Easy Peasy Five Minute Cake Pops

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A few weekends ago Reggie and I had Kel’s Itty Bitty Basketball Team over for a fun afternoon! I planned on making some yummy cake pops the night but I FORGOT! I FORGOT  to make cake pops!

Instead I took a shortcut. I used donut holes instead! I can’t get enough of the donut hole. They can be very dangerous;0)

Luckly I had some on hand that Saturday. Here’s what I did……

 

How bout that! The glaze ones were the easiest to dip, but they all tasted really good! Different from cake pops though! Either way they will give you the same result….YUMMY TREAT!

How to throw your OWN Favorite Things Party! {plus} a Giveaway!!

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So many of  you have sent me emails about throwing your own favorite things party!

What should I do for invitations, color themes, how many should I invite, etc. So in this post I will answer all those questions!

My first thought was to give you guys TONS of different ideas on how you could pull this party together with different resources. BUT I wanted to give you something specifically for THIS party!

So I contact my new blog friend Sara from the Homespun Hostess about designing something exclusively  for My Favorite Things Party!  Sara has a knack for printables ! They’re fresh and clean designs that are perfect for ALL types of parties…

Take a look at these creations!

Yellow and Gray Birthday Printables..YELLOW!!!!

Horse Theme Printables!

This circus theme  is just…pretty!

She also makes THE cutest straw and cakepop tags..

Check out this Easter Brunch she hosted….dreamy!  The details are delicious! ( I want some of that OJ;0)

So Sara and I emailed back and forth for a few days and we came up with and adorable My Favorite Things Party Printable…

{Brown Paper Packages}

Isn't is SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL and perfect! Sara and I have put together a very fun theme for you to be one fabulous hostess. Check out what’s in this printable package…..

{Invitation}

For the invitation you can do what Sara did and cut up piece of cardboard and stick the main part of the invitation on it!! Easy right? You can also get a brown paper bag and do the same thing! This makes the invitation lightweight and easy to mail. If you want to be FANCY, send all of you guest small brown paper packages with strings. Inside give them a little teaser on what’s to come:0) Sara has included TWO options for you to print off:0)

 

{Cupcake Toppers}

For your table, set out your favorite cupcakes and top them off with these cute toppers!

{Bottle Wrappers}

Serve your guest your FAVORITE soda! During my recent FTP I set up color coordinating sodas to match the décor! You can do the same thing! This package includes the green and brown labels!

{Hostess Gift Tags}

For YOUR gifts we have provided this gift tag that can be glued to a brown paper bag, or hole punched and used as a traditional tag favor!

Sara is also including the cakepop/ straw tags and that CUTE brown banner  in the package! WUHU!

How many should I invite? This is really up to you and your budget. My first party back in 09 I invited 12 girls and 10 showed up. Your going to have people that cancel the last day at the last minute so be ready for it. With my recent one I invited 25 girls knowing that not everyone could make it….15 rsvp and I think 11 showed up.

How much should I spend? I don’t give anyone a spending amount. If 25 girls rsvp’d last time, then I would have had to get A LOT more creative with my budget.  But with 15 I was able to be more flexible. I don’t think anyone  needs to be stressed out about what to give or how much to spend. But with my experience, the more generous and creative you are with your gifts, the better turn out you will have.  But the basic formula is the more people you invite the MORE creative you have to be…the less people you invite the more “fancy” your gifts will be:0) Being a good hostess means taking a good look at your guest list and invite a diverse group of girls so that EVERYONE is comfortable!

{Ideas for your favorite things}

If your favorite things is photography you could,

1. Get everyone affordable frames, but them spray paint them in your favorite color and add some vinyl numbers.

2. Get everyone a gift card for 10 of there favorite prints from Walgreens.

3. Give everyone a BLOWN up picture of some of your own photography and sign it!

All these options can keep things under budget and bring your own personality to you favorite thing.

You like to cook?

Print off all of your favorite recipes and make mini books for everyone…laminated to they last longer.

My friend Chaz gave everyone these ceramic spoons!!! They were so CUTE!

Get everyone a wooden spoon…wrap it up in ribbon and tada..cute!

The ideas have no limits…spray paint in your favorite color,set of your favorite pens, notepads, favorite drinks, recipes, perfume, lip gloss, candle, air freshener!!!

Are you a vintage junkie?

Go shopping for a unique selection of some of your favorite finds and wrap them up! Everything will be a surprise!

Baker?

Get everyone some cupcake liners in your favorite colors!

Every baker likes TWINE!

Coffee Addict?

Wrap up your favorite coffee!

Get everyone those super cute mugs with a modern design!

Look for Sara and I again as we make something super festive for when I throw a  My Favorite Things Party Fall/Winter 2011…

 

{THE GIVEAWAY}

So you want to throw your OWN party right! It’s summer time and you want to get your girlfriends together and have some FUN!  Well, I want to help you do just that! So right now enter to WIN your own party set!

