Cheesy Bacon Hash Brown Bake
Maxwell House
Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Velveeta
Peanut Butter Cheese Fudge &
Chocolate Cheese Fudge
Decorations were kept simple and budget-friendly with Spring paper goods from Dollar Tree.
I set out crayons and an Easter coloring book to occupy the kids during breakfast.
Party Girls!
An
easy spring craft we did after breakfast.
Favors for the kids were Wilton disposable icing bags filled with cheese crackers & tied with green ribbons - looks like carrots! I found this cute idea somewhere online, but I lost the link, so thank you to the creative gal that came up with this!
Adult favors were Easter tin buckets from Dollar Tree, a can of Maxwell House coffee and Velveeta spatula, recipes and coupons.
We all had a fun time just hanging out and eating yummy food!
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!
Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Brenda | Comments Off
For my son's 10th birthday, we had a movie party. To keep costs down, the party was held at our house, the decorations were kept simple and I used lots of coupons to buy the food and goodies.
The front door was decorated with C7 Christmas lights to resemble a movie theater and a sign I made using 1/2 a foam board from Dollar Tree, scrap cardstock, paint & ribbon from my craft stash & the Cricut die-cut machine. The only cost was $1.07 for the foam board.
I painted a scalloped border with red craft paint and used Cricut cartridge
Cuttin' Up for lettering and
Mickey & Friends for the filmstrips.
Borrowed camp chairs made for the perfect theater seating - they were comfy, portable & each had their own cup holder.
My son cut a plastic tablecloth in half and hung it on either side of the TV to look like a theater.
The kitchen table became the theater's concession stand.
The other half of the foam board was used for the concession sign (Cricut
Cuttin' Up cartridge lettering). The kids had a ball ordering all of the different foods.
The local GFS Supermarket has tons of empty boxes they let you take. Nathan & I found the right shaped boxes for the Popcorn Concession and Candy Counter.
I used a utility knife to cut "windows" from the four sides. Here is the Popcorn Concession box before:
I spray painted the box grey, taped clear cellophane to the cut-outs, leaving the back window open. I glued extra popcorn bags (from Michael's) to the front, added lettering and striped paper to the bottom. The plastic popcorn containers were 2/$1 from Dollar Tree.
The candy concession stand was made the same way as the popcorn, but I hot glued a cardboard shelf to the middle of the box.
The candy box was spray painted a glossy black and placed on an empty box wrapped in extra black tablecloth. The clear cellophane gave the appearance of glass and kept the boys from grabbing the candy. The only cost for the boxes was $1.07 for a roll of clear cellophane at Dollar Tree and $2.14 for 2 cans of spray paint from WalMart.
More party treats were placed on the desk in the kitchen. To get that fresh popped tasty popcorn, I purchased a few bags from the Publix deli.
Instead of cake, I served popcorn cupcakes. These were the hit of the party and so easy to make. The popcorn is actually mini marshmallows with the tops cut into an "X" with kitchen scissors. The frosting holds the marshmallows in place. A little Wilton yellow color spray gives the look of butter.
The holders are Wilton large nut cups colored with a red Sharpie and a popcorn label cut from extra popcorn bags.
The food was served in shirt-sized gift boxes. The boxes became lap trays for the kids to hold their food.
The happy movie watchers.
There wasn't much fancy about this party, but the kids had a great time! You can see the Movie Party invitations here and the favors here.
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!
See more Fairy Party posts -
invitations and
decorations.
Posted on December 5th, 2009 by Brenda | Comments Off
The winter holiday season is finally here & I wanted to share an easy treat. The kids & I made these marshallow snowmen for a Christmas party we attended last week. They were a hit with everyone and the kids had so much fun making them.
Take a long lollipop stick (found in baking section of most craft stores) and stack 3 regular-sized marshmallows. Dip the marshmallows on the stick into melted white candy melts, white chocolate chips or almond bark (also found at craft stores, Walmart & Target) until fully coated. Allow excess chocolate to drip off - I found it easiest to gently twirl the stick above the bowl for a few seconds. Place on wax paper and decorate.
As far as decorating, anything goes! We made the top hats with mini peppermint patties and a Rolo candy "glued" with a little melted chocolate. You could also use a miniature Reeses cup, but we needed to keep this dessert peanut-free due to allergies.
We used mini chocolate chips for eyes, a fruit roll-up for the scarf, pretzel sticks for arms & assorted decorating sprinkles for the nose & buttons.
If your snowman hardens before you have a chance to decorate him, just adhere your decorations with a bit of the melted chocolate.
A super easy, fun & cute holiday treat that the whole family can enjoy!
Posted on August 24th, 2009 by Brenda | Comments Off
Back To School Bunco with my Moms group was a lot of fun. There are so many ways to celebrate the Back To School theme and all of them can be incorporated into a small celebration with your family to a big party with friends.
I made the wreath with items from the craft store and a hot glue gun. It is a wreath I can leave up all month and will take out year after year.
Each table had a
school bus centerpiece with mini chalkboard, a colorful bowl of M&M's & a school themed piece of scrapbook paper.
Food was served on divided Styrofoam trays that resemble cafeteria trays. To stay on budget, I purchased the trays 10 for $1 at Dollar Tree. An alternative would be colorful re-usable hard plastic trays, but the least expensive ones I found were $1.27 each.
Water bottles were covered in school themed scrapbook paper.
My husband wrote out the menu board for me.
Mini Club Sandwiches topped with
decorative picks.
Mini bags of chips.
Pretzel crayons served in a pencil box. I found this idea at
Gourmet Mom On The Go.
I fell in love with these
hamburger cupcakes & sugar cookie fries from Bakerella & knew they would be perfect for the Back To School theme! I served the cookie fries with a side of strawberry "ketchup" (strawberry jam).
For the Bunco prize I assembled a gift bag of grown-up school supplies (forgot to take a picture). I filled a school themed gift bag from Dollar Tree with decorative plaid pencils, notepad & mini notebook from the dollar section of Michaels & made a kitchen chalkboard with a silver tray & silver easel from Dollar Tree & chalkboard spray paint from Home Depot (
directions here).
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.
