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Archive for the ‘Party Theme’ Category

Goin’ Fishing

Posted in Easy Recipes, Entertaining Ideas, Party Theme, tagged , on August 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

So today’s recipe isn’t really a recipe, and to just lay it on the table, not a lot of nutritional value here either. But it was something I threw together the other day for a fishing-themed meeting. I had fun with it, which means I took photos and now you get to see the kinds of crazy things I think about when I should be sleeping!

Despite my recent issues with Goldfish crackers and the fact that they continue to breed under the front passenger seat of my car, they really did make this whole thing look cute.

The Cast of Characters

Easy to Assemble

Goin’ Fishing

Goldfish crackers (I liked the rainbow variety for this particular purpose)

Foot Long Fruit Rollups

Pretzel Rods

Gummy Worms

Pour crackers into your serving dish. I used ramekins because a serving piece that is deep will work much better than one that is shallow. Cut off about a six inch piece of the Fruit Rollups. Wrap one end a few times around the pretzel rod. It is sticky and not only sticks to itself, but also the pretzel. Stick a gummy worm on the other end of the strip. Again, the sticky thing is a real help with this project.

(Note: if your husband is unable to keep his grubby hands off the gummy worms, you may have to hide them until you are done with the assembly because a second trip to the store to buy more worms is not where it is at!)

Stand the pretzel rod upright in the dish against one side. Let the worm dangle over the fish. Ta-Da! Wasn’t that fun and simple?

These would be great for a kids party or any event with a fishing theme.

Here, fishy...

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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County Fair Party Theme

Posted in Party Theme, Quick and Easy, tagged , , , , on August 3, 2010| 3 Comments »

Back where I grew up, they are picking their best produce, whipping up their best recipes, scrubbing down their 4-H animals, gulping  gallons of lemonade and indulging in dozens of “Happy Bowls” at the annual County Fair this week.

It was always a fun time of year as a kid. Everybody went at least one day. I remember strolling through the animal barns with my dad, begging for a bag of cotton candy and gawking at the huge and sometimes bizarre produce on display. I have never liked the carnival, so that wasn’t a big draw, but you could get all the junk food a little body could hold, see friends and family you hadn’t visited with for a while and, in general, enjoy all the spectacles the fair provided.

When I was in college and desperate for a summer job, I spent several weeks working at the fairgrounds, first as a grunt and then in the office (which was way more fun!). The fair manager was a sweet and wonderful lady who made going to work a pleasure.

Even where we now reside, we can go to any one of three county fairs in our immediate area.

For those of you who are too far away from a county fair or not into the whole carnival/dirt/smell/crowd thing that goes along with it, think about hosting a county fair themed party. It could be a lot of fun for both you and your guests.

Start out with the invitations. Make it look country using red or blue checked paper with contrasting red or blue gingham ribbon.

Set tables with red and white checked tablecloths. Nothing says “county fair” quite like those fun table coverings. You can find inexpensive plastic ones at party or craft stores or cloth ones at most department stores.

Use sunflowers as centerpieces and to highlight tables. Loosely arrange them in canning jars and tie a piece of gingham fabric around the top of the jars. If you have old jars that have turned blue, even better!

Ask guests to bring something to enter in a judging competition. It could be produce, a craft project, whatever. Although I recommend leaving the animals at home. Trust me on this one. Have everyone vote on their top three favorite entries, tally the votes and give ribbons out. You can easily make your own (or have the kids make them). Here is a website with a fun step-by-step guide. How to Make a Fair Ribbon

The food could be potluck or you can go “whole hog” and make a fun selection of  fair food like corn dogs, funnel cakes, lemonade and home-made ice cream. Here is a link  Funnel Cake Mix to some good funnel cake mix if you don’t want to make it from scratch.  You can also get a tasty corn dog batter mix here. Please ignore the fact that I know you can order them from Bass Pro Shops. Please. Thank you.

You could even set up some fun country fair type games. Attach balloons to a piece of foam board and have darts people can throw to pop the balloons. You can use jar rings and empty pop bottles for a ring toss. Sack races, water balloon fights and tug-of-war are all inexpensive and fun. Prizes could be fun little trinkets picked up from the dollar store.

Have fun with this theme and see if it doesn’t become a great party you and your friends remember for a long time to come. And eat a funnel cake for me!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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Wedding Gift Wrapping Ideas

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Home and Garden, Party Theme, tagged , , on June 22, 2010| 3 Comments »



Here we are knee-deep in wedding season. Isn’t it awesome! As I may have mentioned before, I love weddings.

Going to weddings involves taking gifts and that involves, at least for me, wrapping them up pretty! Yes, I like to wrap gifts and yes, there are certain standards that must be met!

For weddings, two of my favorite gift wrapping tools are satin tape and organza ribbon. They both are staples to wedding gift wrapping success.

As you can see, a bow tied with organza ribbon turns a ho-hum package into something quite lovely. Add a special little touch in the center of the bow like ribbon rosette or a wedding bell. It will finish the package like nobody’s business. Anyone can use organza ribbon to make a gift look spectacular. If you can tie your shoes, you can tie a bow with organza. It is that simple. Honest and true!

Another little thing I like to do to dress up packages is make star bows. These are not the ugly little star bows that you can get a bag of 120  for 99 cents. (Which, by the way, should be outlawed and banned from stores.)

These are hand-made star bows that make quite a statement on their own. If you can cut a snowflake, you can make this bow.

Start with your unadorned package.

Cut a piece of matching wrapping paper almost as big as the top of the package. Trim it into a square.

Fold it in half.

Then fold in half again, so you have a small square.

Fold the square into a triangle by bringing outside edges together.

Trim the top of the triangle into an oval shape, then cut down the both sides, almost to the tip. It is extremely important you DO NOT cut through the tip.

Start unfolding your bow, one layer at a time.

Keep unfolding, you are almost there.

Once you have it completely unfolded, you will lap each little triangle piece over the top of each other and secure with a bit of tape. This makes the petals.

The first layer is done. You'll repeat this process two more times, decreasing the size of each bow by an inch or so. When you have three graduated layers, you are ready to attach to the package.

Tape each layer in the center of the package. I stagger where the petals rest instead of lining them up because it rests better that way and looks fuller. Use a fun bow for the center. I found some great sparkly ones at the dollar store that fit perfectly in the center. I attach these with hot glue because the stickies on the back never hold like they should.

Happy Wrapping!

Shanna

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