Category Archives: Parties

13 December, 2011  |   Comment

Decorating the house and cookies

Dottie turned two!

We believe strongly in letting our kids decide what parties they’re throwing (I mean, how else would we have ended up with Nora Lea’s last birthday theme?)

Asking Dottie, “What kind of birthday party do you want to have?” returned the answer, “COOKIE PARTY!” so James and I shrugged and went to work.

Guests
We kept the invite list low, only one kiddo, heavy on the grown-ups.

Decorating
I decided against gift bags, after the amazing bags the girls have come home with from parties past. Sometimes, when faced with something that I should be into (see: My Wedding) I get so overwhelmed with possibilities, I just shut down. So when it came to gift bags for my two year old’s birthday party, I just… just… didn’t have space in my brain (or wallet) to put something charming and whimsical and damn it, USEFUL, together.

Instead of spending tons of cash on flowers and signage and things, I picked up some helium-filled balloons at the grocery store and sent them home with our toddler guest. For decorating, I found two disposable tablecloths in the garage and that was good enough for me.

We moved the coffee table over by our dining area and put the little chairs around it so the girls would have their own space. They loved it.

Digression: I know that decorating parties is the biggest part of all the party pr0n all over the internet, but when you actually have people coming to your home to eat food, perfect printables stuck on a dessert table are quite literally my last priority.

Is the food delicious?
Will my friends be comfortable?
Better yet, will they have fun?
These are the questions I worry about, not the perfect tablescape.
(But you already knew that.)

Cookies!

Dottie turned two!

We set out all kinds of sprinkles in those aforementioned vintage lunch trays from Alison from Petit Elefant. I gave the girls baked cookies in various circle sizes and let them have at it. It took all of my self-control not to intervene, and not-intervene I did.
Guests took their cookies home in a box lined with tissue paper.

Dottie turned two!

A super sugar-filled dance party helped get the sillies out before bedtime.
(As super sugar-filled dance parties tend to do.)

Happy second birthday Dottie.
You make us laugh every day.

12 December, 2011  |   Comment

Dottie’s Cookie Party

Dottie turned two!

Dottie’s Cookie Party
Don’t those words just look like they go together?
Seems like Dottie should always have a cookie party, just because the words fit so nicely. All those iEeees!

Dottie’s birthday coincides with a pretty hectic holiday party season. Since I have lots of friends and family with holiday birthdays, I’m hyper-sensitive to making sure she gets her party on.

Dottie turned two!

I think she was pretty happy.

Dottie’s cookie party was also a make your own pizza party.
(That ended up being the most fun part for the grown ups.)

Assembling your own food helps divert attention from food sensitivities and gives guests something to do when conversation slows.

Timing
The party was Tuesday night. Since the days I work in San Francisco find me out of the house until 8pm, I have to plan as much as I can ahead of time.

Make-your-own-pizza time was from 5:30-6:30pm.
Cookie decorating from 6:30-7:30.
(Bedtime could be stretched a little later.)

Saturday
Make lists (to do and shopping)
Pick up non-perishables (drinks, napkins, paper plates)
Make cookie dough

Sunday
Bake cookies
Mix frosting
Make pasta

Monday
Pick up drinks and perishables on the way home from work
Make pasta salad
Make playlist

Tuesday
I worked from home on Tuesday and was able to fit in a pre-work trip to the grocery store. I bought pizza dough from the grocery store (1.99 per ball of dough!), but you could also pick up pizza dough from your local pizza place (really! they sell it!).

The Set-Up
After emptying a jar of marinara sauce into a bowl, I set out shredded mozzerella cheese, pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms. I also had picked up arugula and fontina for the fancies, but no one really wanted the fancy stuff.

Pro-tip: People love a basic pizza bar! Unless they are fancies. Which my people are not.

Minutes before the guests arrived we assembled a big old green salad to round out the buffet. We were eating cookies for dessert so I put the water on for some decaf at the same time.

Guests arrived around 5:45. We opened each gift as soon as it came in the door — it made everyone happier. Each toddlers had their toys and each guest got to watch her open it. There were only five guests, but it worked for us.

We baked cheese pizzas earlier so they would be ready for the toddlers at party time. That way the toddlers had time for a dance party. Turns out the kids ate much faster than the grown ups so they had extra time to work on their cookies. And dance.

Stretching out our dough balls (heh),
spooning on the sauce,
sprinkling on the fixings,
making our own pizzas was something we all were strangely good at.

I bet you’re pretty good at making your own pizza too.
Then we decorated some cookies.

Dottie turned two!

More on that tomorrow.

20 November, 2011  |   1 Comment

Cheesewhizzes Soft and Oozy

Anderson's Conn Valley

Saturday night we were lucky enough to host our regular Cheesewhizzes party at the gorgeous caves at Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards. This month’s cheese theme was soft and oozy and the cheeses did not fail to impress.

