Parties - they're not just about the food...well, maybe a little

Has anyone else gone through this whole day thinking it wasTuesday? No? I'm the only one? OK never mind. Here's my tardy post this week.

Party planning...hmmm. Who doesn't love a good party? When I was a single girl, my roommates and I reveled in having our little apartment alive with fun and festivities. One roomie in particular, Debbie, and I were the perfect team. I was the mostly in the kitchen who thought up and executed the goodies, and she was the entertainment. We got so good at it that we were able to throw together impromptu get-togethers with ease, and those were often the best ones.

Nowadays, it's a little trickier to plan parties, so whatever I can do to make it easier on myself, well, that's what I try and do. Here's a fun read that I own with some valuable tips in this book, and it's one of my favorites:

Her tastes are definitely more refined than mine (I've never baked a rack of lamb or made any kind of pate'), but this presidential-budget-writer-for-nuclear-programs / turned / caterer / turned / cookbook-author-and-TV-personality makes me dream of perfectly successful parties with minimal effort. She's a smart cookie, imparting party wisdom based on past successes and not-so-successes. In the book she intermingles menues and coordinating recipes with tips. Here are a few:

• Stay cool. Don't let the guests know you're stressed or that you've been slaving or obsessing over the food all day. "Otherwise, they feel bad that you have worked so hard, and the party is off to a rocky start." We're glad they've come, so act like it.


• Assemble food. Instead of toiling for hours or even days before the party, it's OK to purchase food and assemble it the day of, and you'll be a more relaxed and pleasant host because of it.


• Cook together. Your guests can be your sous chefs, so give them a nice cold beverage and put them to work! It's more fun that way when everyone is involved. This is a fun idea for a pizza party.

Recently, our baby girl turned ONE and it was probably the least stressful birthday party I've put together. The theme was around "spring chicken" since that's what she is! It was later in the afternoon, so it was lunch time but before dinner. I used my Stoneware I've collected over the years, which is a silver/pewter composite that is molded into bowls and plates. This tied together the presentation of the food. The tablecloth is more summery, but it's so cheery, I just couldn't NOT use it.

There were snacky things for both kids and adults, the centerpiece being my attempt at petit fours. They were more of a free-form glorified cupcake, but yummy just the same. I made these a day in advance and brushed the cake with just a little simple syrup to keep it from drying out.

And what did the guest of honor think of her first big she-bang?

photo

...and that's all that really matters, right?

Party on!

Guess I'm Your Party Man ... er, Woman

Okay, so first of all, as soon as I realized we were writing about parties and party planning this song started up in my head.



I've never seen this movie, so can't vouch for its praiseworthy-ness. But the song? Well, it's Peter Gabriel. Enough said, right?

Now that we have that out of the way, I should say I'm the laziest party planner ever. It didn't used to be this way. When I was in college, any excuse was a good excuse to get people together, and I would spend the weeks before thinking about it - how and who to invite, what decorations would go up and where, food, what to wear - oh, my goodness, what to wear! I've had successes (the masquerade party, where my ex-boyfriend came in drag and my future husband arrived as a giant red necktie ... that necktie still makes me smile, oh how I love that man!) and massive failures (but we're not here to discuss those, are we? ;)

These days, with two little ones in tow, things are both more complicated and a whole lot simpler. Complicated because it's not easy anymore to get a party together for just any old reason. Simpler because, well, I've made it that way.

I think one of my best investments since having kids has been a bunch of colorful picnic-type plastic plates and cups. I don't ever have to shop for paper plates and cups anymore, and it's easy clean-up to just toss them in the dishwasher.

The next best investment has been to make a bunch of bunting garlands. We use them at every birthday. They're quick and easy, and a great scrap-buster for when my fabric stash gets a little overwhelming.



Sometimes we'll have a theme for birthday parties, but I like to keep it simple and easy. We play the same old party games, but change the names and the props, for instance. We don't get too caught up in the details, which keeps it fun.

This was our summer-time backyard birthday party for my daughter's 4th. We loosely themed it on Alice in Wonderland. The castle was a TV box I transformed when she was 18 months, the canopy we bought at IKEA and usually hangs over her bed. The pom-poms in the trees were a rare Martha Stewart success.

I'm not sure you can get much simpler than sprinkles and printed-out toothpick tags.

This was one of my favorite ways ever of using up old scrapbook paper.

