So, I love, love, love cake pops!  There are so many fantastically unique ways to make cake pops.  I saw these fun ice cream cone cake pops over at my friend over at Krafty Kim’s blog!  Aren’t they fantastic?  FANTASTIC!!  Thanks for the inspiration

What?  Really?  Did you really say “Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies”?  Yes, yes I did!  Isn’t this fantastic.  I just had to share it!

One scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough?

Don’t be silly!  2 scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough!

Make a big ball.

Bake.

Enjoy!!

YUMMY!

Check out the wonderful step-by-step instructions to make Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chips over at Picky Plate!

So, I’ve already shared the wonderful bacon filled fare with you!  If you missed it, don’t miss it – here’s a link!  On to the decor, treats and favors!

The color scheme started with some fabulous purple chargers!  Using that as a jumping off point, I coordinating silver and purple accents.  To accommodate all the guests we had 2 tables.  This was the first one.

I found these purple bottles and tall glass candle holders that were perfect.

On a very successful trip to Home Goods, I found the white 3 candle centerpiece and the silver table runner!

This was the second table.  It was fun to create a completely different look for this table.  Tying into the other decor, I used the black and sliver as the scheme for this table.  I found these great black flower candle holders and used silver wrap as runners.

On to one of my favorite parts of any party – the Treat and Favor Table.

There were so many amazing treats I hardly know where to start!

Oh, goodness.  The big winners were the amazing mini carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and French macaroons.  Oh, so yummy.  I am drooling just thinking about them.  We also had fantastic cannoli – one of my husband’s favorites!

And what was the favor you ask?  Well, it had to have bacon!  Drum roll please….Peanut Butter Maple Bacon Fudge.  That is a mouth full!  And you may be asking was that good?  ABSOLUTELY!  Everyone got to take home a little bacony goodness for later!

Love you honey!   Happy Birthday!!

Well, this was a very fun party to plan!!  For my husband’s birthday, I wanted to do something different.  When I came up with the theme I had no idea how awesome bacon could be!  We set out to create a whole menu based on bacon and we did.  Every course had bacon from the adult beverages to the fudge favors.  I am excited to share these details with you!  If you were there, it will be a great reminder of the bacony fun we had!  If you weren’t, we are SO sorry you missed it.  I must admit…this was one of my favorite parties to date.  Mostly because it was so perfect for the guest of honor!

Sit down menus aren’t normally my style of entertaining because they are time consuming when guests are there, but this one, I was very lucky to have the amazing Carrie Riewe in the kitchen keeping everything under control.  In the spirit of full disclosure:  I did NO cooking for this party!

Every great cocktail party has to have have a bar and a feature drink.  Our feature drink…Bacon Old Fashions.  Yep, that’s right bacon old fashions.  We infused whiskey with bacon for several days to make the key ingredient.  Plus, we added real bacon swizzle sticks as a garnish!  I can’t say that I drank one of these, but they were a big hit!

What kind of menu do you have with every element having bacon?

Drum roll please…..here is the menu:

Appetizer
Bacon-Wrapped Tator Tots

Soup
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup Garnished with
Sour Cream & Bacon

Salad
Apple & Prosciutto Salad

Main
Chicken Marsala with Pancetta & Cream
Mushroom Risotto
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Bacon

Dessert
Maple Syrup Pudding with Bacon

Let’s talk appetizers.  This will sound a little strange, but one of the best foods of the evening were the Bacon Wrapped Tator Tots.  I am NOT kidding.  These little things were amazing and have made appearances at several parties since.  We also had a fabulous brie en croute – who doesn’t love an ooey, gooey brie!  Yum!  The remaining 4 courses were served at the table.  The soup course was Roasted Tomato Basil Soup Garnished with Sour Cream & Bacon.    This soup was outstanding! It was made with pounds and pounds of fresh tomatoes, chopped and then simmered for hours in the kitchen.Salad course was Apple & Prosciutto.  It was really beautiful.  The great thing I have learned over the last few years is that simple is often better wehn it comes to food!  Apple & Prosciutto Sala d

Ooo  the main course!  So much goodness in the main course!  The Chicken Marsala with Pancetta & Cream was perfect!  On the side,  Mushroom Risotto was amazing and to round it off…Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Bacon.  Who doesn’t like roasted brussell sprouts?  I am saying that to be funny a little, but really who doesn’t love these?  They are amazing. 

The finale…

Here is the second part of the Bacon Mania Party: Tables, Treats & Favor!

Pomanders are also called “Flower Kissing Balls“.  It’s like a mistle toe all year long!  Aren’t these sweet?  What’s the best part?  Pizzazzerie has step-by-step instructions on how to make them!  The tutorial was created by Paula at Frog Prince Paperie.  I can’t wait to try this one.  Check it out!

Simple Martha Stewart punch…lot’s of punching!

Take 2 flowers and add a pin.

Add to a styrofoam ball.  Repeat many times.  Simple. 

Get the detailed instructionsat Pizzazzerie! 

 

When I got this idea in my head, I spent the next week or so trying to get it out.  Because I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, I had to find a purpose for it!!  I think it worked out pretty well.  There are so many elements that I loved about about this dessert feature.   The fence background is a paper background.  I have been looking for a use for it for a while, so I knew when I started dreaming up this table that it was perfect. 

