candy canes, cocktails, & christmas classics

Three days later, I think I've finally recovered from our Christmas party this past weekend!  It was a lot of fun, but with 20 kids ages 5 and under (and their parents), it was also pretty chaotic.  Luckily all our friends  (at least those who attended) are all in this same crazy small-children stage of life, so everyone was happy to just go with the flow.

The one thing every cocktail party needs?  Cocktails!   

I always like to include a drink menu because I've found people often don't know what to order.  The most popular drink of the night  was definitely the Pear-Appletini.

The festivities started with a surprise visit from Santa.

Most of the kids were thrilled (as were the adults!)

peppermint bark

Happy Monday!

It's Christmas week and if you're anything like me, you've got a billion things left to do before the big holiday weekend.  Because I want to be sure to have enough time to enjoy this special time with my family, my posting will probably be on the light side through the end of the year.  However, I thought I'd start off your week with a fun and tasty little DiY project.

No party is complete without a sweet little trinket your guests can take home, enjoy, and remember (hopefully) the wonderful time they had.  For my little candy-cane themed shindig yesterday, I made peppermint bark favors.  It amazes me that they sell this stuff for $30 a box at specialty stores when it is SO easy and so inexpensive to make!  Packaged up nicely in cellophane bags, it makes a lovely (and much appreciated) gift.

Start by unwrapping a pile of candy canes (I used about 25).  Place them in a large ziplock bag.

Put that ziplock bag within a second ziplock bag (broken candy canes are sharp), then break the candy canes into small pieces.  I used a rolling pin to smash them.

christmas party planning: candy cane arrangement

For our Christmas party last year, I bought several Christmasy flower arrangements, carefully arranged them in vases, and placed them around the house.  Classy, perhaps, but completely unimaginative.  I'm pretty sure no one even noticed them.  Not exactly money well spent.

So this year I decided to get a little more creative (and thrifty) with my flower arrangement, with the idea to create something similar to this:

(image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com)

I grabbed Husband's hot glue gun, an empty can, & a box of candy canes & started gluing.

christmas party planning: the kid zone

There are moments (sometimes entire days) where I wish I could whisk myself back to those blissfully uncomplicated child-free days (the ones where, if I wanted, I could spend an entire day in bed reading a book or watching the HGTV Design Star marathon), where my Christmas parties were the toast of the town, sophisticated soirees full of glamorous guests, witty conversation, and killer cocktails.  Okay, so aside from the killer cocktails, maybe none of that actually happened.   My point is that it could have.

But not anymore.

The biggest surprise of parenthood for me has been how much kids change the dynamic of your social relationships.  Parents of small children seem to naturally gravitate towards each other in the same way that non-parents of small children naturally seem to run the other way.

So there will be kids at our party.  Lots of them.  Hence the need for the kid zones.  Because the more entertained the kids are, the more fun the parents will be able to have (which is the whole point.)

party inspiration: candy canes, cocktails, & classics

It's party time!  Husband and I are throwing our annual holiday bash this weekend, so at the risk of spoiling the surprise (for my friends who read this blog), I thought I'd share some of my party preparation this week, starting today with my inspiration for this year's shindig: candy canes, cocktails, & christmas classics.

Today I am guest posting over at Frugality is Free about my favorite tips for throwing a fabulous party on a budget.  So after you check out my inspiration for this weekend's party, be sure to head on over to check it out!

Here is my inspiration:

reduce, reuse, re-birthday...

You may remember the pictures of my four-year old's Crafty Pool Party I posted a few months ago.  Given that it was a crafty party (and I was on a budget), pretty much the entire thing was just one giant DiY(do it yourself) project.  It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, and the party went off without a hitch.

The clean-up, however, was another matter.  I couldn't bear to simply toss all those lovely handmade party hats, banners, and tissue puffs into the trash.  I didn't really expect to use them again--I'm an original party kind-of gal--but I carefully stored them away just in case.

Who knew an opportunity to recycle would come only two short months later?  A sweet family friend celebrated her 18th birthday party this week and we decided to throw her a somewhat impromptu birthday party.  She had missed out on M's festivities, so tissue puffs and homemade party hats were all new to her.  She invited a few friends, requested burgers and german chocolate cake, and once again, a good time was had by all.

fall wedding inspiration

I had the friend of a friend contact me this week for some wedding planning advice.  She is getting married on 10/10/10 (as in, a month from yesterday!) and was hoping I could send her some ideas for a fun & stylish wedding on a budget.  She told me it is a second wedding for both of them, and they wanted a small at-home ceremony with just their children and close family members, followed by an at-home reception a little later in the day.

