A Big Apple Birthday

Sorority sister K has three littles and goes ALL OUT for their parties.  (Ahhh, a girl after my own heart.)  At first peek I fell head over heels in L.O.V.E. with this clever New York City themed affair inspired by a summer trip to the big apple. Y’all sit back, relax and enjoy a trip to the city that never sleeps!

 

The party-goers all donned the iconic I <3 NYC tees, made my K’s also talented sister B.  I mean, HOW ADORABLE!  And what a fantastic favor!!

The kids fueled up on classic food truck eats and drinks in Central Park…

 

…before playing baseball in Yankee Stadium and basketball with the Harlem Globe Trotters.
 
Guests were even invited to embark on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.



K thought of everything…even make your own NYC Taxi Cab picture frames!

With NO shortage of activities (just the way I like entertain a gaggle of kids), K’s basement was transformed into Radio City Music Hall where the kids piled in to watch Home Alone 2: Lost in New York while snacking on popcorn, juice, street stand pretzels and an endless array of sweets from Luke’s Candy Bar (a la the famed Dylan’s Candy Bar.)

 

And with all of that, I think it was the dessert table that stole the show.  After a countdown in Times Square, the kids dove into red and yellow twizzlers, NYPD donuts, cupcakes, caramel apple lollipops, yellow/black Oreo cookies, marshmallow pops and "big" apples!!
And finally, the birthday boy and his sweet and always fab mommy K.  Where oh where do the years go?!?!  Seems like yesterday this girl was leading all sorts of secret sorority rituals as our fearless Prezzy.

The happiest of birthdays to you, L.  And hats off to K for pulling off such a thoughtful and eventful celebration!!
xoxo

Peep Pops {Free Printable}

I know, I know…Peeps.  AGAIN!  I just can’t get enough of their marshmallowy goodness and all around adorbleness (yes, I just invented two words there.)  We’ll be having a basket full of Peep Pops for our egg hunting extravaganza tomorrow afternoon.  And you know I’ll be bringing back the bunny-tinis.  A girl needs her cocktails, after all.


The only thing better than having our very own basket of Peep Pops is having a few to share with our besties.  Wrap them up in a cello bag, tie on my free printable tag (below) and voila…Peep Pops for your favorite peeps!  I mean, who wouldn’t love puffed sugar rolled in sugar dipped in sugar and, finally, sprinkled with sugar?!?!


To whip up your own Peep Pops in no time at all, simply melt white chocolate candy melts (Michael’s or any craft store) per the package instructions, roll your Peeps around in the chocolate and embellish with sprinkles.
Happy Easter gift tags
Happy Easter, y’all!
xoxo

A Dixie Delights Easter:

Spring Décor

Egg-cellent Lunch

Peeps Party - Cake, Cocktail and Favor

Treat for Our Peeps Free Printable

Lent for the Littles

Easter 2011
Easter Tablescape
Easter 2012
Peep Pops

April Fool’s Silly Supper Sideshow {Free Printables}

Come one! Come All!  The gentlemen of the household awoke to find invitations to a Silly Supper Sideshow on the breakfast table…

  

At six p.m. sharp, I ushered the anxious attendees to the porch …  

… where they sat down to place their orders for the guaranteed four course fiasco! 

 

Going from the silly descriptions, they placed their orders for all four courses at the beginning of the meal.  They had to get each item one time and couldn’t have any repeats.

I had prepared everything earlier in the day and had it in the kitchen in covered dishes.  It was a little crazy the first go round, but once I figured out my system it went pretty quickly. 

 

Honey, ever the puzzler, did pretty well with his selections.  His first course consisted of rabbit rations (lettuce), pre-pickle (cucumber), skinny dip (dressing), a debris duster (napkin) and a canoodle (spoon).  He didn’t order anything to drink though!

Most of the courses were much more hysterical.  A few of my favorites were this one …

… and this one full of eating implements and salad dressing!

When served on a regular day, the supper would consist of salad, ham, potatoes, broccoli and strawberry shortcake.

It was a crazy fun evening and one we’ll definitely do again.  I mean, they’ve already asked for a repeat tomorrow night, for crying out loud!

 

I know it’s a whole 365 days away, but if you’d like to recreate the fun for your family, click on the link below to download the file with the invitation, menus, food key and course cards. 

April Fools Silly Supper

 

I can’t take credit for thinking up this silly supper idea.  I originally read about the Fool’s Cafe on the My Insanity blog last year.  I loved it so much that I made a note on my calendar so I wouldn’t forget.

 

I hope y’all had a fun April Fool’s Day.  It’s just the sort of holiday we love celebrating around these parts.  And with everyone finally well and the gorgeous spring weather, it was triple the fun!!

xoxo

 

See our ApRiL fOoLs DaY Unbirthday Dinner Party here!