The 3 photos above are my favorites.  This blossom box was a perfect centerpiece to the table.  The chocolate cupcakes topped it off.  The birdcages couldn’t be passed up and each perfectly fit a mini cupcake.  These bird baths were so cute.  I loved the idea of filling them with aqua colored jelly belly’s.  Aren’t those little butterflies cute. 

The desserts on table were all very basic.  Cute little blueberry pies topped bird books.  Glazed donuts and brownies placed on simple white plates.

The little teal flower cups were the sweetest little candy dishes. 

The only treat that I haven’t mentioned are those adorable little pecan pies.  I want to eat them up right now!  Yummy! 

Hope you enjoyed this dessert feature as much as I did dreaming it up. 

Photos:  Nicole Reyes Photography

I saw this super cute airplane party on Save the Date 4 Cupcakes.   This awesome airline party was submitted by Helen of Bonita Design.  Backdrops can really bring the whole able together and make them unique.  I love this yellow backdrop with clouds.

How amazing is this suitcase cake?  I love cakes!  They can really bring a theme to life.  It’s so cute.  I love the color combination of red and blue.  It’s also topped with a whimsical blue & red airplane.  This is a perfect little boy party!

Every great airplane party requires peanuts!  Right?

The accent suitcases are simply fantastic.  They offer a vintage flair and are so sweet.

I heart this party…but some of my most favorite elements are in the photo above.  How clever are those little windows?  And the cloud centerpieces?  And the numbers on the seat numbers? Love these details!

http://www.savethedate4cupcakes.com/2011/02/fabulous-airline-dessert-table.html

At the Odebrecht household, we are contemplating a 2nd annual Neighborhood St. Patrick’s Day party.  So, when I saw this fantastic St. Patrick’s Day party posted on one of my favorite blogs: Kara’s Party Ideas.  The party came from Wants and Wishes.  It’s super fantastic and I am thinking about having our party, so I can utilize this fantastic inspiration.  Here are some peaks of the fabulous ideas, but you can find all kinds of additional information over at their blog.  What’s even better is that ALL of the printables are available in the Wants and Wishes Etsy Shop for just $10!!  It’s on my wants and wishes list. 

The bags of lucky charms cereal are adorable! 

One of my favorite elements of this party is the tree centerpiece growing out of the pot of gold. 

That pot of gold filled with gold coins is FANTASTIC!

 Aren’t these personal pots of gold cute!

 I haven’t done any of these mini chocolate wraps yet, but these are too cute. 

Lucky charms cupcakes…awesome!

There are many, many more details and DIY information on the Wants and Wishes blog! 

Check it out: http://wantsandwishesdesign.blogspot.com/2011/02/luck-o-irish-printable-collection.html

Okay, I am crazy for gumball necklaces!  Love them!!  I saw them last week when Shauna Younge was featured on Kare11.  I think these are going to have to make an appearance at the Diva’s and Rockstar Party we are planning for March.

These super amazing photos are from One Charming Party.  They have a really great tutorial on how to make these adorable gumball necklaces.  You must check it out!

I was so excited to get the request from my dear friend to create a Elmo themed party for one of my favorite little 2 year olds!  I couldn’t have been more excited to be part of his big day even though I am more than 1500 miles away!  So, here is the party I created, boxed up and shipped from Minnesota to Florida!  My favorite place to start getting ideas for parties is Etsy!  If you haven’t found Etsy, I recommend checking out all of the fantastic handmade products from some very creative individuals.  When I went out to start my search for Elmo party ideas, I found this super cute Sesame Street printable collection from Shindig Parties (extra cool because of the awesome name)!  Printables are a great way to create custom parties with really unique items. 

I love these brightly colored lollipops!  They add so much color and fun.  It’s so simple to create containers to hold lollipops or cake pops.  In the example above, I used an orange bucket, added some green foam, topped with shredded red paper and stuck the lollipops in.  Done!  I used this same technique on the other side of the table to create a container to hold the popcorn cones.  The only difference is that you  need to stick skewers into the foam, slip the cones over the skewers and add popcorn. 

Favors for this party were simple.  The Shindig Parties tags that said “Elmo loves his goldfish, Crayons too.  Now so can you!”  set us up for perfect favors.  I simply printed the labels and taped them to bright blue bags.  What’s in the bag?  Well, crayons and goldfish!

I have been noodling ideas for cupcake stands and this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a new idea.  Whatever I did, it had to be inexpensive and easy to ship.  This was super simple.  I took it 2 cake boards, a cake dummy, ribbon and double sided tape.  So simple!  It took me about 15 minutes.  The result was a cake stand that fit this table perfectly!

Cookies are a key menu item for any sesame street themed party.  The ‘Me Love Cookies’ tags are so cute. 

The place settings were also very simple. 

Keeping with the  Elmo red, I found 12 x 12 sheets of paper, red paper cups, red square plate (Target), red and orange polka dot napkins (Target) and the icing on the cake – Elmo hat (Party City).  To make the place settings pop, I kept the tablecloths white. 

When I saw this adorable Elmo Lunchbox, I knew it had to have it!  So, cute.  A few red and orange balloons and the centerpiece was complete.  On either side of the mailbox, I added a fishbowl that I filled with clear & blue rocks in honor of Dorothy! 

Meet gregory!  Isn’t he the sweetest little thing ever!  What a stunning photo!

Credits:
Photography: Nicole Reyes Photography

Photo of Gregory: CordZ Photography
Party Printable Collection: Shindig Parties