Party On

This week’s focus is…         MENU Oh how I love food. After you’ve come up with your theme and your décor, it seems (at least to me) for the menu to come along naturally. I do have a few rules I try stick to. When I throw a party I generally like to have something crunchy you can snack on, something healthy(ish), something you could consider to be what I call “real food” aka something you would eat as part of a main meal, at least 2 drink options, and something deliciously sweet. Although I try to have some of the food options be theme-specific, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. People might remember if your food was theme specific, but they’re definitely going to remember if your food was delicious. Don’t feel like you can’t make some of your favorite staples for a party! Make food you would like to eat- especially if you’re hosting. You might just have leftovers. If you’re staple food is steak, or something equally expensive or equally larg...

Well, my acrylic stamps didn't happen to work out on the cookies, but I found a purpose for them. I was practicing dipping Oreos in white chocolate when I got the bright idea to stamp them. I tried a few different methods, but my husband had the winning idea. Take a look. My methods- leaving the stamps in the white chocolate while it dried, using a greased stamp (gross, don’t do it), and using a stamp on nearly hardened white chocolate The winning method (eh hem- Josh’s method), putting the stamp in the white chocolate then freezing the cookie That man is a genius! I think they turned out super cute. I can’t wait to use this for a party. I’m kind of a sucker for my dogs so I was actually thinking about hosting a dog’s day out. If not, then I’ll probably keep this in my back pocket for Optimus’ birthday. Like I said- I’m a sucker for my dogs.

Okay, I have persisted and I have a few tips. Fluffier frosting is definitely not the way to go. I used a fluffier frosting and the frosting ended up coming off the cookie with the stamp. This icing seemed to work much better. Secondly, brush cornstarch on top of the icing to limit the stickiness. PaperVine was so right about that! I had a rubber stamp and an acrylic stamp and the rubber stamp worked much better. That’s not to say that acrylic stamps won’t work, but I didn’t have an acrylic block to put the food coloring on. I used the paper towel method I read about somewhere (for the life of me I can’t find it), where you put paper towels into a Tupperware container and soak it with food coloring. You use the paper towels as a sort of ink-pad. Next time I may just shell out the cash for an un-inked foam pad. I’m also interested to see how different types of food coloring works. Some people swear by gel while others swear by airbrush food coloring. Thirdly, make sure you’re hu...

Well…tonight I was in a baking mood. Josh and I went to the store and got supplies to make all sorts of goodies. My plan was to hand-stamp cute designs on to sugar cookies, but it was not to be. Don’t get me wrong- the cookies were delicious, but when I tried to stamp them they turned into runny messes. I’m not impressed. Can you see the runny blue food coloring on the middle cookie in picture two?              I’ve been looking at some other blogs like PaperVine and CakeCentral about how to stamp the cookies- but they generally start after you’ve already put the frosting on the cookie. I think perhaps I need to use a thicker frosting or a fondant to really make it stick. I only frosted half the cookies so here’s to trying out a new frosting tomorrow! After all, this will be a much cheaper alternative to buying a KopyKake in order to make some Apraxia cookies. Getting a personalized stamp made is fairly easy and I’m sure I c...

It’s been a little quiet here in my blogosphere. I had a hectic hectic day at work, came home and made these bad boys (I’m thinking of making it breakfast friendly- I’ll let you know how that goes) and then spent some time walking Optimus with the hubby. Overall a good day, but not much time to be a blogging. I’ve definitely been brewing over how I can help raise money for Apraxia of Speech . My amazing/beautiful/awesome/smart niece Kamiree has Apraxia and I’m going to Denver in September to attend the 2012 walk . I can’t tell you how excited I am! Not only do I get to be in one of the most amazing cities in the country, but I also get to spend time with my amaaazing family. I’ve been thinking about setting up a little snack bar at the walk- but I’m not exactly how that would work out since I’m also walking. I’m not even entirely sure how to do that. Do you get a permit? Ask permission from the foundation? I definitely have to ponder this more, but of course I already have some id...

Last week I covered theme so this week let’s cover…décor. *Heartfelt Sigh*I love decorating. I especially like decorating for parties. You can be outrageous or classy or crafty and fun for just a day. Always wanted to dip dye your world pink but didn’t want to live with a constant headache? Have a Pretty in Pink party and go for it. Once you have your theme worked out- shop around, pin, and Google until you’re ready to put your thoughts into action. I personally like to have at least one thing hanging from the ceiling (or tree if you’re outdoors) to add some visual height. I also like to use general decorations in specific colors to supplement the theme. Flowers, lanterns, balloons, wreaths, ribbon, streamers, and even food can be made in whatever color you’d like. If you’re feeling crafty there’s a plethora of ideas out there. Plus side- handmade crafts are generally cost-effective and more personal. If you’re looking to buy materials, my two go-to stores are Party City and Orie...

Hello everyone! Last night we had the Rainbow Owl shower and I’ve got to say- I had SO much fun. Here’s a peak… Guests were greeted with this wreath. I made the tiny banners with the leftover scrapbook paper that I had bought to make the toilet paper owls. The nice thing is I still have more left to actually scrapbook with. Hoorah! I placed the invite in the middle of the wreath and used some white flowers that I already owned to accent the wreath. The string is pink with tiny footprints, which I bought at Michaels for $1. If I had to do it over again- I would’ve paid attention to how much string I actually had. The intention was to wrap the wreath more- but alas I ran out. *Note* I did try to hot glue the T.P. owls to the wreath but they did NOT want to stay put. For the living room… I decorated the guests of honor’s chairs with these cute rainbow streamers. We then hung the rainbow owl mobile I made from the ceiling fan and placed this hand-made rainbow wheel table runner on...

Anyone get that song from the Notebook stuck in your head after reading the title? No? Let me help you out. Okay good. Now that we’re all on the same page…. I’m off this weekend to finish some prep work for the party, and then we have the party itself on Sunday (yay!). I like to clean the house, make as much of the food as I can, and put up as much of the décor as I can the days before the party so that all I really have to worry about the day of is finding good music. Josh knows this, as he’s been looking at this rainbow, owl, lantern collection in our dining room for the past week. Sometimes it’s surprising how time consuming tasks are, even when you think “oh yea this will just take 5 minutes”. Thirty minutes later you’re sweating bullets because nothing else is done and people are arriving and you’re like “ummm just you know…entertain yourself”. Embarrassing. This also keeps me from running through lists in my head all night. This girl needs some sleep! I can’t wait...