I had to work quickly, since she is on such a time crunch, but this was the inspiration board I created for her

(Photo Credits: marthastewartliving.com, thebridescafe.com, realsimple.com, thesweetestoccasion.com, amyatlasdesigns.com, greenweddingshoes.com, jcrew.com)

These were the ideas I had:

• Wedding Apparel:  J. Crew has some really cute girls' dresses on clearance right now that would be perfect for her daughter and step-daughter to wear for the ceremony.  They also have some very pretty simple white wedding gowns that are reasonably priced.  I recommended that she pair some bright funky shoes with her classic white dress.  For the guys, dark jeans paired with chuck taylors, dark blazers, white shirts, and color-coordinated ties.
• Flowers:  Grab up as many seasonal flowers as possible a day in advance from a wholesale florist, farmers market, etc.  For a more designer look (for cheap), wrap bunches of the flowers together with ribbon wrap and then place in mason jars.  Make as many of these as possible, and then put them everywhere the guest will be.  Additionally, gather a lot of small pretty clear glass bottles (like rinsed and clean Starbucks Frappucino bottles) and bunch them together with one or two flowers in each.  This would be especially pretty in the windows.
• Food:  I recommended keeping her main dish simple, easy, filling, & cost-effective--she was thinking either a salmon bbq or pulled pork sandwiches, both good choices (just make sure it is tasty and that there is plenty of food.  Hungry guests are unhappy guests!)--and then focusing most of her energy and food budget on creating a really amazing dessert table.  Dessert tables are becoming very popular because they can create such a huge impact with little details.  (For instructions on making decorated sugar cookies, check out my tutorial.)
• Decorations:  Tissue paper puff balls are really easy to make and look stunning for a party.  To keep it elegant, I recommended sticking to only 2 or 3 main colors and grouping them together for maximum impact.  (To make, check out my tutorial here.)  For after-dark ambiance, criss-cross old-fashioned outdoor christmas light strings with all white bulbs.  (These could probably be borrowed from family & friends.)  Personal photographs are a great way to make the day all about the bride and groom and the family they are creating.  I love the idea of printing a bunch of black & white photographs & then stringing them on clothespins. 
• Favors & Programs:  Brown kraft paper is cost effective and casually elegant, and really nice for fall.  These stamped favor bags would be really easy to make, and brown kraft card stock would be nice for the programs and for labeling the dessert table and buffet as well.
• Entertainment:  The bride and groom love jazz and would love to have their favorite band play, but aren't sure they can swing the cost.  Alternatively, I suggested putting together a great ipod playlist of their favorite songs to set the mood.  The best advice for a great wedding is to figure out a way to treat your guests to a fun time.  Step outside the box to make it an event everyone will remember, whether it be Karaoke or setting up a game room, or, if the weather allows, croquet or lawn darts outside.  A timeline is VERY important, even if the day is casual.  I suggested designating a very outgoing friend to be the emcee and "director" of the day, letting people know what is going to happen next and telling people where to go.  

The best weddings are not the most expensive ones; rather,  they are the weddings that are a personal reflection of the bride and groom.  These days, there are no "rules."  So be original & creative, and make it about you.  

Happy planning!

entertaining on a budget

I love to entertain.  If I could, I would probably have people over every single day.  Luckily for me, my husband shares my love of entertaining.  If anything, he's the social one!  We usually have friends over at least once a week, if not more, and our guest room gets an awful lot of use.   Heck, we even threw a "birthing party" for A.'s home birth!  (See her birth story here.)

Now that I am on a budget, I am much more conscious of just how expensive entertaining can be.  Budgeting books would probably tell me to cut it out completely, as it is not an "essential need."   Well, maybe if you're some boring and stuffy old fuddy-duddy who writes financial books for a living, throwing parties and entertaining friends isn't an "essential need."  But for me, the need to entertain, to throw parties, to decorate and make things pretty is such a integral part of my core being that I think I would actually shrivel up and die without it.  Okay, maybe not literally, but metaphorically for sure.

