Pajama Party

Lisa emailed me asking for help with her daughter’s first sleep over.  Her daughter is 6 and she wanted to make sure that all the girls had a great time.  This is a milestone for both the parents and the child as they spend their first night away from the parents to stay with friends.

If you are sending out invitations, Tiny Prints has a great Sleepover Invitation.

Kids love to have fun foods at sleepovers like pizza, popcorn, chips and sweets.  Make sure that your guests don’t have any food allergies.  Family Fun has some ideas for a great slumber party including a  Sleepover Cake that would make a great dessert.

Girls love to play dress up so set up an area for the girls to experiment with make up and crazy hair styles.  Another idea is to buy white pillow cases and let everyone decorate their own pillowcase with fabric paint.  Everyone will get to take a memento home from the sleepover.

Get a movie that is suitable for everyone and let them watch the movie surrounded by pillows and blankets.

When they FINALLY get up in the morning, treat them to donuts or pancakes.

Parents.com also has some great ideas for a pajama party.

Be sure to take pictures and try to get a little rest while the kids have an exciting first sleepover.

“The Final Rose” – Batchelor Watching Party

It has come down to the Final Rose for The Batchelor.  I am a hopeless romantic and hope that he finds true love (even if this is a reality show). Invite your girlfriends over to see what the outcome will be.  Use red as the main color for decorations and make sure that you incorporate roses.

Social Couture has some great designs and items for sale for a Red Dinner Party.

Use this Rose Ball Candle Set from Wrapables to set the mood at the party. They also have a beautiful Red Rose-Tini Martini Glass that would fit well with the theme.

Use these Diamond Napkin Rings as decorations and then send them home with your girlfriends as a party gift.

Be sure to check out The Bachelor party that Kendall had.  I love all the creative ideas that she used for her party.

Make the most of a fun night with your girlfriends!!!

Great Bakeware

When you entertain a lot, great bakeware is good to have on hand.  When you use unique food and decorations, it will catch the attention of your guests.  Here are some new bakeware finds to add to your kitchen collection.

This new Daisy Crown Cupcake Pan from Williams-Sonoma will be great to use for Spring.

Fresh Finds has a new Alphabet/Number Cake pan that you can make any number or letter with.  Instead of making a lot of little cupcakes, try making one big cupcake with the Giant Cupcake Pan.

Another great find for Spring is the Sunflower Pan from Wilton.

Here is a fun Ice Cream Cone cake from Kitchen Krafts that would be great to use at a children’s party.

Impress your guests by adding some of these great cake pans to your collection for some beautiful and fun cakes.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

Cupcakes are  a new trend that you see more now at baby showers.  You can make creative cupcakes to go with the theme of your baby shower.  Here are some creative cupcake ideas that I have found.

This Peek-a-boo Baby Cupcake and Baby Shoe Cupcake can be found at Cutest Baby Shower Ideas.

These Safari Cakes would be great at an Animal Adventure Shower or with a  Noah’s Ark theme.

Wilton has some great ideas for cupcakes like the Shake, Rattle and Roll and the Cute and Contented cupcakes.

The most unusual cupcake that I found was the Pickle and Ice Cream Cupcake.  This one might be better to serve just to the expecting mother.

The display of your amazing cupcakes at your shower will be a topic of conversation for your guests!  Hope you enjoy!

Mardi Gras Party

It’s time to plan a Mardi Gras Party.  This year Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 24th.  Start off with festive invitations from Paper Style.

Ask your guests to come in masks or crazy hats to get in the spirit.  Another idea is to have a costume contest.  Crown whoever has the best costumes as the Mardi Gras King and Queen.

The official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold so use these colors to fill your room with decorations.  Plum Party has some great sale items right now for Mardi Gras.

Be sure to incorporate the traditional Mardi Gras beads into your decorations and use them as party gifts.

There is nothing like a great Mardi Gras menu to get everyone’s taste buds going.  Epicurious has some great recipe ideas like Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole and Crab cakes.  For dessert, you should serve the traditional King Cake.  Make sure to put a plastic baby into the cake and whoever finds it has to host the party next year.

The Hurricane is the traditional drink served in New Orleans.  Try this recipe from Cocktail Times.

Ingredients:
- 2 oz light rum
- 2 oz dark rum
- 2 oz passion fruit juice
- 1 oz orange juice
- 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp simple syrup
- 1 tbsp grenadine
- Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a hurricane glass. Garnish with a cherry and an orange slice.

Be sure to set the mood with some great Jazz music that can be found on Amazon.

Get in the Mardi Gras spirit and have a great time!!

Host an Oscar Party

If you love the glamour and excitement of the Oscars, try hosting your own Oscar Party.  The 81st Acadamy Awards presentation will be held Sunday, February 22nd.

This Film Canister Invitation is a great way to invite your guests to a night of Hollywood fun.