What I mean to say is that they’re impressive.
(You know what I mean.)

The softer and oozier the cheese, the more likely it’s stinky.
And we stunk up those caves, I’ll tell you what.

Epoisses, Andante Pianoforte, Goat’s Milk Brie, there is a whole lot of soft and oozy cheese coming into its own this time of year.
(Go get some.)

Special thanks to Joseph of GoVino, who generously provided glasses easy group wine tasting. I’m excited to use GoVinos for our upcoming holiday cocktail party — easy peasy non-breakable glassware.
(Plus, GoVinos make great snack catchers for the toddler set.)

My checklist o’Cheesewhizzes:
Spectacular wine? Check.
Styley glassware? Check.
Amazing cheese? Check.
Good people? Check.

See you at the next one.

26 October, 2011  |   1 Comment

On Loving Halloween Again

I used to be Ms. Halloween.

Annoying my friends by asking what they were going to be for Halloween, I’d start in April. Decorating for Halloween October 1, our Halloween parties were quadruple capacity. Imaginary Halloween costumes already selected for my future children, were custom-made and started in May.

It was MY holiday.
And then I had kids.

Post-partum exhaustion with the first, an emotional pregnancy and post-partum anxiety with the second had me weeping in the middle of a dark living room while the babies screamed and the dog paced. Trauma might be too strong a word to describe the past three Halloweens, but intense unhappiness gets me a little closer.

I started resenting Halloween.

All that WORK, just to what? Pretend you’re someone else? To give away this slave made chocolate to kids from outside our neighborhood anyway? Stupid, stupid holiday.

And then I started resenting mySELF.
That grumpy gus attitude wasn’t helping anyone have a better time, and that’s no good either.

My girls are thrilled to dress up, we have a huge front porch just made for decorating and just because I’m not 100% thrilled with the state of my midsection doesn’t mean I can’t get in the celebratory spirit.

My change of heart was also inspired by radical immersion. For work and fun, I curated several collections of ingenious Halloween treats. You try keeping a frown after reviewing no less than 194 recipes for Yummy Mummies.

Due to an ill-fitting internet costume purchase, I broke out the sewing machine to tailor my daughter’s costume to fit. While it was out, I whipped up a crafty porch banner with some scrap fabric (pictures and how-to tomorrow). I’ll get back into it. I can tell. Slow and steady, yo.

For more inspiration, some Halloweens from my past
hj_james A Halloween Family
Halloween 1995 Gunnar, Brenda, Kelly, Matt
The group of us Halloween was cold
Carla, HJ and Eileen Punkin

 

20 October, 2011  |   1 Comment

More school-themed inspiration

The nostalgia keeps on coming as I continue to be inspired by school-themed ideas.
Especially apples.
Especially at this time of year.

Right now, in the USA, apples are mighty inexpensive.
This means if decorate with lots of them, you can cook them right down into a tasty apple butter when you’re done.
(I like my decorations to be useful.)

Serene, stylish and totally doable. I like these apples.

Naturally, these, uh, tablescapes are from a fancy wedding, but I can see a use for these at all kinds of parties.

Reusable! Cheap! High-impact! These pencils are a triumvirate of awesome.
(Consider ordering your own personalized pencils for friends or yourself.)

Wait, now where was I?
Oh right, in the middle of 30 extra apples.

Got those? Then make apple butter. A welcomed hostess gift, it could also be repurposed as a favor for your next party.
(And if you need a reason for a party, I’ll be happy to help you out.)

Let’s use them up! With our slow cooker! This recipe makes about 8 pints of apple butter when you’re all done. This recipe will work for a host gift or a party favor. Cheap, gluten-free, low-calorie, chock-full of flavor and vegan. Win x 5.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter Recipe

Ingredients
30 apples
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
3 tsp cinnamon (divided)
1/2 tsp allspice (divided)
1 tsp ground cloves (divided)
3 cups sugar (divided)
1 tsp salt
1 lemon’s worth of grated rind and the juice from said lemon.

Instructions
Get the apples ready. Remove the stems, wash the apples, cut out the cores and cut the apples into quarters. Keep the skins on. We want all that luxurious pectin.

Place your apples into a large soup pot over high heat with the apple cider vinegar and water. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook for 15-20 minutes or until apples are soft. Put half of these apples in your slow cooker. Half the apples should fill your slow cooker right up — we’ll be adding the rest as these cook down.

Add 1 1/2 cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp cloves and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Mix well and put the crock pot on low for 10 hours.
Stir as it occurs to you.

After 10 hours, add the other half of the apples. Keep your slow cooker going for yet another 10 hours on low. If you still have apples left, keep adding more apples, mix it up and let ‘er cook for another 10 hours. Done? Done.

Let cool a bit and blend with a blender or an immersion blender. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp allspice, all of the lemon rind and lemon juice.

Add to prepared (boiled and sterilized) canning jars, or plan to eat within the week.