The Party Animals

Although we forgot to bring in our pet rabbit for photo opportunities the night was a success.  Check out Mary's rabbit themed cookies and white chocolate raspberry cake.  They were both gone early in the night.

It was hard to sit and eat when the game Just Dance beckoned on the Wii. 

Sparkling after dinner conversation prior to a round of my favorite game, The Game of Things.

I"ll have what he is having.  Isaac takes advantage of the zodiac animals and an abandoned wine glass.  The adults enjoyed pineapple cherry cocktails.  The drink got even better when I ran out of pineapple juice and substituted apple cherry.  Happy accidents.

The night ended with fireworks and thankfully not a visit from the local authorities.

Rabbit Decor

Being snowed in the last few days has afforded me the opportunity to get some decorations up for Chinese New Year.  I have dragons on the ceiling in the dining room.  Dragons!

Remember this tray from last week?  I took out the photos of my father and added a print for the Year of the Rabbit.  I purchased the Chinese zodiac stirring sticks years ago at a hobby store.

Zane and Eli helped me set up the kids" tables in the loft.  We have segregated by gender but the tables are side by side.  The settings include a treat bag, children's rabbit chopsticks, a zodiac representation, a zodiac placemat, and a napkin folded into the shape of a bunny head.

Here is a setting from the boys' table, basically the same only black bunny napkins versus red.

Happy Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is this Friday, it is the Year of the Rabbit (and guess who has a rabbit).  I am actually having the party on Saturday.  This will be the fourth time I have done a Chinese New Year.  It will be a larger crowd this year, about thirty people.  In the past I have done a seated dinner with a specialized place setting for each person.  I am not knowing if I can pull that off with thirty.  I will have to do some thinking.

Fold Your Horses

And cranes, and throwing stars, and lilies.  Eli came up with the title.  Here is a picture of Ron's Japanese Pan Noodles.  We ran out.

Amanda discovered the quickest way to pass a mochi ball was through the air.

Eli's crane.  Suffice it to say the party was not as peaceful and meditative as I had imagined.  But we powered through.

Zane taught us how to make a throwing star.  Just in case, you know, we are ever attacked by paper ninjas.

Amanda taught us how to make lilies.

My mom shows off her wares.

No party this weekend so I will be back next Monday!

Spontaneous Fiesta

I had a Fiesta basket packed and ready to go downstairs so it was easy to throw the table together.  I used a woven blanket for the tablecloth and a vintage runner.  The adults had different colored margarita glasses to help keep the drinks straight.  Ron made homemade baked tortilla chips which are six million times better than purchased chips. Six million.

Ron's parents came for the food and stayed for the game. 

Zane gets into his tostada. Notice the sourcream on his shoulder.

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Still getting ready for the Stone Soup Party.  Look past the really ugly philodendron cutting to the rocks on the platter. I had seen this idea featured in a garden magazine years ago.  The big rock in the center is about 15 years old.  So I bought some cheapy rocks at the fabric store and a fine tipped white opaque Sharpie and went coconuts.  I used Lotta Jansdotta's botanical fabrics for inspiration.

I may have an impromptu Margarita Party tomorrow.  I had packed a basket to have one in October but it never materialized.  We will see.

Rock It

Rock people for the little people at the Stone Soup Party.  I will put out some more rocks and googly eyes so they can make some friend rocks or pet rocks (!) for their collection.     

I used lettered beads to attach names to the rock people.  If you wanted to go all out you could add miniature props that reflect the child's hobbies and interests to personalize them even more.

Stone Soup

Remember the story Stone Soup?  Two of my children read the book and made the soup in their kindergarten classes.  The story is about a hungry traveler who tricks the locals into adding what they have to his delicious stone soup (a pot of water plus a rock) and when everyone pitches in, viola!  My friend Mary suggested a stone soup party with our town crowd.  We will provide the broth, meat, barley, and a stone.  Basic ingredients were divided among the families (potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes). They were also encouraged to bring other ingredients that sounded intriguing to add to the soup.

Soup's On

Ron made a smoked beef and vegetable soup that was very good.  My parents made peach and apple pies, and my sisters filled in with vegetables and breads.

It is the time of year when my family hashes out who get what for whom at Christmas.  There was much negotiating of spending limits and options, but in the end we swapped family for family.  Everyone filled out a wish list and we randomly drew.  One of the best things on the list is the "I have enough of these, thank you".  We have all had the experience of having a someone notice you have a picture of a cow by your sink and for the next ten years you get cow gifts because you like cows.  It is a helpful little line.

There was also a lot of discussion about if Emily's hat was awesome or not.  We all decided it reminded us of a couch we grew up with.  Beyond that the verdict was mixed.

Fall On Me

We are about two hours away from the Fall Feast.  Ron made a white chili and a smoked beef and vegetable soup.  I picked the branches with red leaves, berries, AND THORNS from my neighbor's yards.  It turns out one can do a lot of damage to their digits when they are furtively pruning.

Fall Bites

Here is the table for the fall tasting party.  My sister had a product party, and I provided the fall bites.  From the back and working forward:  apple cranberry crisps (in handmade tea cups): caramel mousse; caramel apple popcorn: sopapilla cheesecake bars; mini carrot and vanilla cupcakes; beer bread with apple butter and pepper dip; tortilla chips with pomegranate guacamole: crackers and Camembert; and rosemary skewers with Colby, bacon, and tomatoes.

