Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Spring Into Brunch House Party

My Spring Into Brunch House Party was a hit! Sponsored by Velveeta & Maxwell House coffee, the party included great coffee and yummy food.
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!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pink & Brown Baby Shower

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!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Topiary

I stumbled upon these little beauties while surfing the web today. I want to incorporate a craft into the Mom's Spring Into Brunch House Party I am hosting next week and these are going to be just perfect!
You can find complete instructions over at Stitched Together With Love. They seem pretty easy to make and the estimated cost for each is under $1.50! Cute AND budget-friendly...LOVE IT!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Ready to House Party!

I'm so excited! The party pack for my Spring Into Brunch House Party came today! Some of my mom friends thought it would be fun to start a monthly Moms Breakfast Club. We plan on rotating house and getting together for some good food and conversation.

My awesome party pack includes:
  • 1 package of Velveeta
  • 16 free Maxwell House coffee coupons for me & my guests
  • 16 Velveeta coupons for me & my guests
  • 1 Velveeta oven mitt (will make a great door prize)
  • 16 Velveeta spatulas & recipe cards (perfect party favors)
  • Napkins & coffee cups

I've been searching the Internet for yummy Velveeta and Maxwell House recipes for a delicious brunch!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Movie Party ~ Decorations & Party Time!

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.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Dr. Seuss Hats

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I made some Cat in the Hat-style hats for my daughter's kindergarten class.

Materials Needed:
  • red poster board
  • white poster board
  • 2 x 9" white paper plates
  • scissors, stapler, glue gun
  1. Cut red poster board in half, set aside. Put 2 plates together, fold in half & cut out center along "bumpy" edge leaving just a "bumpy" brim.
2. Separate plates. Roll 1/2 sheet red poster board into a cylinder & place cylinder through center of 1 plate. Let cylinder expand to fit the center of the plate and staple poster board at top and bottom. Cut several slits at bottom of poster board, fold slits upward and glue to the bottom of the paper plate. Glue the 2nd paper plate to the underside of the 1st plate to hide the slits (this will give you a white brim on top & bottom).
Here is the hat before stripes are added:
3. Cut 2 x 2" strips from the white poster board & glue to red poster board.
In just a few minutes you have a fun Cat in the Hat - hat!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!