Turn your party into a red carpet affair and ask your guests to dress in their best attire.  Don’t forget to lay out the red carpet for their grand entrance and photograph your guests as they arrive.  Use the pictures as party gifts for a night to remember. Provide each guest with a ballot to pick their winners.  At the end of the night, determine who picked the most winners correctly and give them a special prize or award them with their own Oscar . 

Decorate with glitz and glamour by using color schemes with black, silver and red. 

Plum Party Supplies has some great decorations to choose from.

Have a first class buffet set up with items like Parmesan-Stuffed Dates and other great recipes found from Epicurious.

Chocolate desserts are a must for this party.  Fill champagne flutes with chocolate mousse or serve chocolate truffles to end the meal.

Serve champagne from this Top Hat Ice Bucket or serve The Red Carpet Fizz from the Oscars website.

This party will be great to enjoy the glitz of Hollywood, discuss new fashion trends and try to pick the winners of the night.  I hope that your party is an award winning extravaganza!

Last minute Valentine Decorations

Don’t worry….there is still time to plan how to decorate for your valentine party or for a romantic dinner at home.
Here are a couple of ideas that will bring love into the air.

These candles from Wrapables are a great and easy way to decorate a table.

Here is a fun way to decorate your table.

Flowers can always be used to help decorate and set the mood.  Try something different like this Rose Bowl from Better Homes and Gardens.

You can make your own Valentine candles with craft punches from Martha Stewart.

I hope this helps with any last minute planning!  This is a day to celebrate all loved ones….Friends, Family and Significant Others.  No matter what your plans are, I hope that everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

Valentine Party Games for Kids

If you are having a valentine party for your kids, it is very important to have plenty of planned activities for them.

Of course all kids love games, so here are some fun games to play at your valentine party.

Cupid’s Challenge is a fun scavenger hunt.

For this special scavenger hunt, set up a Valentine’s tree centerpiece on a table.  On the branches, tie small clues for items that the kids must find or make and hang on the tree.  When the last item is hung, have small gifts waiting under the tree.  Try the following clues to get started…

1.My name rhymes with stupid, I’m as cute as can be.
Cut my shape out of paper to hang from the tree.

2. You’ll see many of me on this special day,
The symbol of love some people say.
Make one right now with paper and bow,
hang from the tree on a branch that is low.

3.I’m a well know pair that keep your toes cozy.
Hang one from the tree and all will be rosy.

4. I’ve got five points and shine in the sky,
make me from foil and hang me up high.

Another game that kids will love is Heart Stomp which can be found at Kaboose.

You can download a free Valentine’s Day Bingo game from DLTK’s website.

You can also find other fun games like Valentine Rap and Steal My Heart at Family Fun.

I hope these games add a little extra fun to your celebration.

Valentine Dinner Recipes

Celebrate Valentine’s with a romantic dinner for two at home.  You can surprise your loved one with these great recipes or spend your time cooking everything together.
Start with this great chilled-tomato soup that will set the mood.

For your main course, serve Filet Mignon with Rich Balsamic Glaze

with Cherry Tomato Mozzarella Saute on the side.  You can accompany this with a nice glass of red wine.

To keep dessert easy, make this festive dessert for two from Woman’s Day.

Here is the simple recipe for making this Valentine dessert.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 Tbsp seedless red rasberry jam
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 2 Twinkies snack cakes

PREPARATION

1. Stir jam and 1 Tbsp water in a bowl until smooth. Add raspberries; toss gently to coat.2. Cut Twinkies in half diagonally, starting about 1 in. down from top left to 1 in. from bottom of opposite side. For each heart, put 2 halves together on 1 serving plate.  Spoon raspberry mixture over and around hearts. Garnish with mint, if desired.

Make it an evening to celebrate your love with good food and great company!

Backwards Party

Next week my daughter has backwards day at school which got me thinking about a backwards party.  This is a great idea for a birthday, a get-together with friends or you could have a family backwards day.

Start by using some invitations like these found at Kaboose.

On the invitation include:  “Thanks for coming to my party!” Then put the date, time, address, etc. Also, ask your guests to come dressed as backwards as they can.
When you greet your guests, say “Goodbye and thanks for coming!” As they arrive, have them come through the back door and give them name tags with their names spelled backwards.

For decorations, hang your balloons upside down from the ceiling and hang birthday banners backwards.

Have the children sit on the floor, under the table and start with dessert first.  Serve cupcakes upside down like these from Family Fun.

After the cake, set up a veggie try with the veggies already in the dip.  Serve hot dogs, but cut the hot dog in half and put the bun in between each hot dog half.

For activities, play silent chairs, which goes by the rules of musical chairs except the sitting starts when the music starts.  Arrange a scavenger hunt, but instead of leaving clues, scramble up the answer and let that be the clue.  Do the limbo but instead of “How low can you go?” change it to “How high can you jump?”

As the party ends, help guests walk backward out the front door, and say “Hello” to them as they leave.

For more ideas, Real Simple also has a great article on hosting a Backwards Party.  Have fun or “nuf evah”.