See all of our parties here!

 

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife

ApRiL fOoLs DaY {Reprise}

April Fools Day is just around the corner (how on earth is that possible??) and I have nothing new up my sleeve.  (Though I desperately need to come up with something.)  So, I thought I’d share with y’all our silly mixed up unbirthday dinner party of yore in the event that I’m not the only one out there lacking inspiration at the moment.  It was a rollicking good time…

It's ApRiL fOoLs DaY so what did I do?

Act silly and goofy and mixed up too!

I surprised the littles and Honey as well

With a dinner party that was awfully swell.

We sported goofy glasses and festive party hats

And celebrated our four un-birthdays just like that.

We had dessert for supper and supper for dessert.

Our crazy mixed up meal was totally berserk.

Our funny milk was blue and the mood was gay.

We told stories about the silliest things in our day.

It's certainly no birthday without a candle to blow.

You HAD to make a silly wish on your turn to go.

Finally it was time to eat our cupcakes.

And lo and behold if I didn't make a mistake!

The cake was meatloaf and the icing po-ta-to.

A cockamamy meal like a circus side show!

Everyone was confused when I brought to the table

A more conventional looking supper time staple.

But no un-birthday party would be fun without sweets

And this changed up version was a super big treat!

Ice cream potatoes with caramel gravy were good to the tummy.

And the chocolate rice krispie meatloaf was so fun and yummy.

It was a night of laughs and smiles and tales so tall.

Happy Un-Birthday to many and ApRiL fOoLs DaY to all!

Meatloaf Cupcakes
1 lb ground sirloin
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
3 T. ketchup
1 egg
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups prepared mashed potatoes (I used Hungry Jack)
Food coloring
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Add a couple of drops of food coloring to potatoes and mix well.. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Should make 12 cupcakes - mine made 11.

Rice Krispie Meatloaf
6 cups cocoa flavored rice krispies
2 rolls of red fruit roll up (and green too, if you can find it)
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
10-oz. package marshmallows
1. Coat a bread/meatloaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In food processor, briefly pulse the rice krispies. Tear or cut (I used kitchen shears) the fruit roll ups into small pieces.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl, add butter and marshmallows.  Cook until melted (2 minutes).  Stir well to combine and add cocoa powder.  Stir again.
3. Add rice krispies and fruit roll ups.  Stir quickly.  It will be very sticky.  Press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Let the loaf cool, then remove from pan and slice with a serrated knife.

 

Ice Cream Potatoes
Vanilla ice cream
Caramel sauce
1. Scoop ice cream onto plates to look like mashed potatoes.
2. Drizzle with caramel sauce "gravy".

So start collecting your zaniest ideas for the silliest day of the year!!  It's bound to be FUN!!

xoxo

Lucky Leprechaun Breakfast

This morning the littles awoke to an Under the Rainbow Lucky Leprechaun Breakfast hosted by our leprechaun friend Sham!  The littles were plum giddy with excitement.  I mean, they could hardly believe that our holiday elf Scout’s best leprechaun friend Sham came all the way here from Ireland on his busiest day of the year.  (Did you follow that?)   And, just like Scout did for our Snowflake Breakfast in December, Sham worked his little fingers to the bone planning this St. Patrick’s Day surprise full of pint sized eats.



We dined on rainbow milk, mini green biscuits, teeny flapjack stacks, small cups of yogurt and granola, tiny pots of green grits and rainbow fruit kebobs.







The best part of all is that I spent a total of $5 on the table décor, using napkins left over from last year and serving pieces and decorative items left over from other parties!

• I made four tissue poms for the large rainbow and wired them to a coat hanger bent into an arc.  I used two packs of rainbow tissue paper from the Dollar Tree and the same method I used for my Champagne and Cupcakes party poms.
• The clouds at the ends of the rainbow were faux snow reused from our Snowflake Breakfast.
• Leprechaun moustache straws from Target.  Plate also from Target but purchased last year.
• I use the chalkboard all.the.time.  See how I made it here.
• Green pinwheel reused from our Lemon Aid Stand.
• Lucky to have you as my friend printable and oreo instructions here.
• Sham is really Scout dressed up in new green felt digs.  Shhh…don’t tell the littles!

And since I’ve yet to share my front door décor and it will be coming down tomorrow, here’s our festive welcome.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, y’all!
xoxo

PS. I was blown away by your response to my prayer request yesterday.  Your willingness to open your hearts and prayers to two girls you've never met really means the world to me.

Lucky to Have You Printable Tag

Shamrock Hot Chocolate

Beef and Guinness Stew
Lucky Lunch