We used paper bowls attached to paper plates to make "mad hats". We let the kids go crazy with tissue paper and foam stickers. (That's my lovely sister modeling.)
We also played "Button Button, Who's Got the Button?" but we called it "Who Stole the Tarts?"

Again, easy peasy. Just wrap the candy bar in scrapbook paper and glue on a label.

For parties that aren't birthdays, we do the same sort of thing. We had a Halloween party last year with, again, basic party games (pin the tail on the black cat, etc.), cupcakes and the kids got to dress up. It was a blast.

White and orange frosting, a tube of black icing from the grocery store, and a free printable. (I'm sorry I can't remember who designed these, but I found them via One Pretty Thing - best site for crafty ideas ever!)

Some other fun ideas I happen to have photos of:

My sister made her daughter this really big rainbow cupcake for her birthday, using white cake and food coloring.

My daughter's friend's 5th birthday party featured these adorable kabobs. They were a big hit with the kids and the adults, and I'm told the birthday girl had a blast making them with her mom.

Just Go For It!

photo credit 

I know for a lot of people party planning, especially for kids, can be stressful and crazy and sometimes expensive but it can also be pretty fun. I think the key to enjoying yourself is to simplify where necessary, make it great enough to remember and have fun being creative.

I really love to plan a good party...sometimes even more then enjoying the actual event.  I think it's fun to come up with a theme and with colors and doing it all in secret.  I get excited when I come across the perfect idea.  I will admit that sometimes I can take on too much in a super short amount of time.  I am the queen of thinking up a great idea one or two nights before and having to execute it under a time crunch.  I don't recommend that for most situations but I did have one party for my little man that seemed to go off perfectly under the circumstances.   I rallied my troops (which in this case were my cute friends) and we made it work.  

(I love how exciting the unwrapping of presents ritual is to these cuties).

The Age: The big deal 4
The Guests: 12 really cute rowdy buddies
The Theme: Lightning McQueen the Famous Race Car
The Place: Our house

Because I love the look of handmade things and I wanted to be able to use the decorations over and over again I completely ignored the easy quick premade "Cars" party decorations and made my way to the fabric store.  I bought all kinds of classic black white and red fabric and made a bunch of these fun birthday buntings . These are an easy project and are great for any holiday or birthday.  You don't have to throw it away at the end of the night and it will last you for forever.  I also bought some black and white checkered looking fabric for a table cloth and some to make some racing flags.  I had to work and sew quickly.  I still had 15 card board boxes to spray paint red and get all of the fun stations ready to go (face-painting/car detailing, ballon popping, speed racing, pinnate in the garage rigging) plus a cake endevor that I couldn't just not try...this part scared me the most.  Like I said...I was glad to have my friends there to help. I really couldn't have pulled it off without them.

The few days before were crazy and stressful and I'm sure I neglected my family a little but after a really long fun night with two of my favorite girls and buckets of red frosting we were ready to start Payton's engine. 

The kids arrived, we did everything we planned and the party was a success.  I had a very happy little boy and now we have some great memories of his 4th birthday.  

I think every crazy moment can be worth it if you make it enjoyable for yourself.  I would hope that every overly ambitious mommy has awesome friends like me and I believe that going all out can sometimes make you realize how much you can actually do.  That doesn't mean taking the easy road builds less character I'm just saying that going for it every once in a while can be eye opening and surprising! They are only going to be 4 once.  Plus you might discover you love it, like I did.  

Here is my all time favorite party planning blog

Enjoy and I Hope You Get Inspired! 

Tri-Color Cupcakes

Okay, to start this post, I have to inform you that my hubby, daughter, and son all share the same birthday. No, it was not planned. She was early, he was late. It works out fine now since my children are 3 and 1, and my husband loves not having the spotlight, but it will be interesting as the kids get older.

So anyways, last year for their birthdays I made Tri-Color Cupcakes. It was really easy, and a hit for the kids. So here it is for you. A quick easy and great looking cupcake.

Supplies:
1 box of white cake mix. (Mix according to the package.)
3 colors of food coloring (I used red, blue, and yellow)
3 Ziploc bags
Cupcake liners

1. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
2. Mix cake mix according to the package.
3. Separate cake batter into three Ziploc bags.
4. In each bag add the food coloring and mix (zip bag and squish together) till the desired color comes out. You can also use the food coloring gel found in the decorating section at Walmart for a bolder color.
5. cut a small-ish hole in the corner of the Ziploc bag and place one layer into you cupcake paper. Layer the other two colors in.
6. Bake as directed.
7. Frost with your favorite frosting.

Enjoy!