Shindig Diva

I LOVE this idea.  I got the idea on Pinterest and it was the brilliant work of the Cheeky Kitchen.  The recipe is for  Homemade Kiss Gloss.  It’s a super simple lip gloss recipe and the kids LOVED it! LOVED IT!

 Ingredients:

Directions:

Question:  Are these facials gross or awesome?  Good question…I could go either way.

The girls were so excited about the facials with cucumbers, but when we actually started I think they were a little surprised by the gross factor.  :-)  It was awesome.  So, there  you have it gross AND awesome.

Every girl loves a good spa party.  The best part of this theme is that it works for many different ages…kiddos to adults.  This year we were celebrating my daughters 7th birthday and she wanted to share the big day with one of her BFFs who happens to have a birthday a few days after hers and live right across the street.  Here are the lovely birthday girls!  We had such a fun day of girlie fun!!

We kept the food simple. Finger sandwiches, fruit skewers, carrot chips and fresh cucumber water! It was the prefect amount of food for a kid party and was very simple to put together. As someone who frequently goes overboard for food, it was a nice change of pace.

What fun did we have on the menu?  Facials & flip flop decorating.  Then we made sugar body scrub, glitter lotion and lip gloss.  It was a jam packed 2 hours.  Stay tuned for details!

Happy Birthday girls!

Do you remember this from Piggy Bank Parties:  http://www.piggybankparties.com/oink/2012/04/silly-sunday-a-beauty-bar.html?  I am finally getting back to the blog and wanted to share a few more details from this fun spa party.  This week I am going to share a few more details, but wanted to re-share this quickly to get the party started!  Head over to Piggy Bank Parties for the details of the Beauty Bar!

There were a few more details that I wanted to share with you.  We were challenged with a tiny budget, so we kept things simple and came up with some fun.

We used bright yellow paper as table runners paired and crisp white daisies.  I love mason jars.  They are so versatile.  We photo copied year book pages and cut them into strips 2 pictures high.  We wrapped the mason jars with the photos, tied them with raffia and added white daisies.  Simple, fun, personal and inexpensive.

Another simple idea we used was an old ladder that had been well used.  We purchased some $1 votive holders and added flameless candles.  What a fun, easy way to add light for an evening gathering.   Also, less than $10!  Love that!

We set up a simple table with some signs and frames we had on hand combined with a white beverage tub and for no cost, we had a beverage table for white wine.  Cost = Free!

Of course, there had to be some memorabilia.  There were a few tables for fun memories to get everyone chatting.  Plus, this school had taken a great photo of the class in the shape of a 9 and 2.  We took these photos to the local office store and had the prints blown up for a few dollars.  To finish the over-sized copies a simple bulletin board boarder in bright yellow made it a finished look.  Another great details for around $10.

I hope you enjoyed these easy, inexpensive ways to personalize a party.  These were for a reunion, but could be used for so many different parties!

I am over at Piggy Bank Parties today sharing my latest contribution.  It’s a how-to for a country photo booth.  Don’t miss it!

http://www.piggybankparties.com/oink/2012/07/tipster-tuesday-a-country-photo-booth.html

This was a really fun party to plan!  I got to help a dear friend turn a very rough event location into a great place to celebrate a 20 year high school reunion.  The plan for food was very casual, so we need to come up with decor to go with the theme:  school colors green and yellow.  Since it was being hosted in northern Minnesota and the food was casual, we wanted to find a style that would match that – fun and a little country.

After a lot of searching, we landed on the green fabric as the basis for our theme.  To keep the casual country style, we decided an aged fence was the perfect backdrop to our treat table.  The next big element was the frame.  This frame was on it’s way to the donation center when we saved it for this great use.  I printed the year on plain white cardstock with black letters and then trimmed to equal size and hung by 1″ yellow ribbon from the back of the frame before hanging to the wall.

We had a very small budget, so we utilized ready made treats. What I have learned over the years, is that you can create some fun dessert tables by utilizing treats that are easily accessible at mass and grocery stores.  The cupcakes were a simple mix of chocolate and vanilla with white frosting.  We added a few sprinkles in the theme colors and placed each cupcake in a floral cupcake wrapper.  We included cream puffs,  brownie bites and cheesecake bites: 3 of my party go-to items.  Cakepops are a bit time consuming, but always a huge hit.  Plus, you can make a 4-5 dozen for less than $10.  We added Zen party mix and a variety of candy.  We also included 2 types of popcorn:  white cheddar and white chocolate covered popcorn.  Popcorn is always a hit and very inexpensive.  We also added green and yellow apples to baskets on the table.  I thought the apples added some whimsy and another pop of color.

This is YUMMY! YUMMY!  This is perfect for summer parties because the flavor is very fresh.  The mix of lemon and berries is awesome.   As usual, I was experimenting with this recipe when we had company over.  I love to try new recipes and frequently do when we have guests.  This time we had about 25 people coming over.  I probably should go with tried and true when we have company, but what fun is that?

Are you ready to get started? You aren’t even going to guess what the surprise third ingredient is…sprite. Who knew. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:
1 Box of Lemon Cake Mix
1 Can of Sprite Zero (or Regular)
24 oz Frozen Mixed Berries

How To:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish
3. Pour frozen mixed berries into the glass baking dish.
4. Add the dry cake mix over the berries.
5. Pour Sprite over the dry cake mix. DO NOT MIX. Make sure to cover all of the dry cake mix. Areas that aren’t covered won’t bake.
6. Bake 45 – 50 minutes.
7. Cool and enjoy!! We loved ours with plain frozen yogurt, but ice cream or whipped cream would be great too.

Happy summer!
Tara

Itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, pepers & cukes!  These are fresh from the garden cukes and peppers.  It’s hard to tell how little these are, but they are so cute!  LOVE Them!  So, I needed to share them with you just for fun!

We diced them up and made a fresh salad.  YUMMY!

Happy summer friends!

Tara

Good morning! Head over to Piggy Bank Party to check out my latest contribution:  Spa Party Beauty Bar! We’re taking a new spin on the treat table with no actual food! Check it out. You will find details about how to create your own Beauty Bar!

Tara

It’s been a fun week of Minnie Mouse!  I feel like I could really do this theme all day long.  There are SO many ideas out there.

But alas, this is my last post for this series and probably my favorite!  This centerpiece was so simple.  It was just plain fun.  I’d estimate that it took less than 20 minutes (not counting drying time).  So, let’s get started.

Here’s what you need:

• Small Styrofoam Balls (2)
• Medium Styrofoam Ball
• Bucket or Container
• Black Spraypaint
• Green Foam
• Toothpicks (2)
• Wooden Dowel

1. Insert the dowel about 2″ into the large styrofoam ball.
2. Insert a toothpick into each of the small styrofoam balls.
3. Insert the other end of the toothpicks attached to the small balls into the large balls at 10 and 2 o’clock. (like mouse ears).
4. Set up for painting: I used the container that I was using for the final centerpiece, but if you are concerned about damaging the container I’d us another one.  Pretty much anything will do approximately the size of an ice cream bucket.  Simply put the green foam into the container, covered it with a plastic bag and poked the dowel through the bag.  Using old cardboard and/or newspaper create a paint booth.  I have done this a few times and generally use a large box and some newspaper.  It’s just to protect anything that is not your target.  :-)
5. Paint away.  Be sure to get a good coat of paint everywhere.  The first time I did this I missed some spots.
6. Let dry.
7. Remove plastic bag and fill the container with something decorative – shredded paper or tissue paper work.  For this one I used some shiny white garland.
8. Add a bow for Minnie!

Happy Minnie Mouse week!!

Tara