Friday, December 14, 2007

Another Girlfriends Christmas Party

My friend Alisha and I enjoy hosting a party for our Girlfriends at Christmas as our "gift" to them. Here's what we did this year.



Wednesday night my friend Alisha and I hosted our 2nd Girlfriends Christmas Party. Neither of our days went as planned but we still had a great time and were happy with how everything turned out. When we were on the phone in the afternoon realizing how much was left to do in such little time I said "I think we might not be the super women we thought we were", she laughed at my drama.

These were the invitations we sent out.


We invited 6 friends to the party so there were 8 of us total. We started off with appetizers and punch while we played a little "get to know you better game". Okay, okay, I'll tell the truth, we started off with Alisha using my blender without putting the bottom of it on and then having quite the mess when she tried to take the blender off of the stand, after that our guests started arriving and we enlisted there help in some last minute food prep. THEN we enjoyed Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles, Veggie Pizza, Shrimp Dip and Frothy Pink Grapefruit Strawberry Drink while we played the "get to know you better game". Four of the girls won prizes which were either a bag filled with foot scrub, lotion, a pumice stone and pedicure kit, or a bag of chocolate covered pretzel rods rolled in toffee bits.



Then it was onto dinner. Alisha made the lime tower centerpiece and had extra berries left over that I used along with some ribbon and a tag to tie the napkins with. We served Christmas Salad, Barbequed London Broil with Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes, Crunchy Green Beans, Orange Rolls, and the most delicious and beautiful Island Fruit Cups you have ever seen (Alisha has an amazing gift for food presentation).




After dinner we did our dessert exchange. Everyone brought a fun holiday dessert on a new serving tray to give away! Here is a picture of them, I took individuals but most of them were blurry. Alisha made the Black Forest Cake, I made the tall cupcakes, Tanya made the Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Torte, Tina made the cutest snowman cupcakes, Kelly made her famous Peppermint Fudge Truffle Cake on a pedestal that I REALLY wanted, Lori made her own recipe of Ooey Gooey bars in this super cute candy cane tray, Heidi brought her favorite wassail recipe in this cute teapot, and Celeste made her famous cathedral cookies. Everyone was so excited to take their treats home to their families.




For the dessert that we actually got to eat Alisha made Double Chocolate Souffles.with Warm Fudge Sauce. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. Heaven in a bowl. Seriously a must try!


The last part of our evening was our little craft. We made these cute ornaments inspired by Becky Higgins. Each ornament has four pics of each child on it to remember this year by. Each person made them so differently and they all turned out so cute.





I had a great time and am so thankful for such good friends to share fun times with. I can't wait for next year!

submitted by Emily (www.delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com)

Packaging Idea


Looking for a cute and economical way to present all of those little gifties?

I found these great red lunch sacks at Target. They had blue as well. I can't remember how many were in the package but I want to say 50 for less than $2

Fold over the top, hole punch two holes, bring some fab ribbon through and add a tag. All set!

You could even jazz it up with a charm or ornament attached to the ribbon.

We like to do the ribbon through the flap side but you could do the backside as well.

We have used brown paper sacks too and they look great, as well.

(Our teacher gifts for Religious Ed were homemade cutouts cookies and hot cocoa packets.)

submitted by Carlo

A Few Fun Ideas

This first one is a scraplift from Becky Higgins blog, it is soo easy to make. Clear pebbles from your local craft store and scrap paper and ribbon and it is a great gift to give too. The second is a piece of wood, painted and I used rub on letters from my local scrapbooking store and rub on snowflakes and wrapped fabric around the edges. The third is an Ikea mirror frame which I painted a snowman on and used a wooden snowflake.






submitted by Joanne

Christmas Potpourri


his Christmas potpourri fills your house with a delicous holiday aroma. You will need: Fresh oranges, lemons and limes, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks (I got my spices in bulk and it saved me a ton of $). I got my cellophane bags at Michaels and you could attatch any sort of tag you wanted. I typed up these directions on the back of my tag:

Christmas Potpourri

1. Place ingredients in pot.
2. Fill Pot with water, covering potpourri mix.
3. Bring to a boil and turn down to low.
4. Let simmer & continute to add water as needed.

* potpourri will last approx. one week.

These can be used as visiting teaching gifts or little party favors etc. I think I spent around $14 to do approx. 40 bags. They are always a hit! Hope you enjoy!

submitted by Holly (http://www.zachhollyd.blogspot.com)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Girlfriends Christmas Party Invite




Ok this isn't really a gift idea but its the invitation to my "Girlfriends Christmas Party" that I'm having next week... invitations are simple.. maybe too simple but they're done and in the mailbox.

At the party I'm serving dinner...

3-4 different homemade soups
homemade Parmesan breadsticks
strawberry spinach salad (because its Christmas colors and so yummy!)
Hot Chocolate bar (mints, marshmellows, chocolate chips, etc)
Caramel Apple Cider

and then for dessert everybody will be bringing their favorite homemade holiday treat

I'll also be doing door prizes every twenty minutes... I'll have questions made up before hand and every twenty minutes I'll draw a question and somebody will win a gift... gifts are Christmas items... most from the dollar spot (actually the $2.50 spot ) at Target... christmas towels, cookie cutters, a Christmas movie, a christmas apron, etc.

We'll finish off the evening with "My Favorite Things" gift exchange and everybody received an insert in their invitation describing what to bring.

I hope that it turns out well... I'm reallly looking forward to it!!

submitted by MaryRuth Francks
www.thefrancks.typepad.com

Christmas Pineapples


My friend Kristi has the best ideas! Every year she gives out pineapples with a big red bow attached.
They are simple, beautiful and an especially delicious treat for everyone. They make great thank you gifts,
are a great addition to any homemade meal you might be delivering, and are great as gifts for friends and neighbors.
The pineapple symbolizes hospitality. In colonial times, if a pineapple was placed at the entrance to a village or placed as
the main centerpiece on a dining table, it symbolized the utmost welcome and hospitality to the visitor.

Submitted by Liz Brown (www.brownsarebloggin.blogspot.com)

Christmas Card/Sucker idea



Here is one of mine from last year...sorry the photo of the actual item
isn't all that great, but they turned out really cute! We dropped them by
several neighbors and ward members homes and rec'd lots of calls asking how
we made the succors and the tags.

Chocolate Lightbulb Succors:
Candy Molds
Melting Chocolate (I used red and green for the bulbs & brown for the little
screw tip)
Succor Sticks
Candy bags for wrappers (or any kind of cellophane)
Ribbon
Treat Tags

Directions: Melt chocolate in microwave on 50% power stirring occasionaly,
until smooth. Pour into molds and lightly tap mold on counter to allow air
bubbles to rise to the top. Insert sticks. Let harden in fridge or freezer.
Candy should be ready to remove from molds in about 30 minutes.

Note: I purchased about five molds so that I could make several at a time. I
got the light bulb molds from Hobby Lobby, but you can get them at Michaels
or any type of Cake/Candy shop. With the molds and candy I believe I spent
around $20 and made over 100 succors.

Treat Tags:
I created the tags in photoshop using a few digiscrap supplies I already
had. I printed them in a 2x3 business card size and attached one to each
group of succors (Each group had a succor for each person in the recipients
family).

I came up with the tag idea and got the light bulb strand from:
http://heatheranndesigns.info/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=33&osCsid=dc7565ea6991e44f06555b38c1aef4de

Submitted by: Jennifer Kesler http://jenkesler.blogspot.com