Cicely sampling the the caramel mousse. 

Makenna ate the cheese off the skewers.  She tried the pear tomatoes several time with the same effect, "yuck".  I respectfully disagree.   I pierced the cheese, bacon, and tomato with a skewer first before I threaded the rosemary sprig through it.

Back to School!

Ms. Meyer showing off her chalkboard apple.

Cicely serving beverages.

The lunch you wish your mother would have packed for you in high school:  turkey and provolone sandwich with avocados, sprouts and cucumbers; Sun Chips, apples and carrots; yogurt covered raisins; and a Hostess Cupcake!

The inevitable:

I am out of town until Friday but look for the Perseid Party posting then!

Apple for the Teachers

Teacher apples are tricky.  Often they run country-looking which is not my aesthetic.  I also wanted to use chalkboard paint without being obvious.  So here is where I ended up:  these are dollar store apples (the same ones I decorated with copper stars for the Fantastic Mr. Fox Party, in fact) painted with two coats of chalkboard paint.  I used brush-on but the spray paint may have been easier.  I glued them to a painted wooden base and added a matching ribbon.  You can add whatever message you would like.  Write.  Erase.  Repeat.

Oh dear, Yvonne, I have gone and married you off.  Erase.

Back to School

Scheduling has been a bit of a hurdle for this party but the current plan is to have it Tuesday evening.  I am sticking with the lunchbox theme.  I am trying to devise the "Most Enviable Lunch".  Do you remember that kid who packed a cold lunch everyday and you knew that their mother purchased specific groceries to go into said lunch?  I want to recreate that lunch.  Ideas? 

Inspiration, Take Two

First of all, sorry for the mini-MIA act.  I was caught up in a whirlwind of spontaneous birthday celebrations for friends and my (duh-duh-duh) 20th year high school reunion.  I rethought my approach for the Teacher Party.  There have been scheduling conflicts which will likely kicked this to a lunch party.  I have a collection of old lunchboxes so the teacher brunch has turned into a teacher lunch complete with dorky old lunchboxes from our formative years.  The centerpiece: 

A Question for the Class

This week I will have a back to school brunch for some teachers who are near and dear to me.  I am still waiting for the moment of inspiration to occur in terms of party design.  I know that I will do a green and black color scheme.  The inspiration is green apples, which will be represented on the menu; and blackboards, which will not.  Any ideas would be helpful. 

Surprise!!!

Earlier this week I mentioned it was going to be a two party week.  And then I did not say another word.  We successfully surprised 15 year old Brady (with sombrero) on his birthday.  His Destination Imagination Team recently returned from Globals in Tennessee.  His mother decided to do an international themed party and I helped decorate the tables.

The Antarctica table.  Sadly, they did not have any representation at Destination Imagination Globals.

Rod and Mary had dinner in Egypt complete with pyramids and a sarcophagus.  The Chinese table is in the background. 

Brady opens gifts behind the Mexican table.  There were also Indian and Italian tables.

Although it lacked international affiliation, the tattoo table was a hot spot for the under 12 crowd.

The Table

Tomorrow is the Fantastic Mr. Fox luncheon.  I have started to set up the table.  As I mentioned the color scheme will be red and yellow.  I used a flowering dogwood arrangement.  I am not sure it will make it until tomorrow.  I may have to do a new one in the morning.

My foster brother made this bird in wood shop in high school.  It is hanging directly over the dogwood arrangement.  It is one of my favorite things.

The fox cookies are decorated.  It turns out it is harder to make red-brown frosting than I thought.  Especially if the black food coloring you believed you had is actually teal.  So they are sort of hot orangey-pink.  I'm not mad at them though.  I think next time I will just buy some brown paste food coloring. 

Foxy Decorations

My friend Tony bought me a really great cookie cutter set from Ikea.  It has a fox, a squirrel, a snail, a moose, a bear, and a hedgehog.  I have used them many times already.  For Valentine's Day I made "Woodland Creatures in Love" for work.  They were all frosted with white royal icing and sprinkled then I added a heart decoration where their tickers would be.  I am confident that any biology student worth his or her salt could challenge the placement of my snail heart, but I digress.  I have made some fox cookies that I will decorate with colored royal icing.  I always use the meringue powder because salmonella is about as far from the party spirit as one can get.  If I am making just a few cookies I will just purchase a refrigerated roll of sugar cookie dough. I have found that it rolls out better than most homemade sugar cookie doughs.

      I really wanted to do buckets of fish as a nod to the character Kylie the opossum.  He offers to share his minnows with friends.  I found these buckets at a dollar store, three buckets for a dollar.  I had originally thought Swedish fish but decided on goldfish crackers.  Don't worry I poured them back into the bag so they do not get stale. 
                                                   

What the Cuss?

Mr. Bean, one of the shows three villains, creates a special apple hybrid.  Mine are made out of fake, dollar store apples.  I kind of admired Mr. Bean, despite his rottenness, because of his ingenuity.  I am planning a simple menu loosely based on food from the film.  There will be chicken salad sandwiches, apples (not as fancy as those above), gold fish crackers, fox cookies, and juice boxes.  It would be fun to do this as a sophisticated adult dinner as well and base your menu on the extravagant dinner the animals plan after robbing the farmers.