"Pins" of the Day

Today I just must share my favorite Alice in Wonderland pins!

Alice in Wonderland sweets table.

Who wouldn't enjoy being invted to partake of the sweets at this wonderfully themed Alice in Wonderland party?   i love the colors and the themeing of the cupcakes!

Cheshire Cat Cheesball
This is the most creative display of food I have ever seen for an Alice in Wonderland themed party!  I will be hosting an Alice themed baby shower this August, and I am making this Cheshire Cat cheeseball for sure!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party
This is a more rustic interpretation of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, but I think it is a lovely image!

Happy pinning ~ Chloe Crabtree

A Kentucky Derby Party

It may only be March, but you might want to consider...

Cupcakes created by Save the date for cupcakes, and how about the brown sugar racetrack!

Saturday, May 5, 2012 is the date of the 138th running of The Kentucky Derby.  Why not plan a party around it starting now?  Make yours casual, or have your guests dress up like those attending the derby. 

This is a lovely spread for a Derby Party!

A great invitation to set the theme! Include all the details!

Or...for a different invitation, how about printing them on paper, rolling them up, tying with a ribbon and tying on a tiny horse figurine purchased at the dollar store?  

Save the Date for Cupcakes featured this lovely Derby table.

How fun would these be decorating your table?

Metal Mint Julep cups are the traditional way to serve them.

Mint Julep Recipe

4 Fresh mint sprigs

2 1/2 ounce Kentucky bourbon 

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

2 teaspoon  water

Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a glass.  Fill the glass with crushed ice and add bourbon.  Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

A great Derby-themed cake!

Derby Pie is another dessert choice to consider!

It is my understanding that "Derby Pie" is trademarked.  There are quite a number of variations, some using pecans, others walnuts, I will let you search out the recipe that suits your tastes and talents! 

Decorate the back of each chair with a different horse's number.

1. Encourage guests to wear hats, give a prize for best Derby hat!  
2. Serve mint juleps, the traditional drink of the Derby.
3. Use red roses in your decorating, The Kentucky Derby is known as The Run for the Roses.
4. NBC Derby coverage begins at 4:00pm with The Kentucky Derby Red Carpet coverage, and continues with the race at 5:00 and additional coverage until 7:00.  Have all of your televisions sets tuned in.
5. Serve traditional Kentucky foods to keep with the theme.
6. Make rosettes like winners typically get, to decorate the backs of guests' chairs.
7. Have a horseshoe-shaped cake decorated with red frosting roses.
8. Put numbers 1 - 20 on pieces of paper and put them in a silver bowl.  Have each guest pick one one, that is the horse they will root for during the race.  The winner receives a small prize.  
9. Use a large horse head sculpture, or little toy horses set on your serving tables.
10. Use astroturf for your tablecloth on your serving tables.
11. Bring out all the best china and silver, celebrate this one-hundred and thirty-eight year old tradition!

Benedictine spread finger sandwiches are another Kentucky classic.

Kentuckians are thankful that Miss Jennie Carter Benedict created her Benedictine spread back around the turn of the century for her catering business.  Use this cream cheese and cucumber spread for finger sandwiches, or as a dip for vegetables and on crackers.


Benedictine Recipe


1 large cucumber
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons finely grated onion
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 drop of green food coloring

1. Peel, grate and drain the cucumber
2. Combine with remaining ingredients in food processor
3. Serve as is as a sandwich or canape spread
4. Thin with sour cream to make a dip for vegetables.

Country ham served on biscuits is a real Kentucky treat.

Bourbon Balls are a must have!

Bourbon Balls Recipie

1 cup chopped nuts

5 tablespoons Kentucky Bourbon

1/2 Cup butter, softened

1 (16 ounce) package confectioners' sugar

18 ounces semisweet chocolate

1. Place the nuts in a jar, pour the bourbon over the nuts, seal the jar and allow the nuts to soak overnight.
2. Mix the butter and sugar; fold in the soaked chopped nuts.  Form into 3/4" balls and refrigerate overnight.  
3. Line a tray with waxed paper.  Melt the chocolate, roll the balls in the melted chocolate to coat, arrange in a single layer and store in the refrigerator until serving.  

Party on! - Chloe Crabtree

Tuesday Tips...RSVP

RSVP

R.S.V.P. is an acronym for the French phrase, "répondez, s'il vous plaît," which means "reply please".  You would include R.S.V.P. on an invitation when you would like those invited to respond, so that you may plan accordingly for the number of guests.  This is particularly important for an event such as a wedding or dinner party, where dinner will be served, as you will be setting a place for each guest.  For a cocktail party, or birthday party, you would also like a guest count as a practical point, so that you may plan on how much food and drink to buy and prepare.  For a children's party or bridal or baby shower, you would like to know the number of favors to prepare, also.   

A Christmas Dinner Party

You wouldn't want to show up for a dinner party without a place for you at the table!

Winter Dinner Party

Elegant favors for a wedding or shower.

You don't want to come up short with the number of favors, nor do you want to have to prepare or  purchase extra favors, another reason for a firm number of R.S.V.P.'s.

Fun for a children's party

I want you to always be a lovely hostess, but remember to always be a lovely guest, and R.S.V.P. promptly to any social event to which you are invited.  

Tuesday Tips...Repeat the Party

Having a themed birthday party for kids on a Sunday afternoon?  Take advantage of all the work you have done decorating and have an adult get-together on Saturday night!  This same idea works for a kid's birthday party on Saturday, and a baby or bridal shower on Sunday.  Some great ideas that work for either or are:

• A Pirate Theme
• A Princess Theme
• Alice in Wonderland Theme

Yes, it might make for a long weekend with a lot of work, but you save money and time!  Do all the decorations once, use them twice!