So I can't give it up, but I can make it cheaper.  And hopefully I can do it without sacrificing any style or taste.  (I'd say my guests would never be the wiser, but my friends are all painfully [because I can't stop talking about it] aware of my new budget-conscious lifestyle.)

Last night, for instance, we invited a few of C.'s work colleagues over for dessert & Scotch:

We served a Caramelized Pear Upside Down Cake along with a platter of assorted cheese, which was  the perfect accompaniment.   For drinks we offered Dewer's & Crown Royal (on the rocks), as well as white and red wine.

What I spent:

1.75 l. bottle of Dewer's-$32.00 (will last a LONG time!)

Round of Brie-$6.50

3 small pears-$1.50 (on sale at Publix)

1 bottle Bella Sera Pinot Grigio-$5.99 (on sale at Publix)

Total:

$45.99

The main expense was obviously the Scotch, but that will last for many more gatherings.  We already had the Crown Royal on hand.  Except for the pears, the cake was made from pantry staples, and I used some of the cheese from my big Kraft cheese score along with some blue cheese and glazed walnuts that I keep on hand from Sam's club for the cheese platter.

A few weeks ago we had several families on a over on a Sunday afternoon for a "Ice Cream Sundae Splash."  Again the concept was simple, though this time a bit more family-friendly--ice cream sundaes and an afternoon in the pool (what better way to beat the Florida heat?)  We provided the (homemade) ice-cream, fresh-baked brownies, and beverages & everyone brought a topping to share.

Everyone had a blast, the ice-cream was delicious (homemade ice cream?  how could it not be?), and the cost was minimal.

What I spent:

Heavy Cream (for ice-cream)-$8

Half & Half (for ice-cream)-$8

18 pack of LandShark Lager (found on clearance at Target)-$8.98

Total spent: 
$24.98


Once again, everything else came from pantry staples, drinks, and liquor I already had on hand.  I set up a drink station for adults to create their own tasty beverages, and one of the guests found those adorable ice-cream cone shaped bowls at the dollar store a few months ago, so she brought them over to use for the party.  I realized at the last minute that we needed some sort of labels for the different kinds of ice-cream, so I got creative with some leftover scrapbook paper and bamboo skewers.

The pre-budget me would undoubtedly have spent a lot more money executing both of these little gatherings.  And for what?  The drinks flowed as they always do, the food was delicious, and a good time was had by all.  A little creativity goes a long way!

the birthday party

So today was the big day--M's Crafty Pool Party.  Amazingly enough, it went off without a hitch, (which is no small feat when dealing with 4 and 5 year olds), and we had a really fun day.  All the planning definitely paid off, the decorations were a hit, and I even came in $50 under budget!

The face painting was definitely the surprise hit of the party.  I pulled out my Klutz face painting book at the last minute and rediscovered why it is one of the best things I have ever bought on Amazon.com!  The menu was simple & kid-friendly--homemade mac & cheese, mini-hotdog crescent rolls, & grapes, sprinkled with a generous helping of sugar via cookies, cupcakes, & candy!  (Sorry moms!)  My big splurge was paying a babysitter to watch the younger siblings during the party, but even that was a pretty good deal because she brought a friend and we got 2 babysitters for the price of 1.  It was really nice not to have to worry about Annie during the party, especially since we took the baby fence down by the pool.  Overall, I don't think I would change a thing.  Of course, maybe I should've spent my extra $50 on paying someone to clean my house afterwards!

Here is the breakdown of what I spent:

Invitations-$0 (handmade using scrap materials around the house)

Cake-$0 (had all ingredients in my pantry)

Food-$23.95

Candy & Favors: $21.54 (mostly to fill pinata)

Ribbons:  $6.95

Scrapbook Paper: $10.00 (used for most of the crafts)

Tissue Paper: $9.09

Table Runners: $5.03

Clear plastic paint buckets: $18.18 (for 8 buckets)

Aprons: $4.00

Pinata: $1.25

Picture Frame Craft: $15.00

Tray (for water): $3.47

Babysitter: $35 for 4 1/2 hours.

Total Spent: $149.47 (Budget: $200.00)

It was a lot of work but it was so much fun!  I can't wait until my next bash.  I'm already trying to convince my hubby to let me throw a halloween party!

(This photo was posted by Bella Grace Party Designs today and it cracked me up because it was so true of me and my husband!)