I could use the following decor for an Alice in Wonderland Party for little girls on a Saturday Afternoon and re-use it on Sunday for a Bridal Shower.

For children? For Adults?

A Pirate-themed dinner place setting.

The above table setting would be great for a 'night-before' adult party, then recycle the decor for the kids party the next day!

A Princess Party for little girls on Saturday? A Baby Shower on Sunday?

A lovely party setting
This lovely setting could be a Tea Party for ladies on Saturday and a sweet birthday party for a young girl on Sunday.

Use your imagination, and do the work once, entertain twice!

A Pirate Party!

 I had an opportunity to throw a great Pirate-themed party several years ago.  It was a surprise 40th birthday party.  I took a painting tarp from a home improvement store, painted the Happy 40th Birthday message on it, and rolled it up, tied it with twine, and rigged it up on crossed bamboo poles.  When the guest of honor arrived, we pulled the twine, and the pirate "sail" unrolled and surprised the birthday boy!

You want to have a Pirate party?  Remember to start with a really great, themed invitation....

Create a great invitation like this!

Roll up those invitations and put them in a bottle!

Set the scene...I used black foam core and coffee cans painted black to fashion cannons, trimmed with rope to meet the pirates as they arrived!  Or try a 'walk the plank' type of entry.

Decoration sets the scene!

Keep the theme going with the decor!

Wood crates and rope add to your theme!

This is a beautiful tablescape!

Give your guests a hat and sword or eye-patch!

A Pirate Candy Bar!

Broom handles or bamboo poles to hang sails.

This cake is a work of art!

Adorable cake.

One of the best themed pirate parties I have seen is featured at greenweddingplannerblog.  Here are just a few images, check it out!

Don't forget to theme your food like this.

Another pirate cake!

What a lovely Pirate-themed buffet!

Keep your theme in mind!  For food, use chicken drumsticks and pull the meat up over the bone, leaving it exposed.  Grill them or marinate and use jerk or barbecue seasoning.  Don't forget goldfish crackers!   Try macaroni and cheese with fun pasta shapes!  The Pasta Shop has lobster, crab and palm tree shaped pastas!  Rename your food with fun pirate-themed names:

• Meatballs are cannon balls
• Chicken nuggets, pirate gold
• Drumsticks - parrots' legs
• Strawberries, raspberries and red grapes are rubies
• A chest of clementines to fight scurvy
• Mini hotdogs in pastry become pirate fingers
• Homemade breadsticks are swords to dip in 'blood' spaghetti sauce

Use your imagination with whatever food you have planned!


 

The Anatomy of a Party

This ongoing post will follow the development of a party from concept to event....


Trigger for this party:


My husband mentioned that he needed me to plan a cocktail party this coming May for clients and business associates.  In this event, I did not have to select the date, the location, or the time for the event.  The date was set by convenience, the time by what we both felt comfortable with, and we will be using our home for the event. 


1.  Theme
     I never plan a party or event without a theme in mind.  I always believe that the more fun the theme, the more fun the event.  Unfortunately (for me) for a cocktail party where the guests are primarily clients and business associates, I need to reign in my theme from something like 'The Wizard of Oz'.  I threw out a couple of ideas:  

• Keys - "The key to our success is your business"  for example
• Watch or Clock - "The time is now for a gathering of friends"
• Newspaper or newsprint - featuring headlines about the event
• Letters - I planned on using the brown craft letters on the food table spelling out EAT, and use a variety of fonts on the invitation, with perhaps an image of a vintage typewriter.

     I discussed my plans for each of these themes, and my husband selected the watch/clock theme.  

2.  Invitation

     The next step (since date, time and location were not a factor) is designing my invitation.  Even with a more subdued theme, I ALWAYS theme my invitations to my party.  I want guests to know from the beginning, that this is going to be a special event.  I have chosen a vintage clock image from The Graphics Fairy blog to use as my primary image.  

The really neat thing about this image, is that our party is planned for 7:00!

More on the invitations soon.....

Exciting Event!

Hi friends!  I was so lucky last evening to get to attend a very special dinner at Disney's Design & Display Warehouse in Orlando, Florida!  This is the place that creates all the exciting backdrops, props and display tables for Disney banquets and conventions.  You can just imagine all the fantastic stuff in their warehouse.  Unfortunately, the warehouse is considered a 'backstage' area, and I was not able to take pictures in there.  I knew that ahead of time, so I did not take my camera, but then I saw their offices, and found out I COULD take pictures in there.  Please don't mind the camera phone pictures, and enjoy!  

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The lobby of the warehouse is all in black and white and grey.  Don't you love this Dalmation print sofa?

Each designer was allowed to design and decorate their office to their individual liking...

This is one designer's office!

He is obviously a Star Wars fan!

His desk. 

Darth Vader watches him work!

So sorry for the blurry pictures...I was overwhelmed (and afraid they were going to tell me to stop taking pictures at any minute!

Prop representing Plane Crazy

These are large prop pieces representing Plane Crazy, an early Mickey Mouse black and white animated short.  









The most exciting part that we could photograph was their conference room...all themed to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland!  Pictures coming later today!  

One of the chairs in the conference room.

The ceiling in the conference room. It is a chess board with chess pieces in white and red, of course!

A tiny door built into toe corner of the conference room!