Sara the Homespun Hostess and PartyPapers owner is sending ONE of you an entire package of printables to get your favorite things party started off right!

DIY printable digital file that includes

1) personalized invitation - with 2 print options
2) Cupcake Flag toppers
3 ) Soda Bottle Wrappers
4) Favor Bag/Box Labels
5) Straw or Cake pop flags
6) "cardboard" looking banner

Print as many times as you want for personal use.

Here’s how to win!( This is open to all APLACEFORUSBLOG readers only!) Leave a comment for each!

1. Leave me a comment telling me what you would gift as your favorite thing!

2. Like The Homespun Hostess on Facebook and leave her a sweet message!

3. Like A Place for Us Blog on Facebook

4. Tweet about this giveaway!  “I want to throw my OWN Favorite Things Party like Destiny @aplaceforusblog” ( link back to this post)

If there is NOOOO way you can wait to see if you’re the winner, you can BUY the entire set at PartyPapers and Sara  also offered 25 percent off of her ETSY shop! That’s for EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING!

Discount Code: Destiny

This giveaway will last ONE WEEK!

GOOD LUCK! and send in your party photos! to destiny@aplaceforusblog.com

{Easy Entertaining} Cinco de Mayo

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Every now and then we get together with our friends and have a Taco Night! We consume yummy Mexican dishes and chat and LAUGH a lot! With Cinco de Mayo coming up we knew it would be the perfect night to have some buddies over AND meet new people! This was a group of friends and new friends from our church and the Love and Respect bible study we did last year.

Prepping for this party was a bit stressful just because Reggie wasn’t feeling to good! Come party day he IS my other half! lol! Watches the babies for me…cleans the porch off, you know:0) It wasn’t anything serious but the day before he just couldn’t do much. But thanks to a good friend Alyssa, I was able to have about three hours to get the house clean and run to the grocery store! Amazing right? She took the boys along with her two babies and had a fun time at the park and McDonalds. So thankful for her! Gosh!

So, here are some EASY steps that I took to have this get together….

Use what YOU have!

I’ve always done this. Mostly because I’m cheap and I can’t afford to go out and buy something NEW every time I have a party:0) For the set up I used some festive dishes that I got from my mother a few years ago. I combined them with a natural textured fruit bowl and some clear cake stands! I also used some placemats that came from left over stuff I had from a Island party. So nothing was bought brand new, all things from around the house!

Fresh produce for décor.

HOW pretty would lanterns in orange, pink and yellow  have been for this party? But I didn’t have enough time to order any being that I had about a week to prep for this. I kept everything pretty simple. I used plastic margarita glasses…we don’t drink, so I had to use them for something! ha! I filled them up with cilantro to add some greenery. I used the fruit bowl and added some festive fruits, oranges, lemons,limes and bananas:0) I also made some cupcakes and used TomKatStudios, FREE Cinco de Mayo printables for the toppers ! They coordinated with everything so well! I also got some bottled sodas to match the décor and add some more color!

Potluck

For the rest of the food, everyone brought a favorite dish to share with everyone! Tacos, enchiladas, rice, beans, were all on the menu. When you are crunched for time ask everyone to bring something! For the most part everyone really DOES want to bring something! So get together a menu and a list of supplies and give up some of the responsibility.

Remember to LET go and invite your friends over even when your house is “undercontruction”! Clean up the best you can and let your guest know your plans for the house, it’s a great conversation starter.  Your friends are there to see YOU and your family not look at an art gallery or a museum:0) We had about 15 people over and I had LOTS of unfinished projects…

Didn’t get to frame those niches……Or finish my gallery wall…

We would never have any visitors if I waited until I was “done” decorating! So don’t let that stop you either!

Happy Monday Everyone:0)

My Favorite Things Party {Easy Entertaining}

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If your looking for a good themed party idea you might just want to try this one!!

I love gathering my friends and family for parties all the time. As I mentioned before it’s a perfect opportunity to open your home to your family and friends and people you may have just met!

I first thought of this idea when I saw one of Oprah’s first favorite things shows. I just thought it was a great idea! How cool would it be to hand all of your friends tons of your favorite products that you can’t live without. I knew if I got all my favorite things for my friends I would go BROKE! So I thought instead why not have all my girlfriends bring THEIR favorite thing and have an exchange! Then everyone would leave with a bag full of everyone's favorite things!

Here are some of the party details and party décor. I’m all about easy entertaining…so here is what I did!

I used a brown paper package theme buy using inexpensive brown bags to load my goodies in. I also made some gift tags using Photoshop and the free Shabby Princess Digital Papers…Two Soon. The yellow and green were perfect for spring. I’m really loving yellow these days:0)

I pulled some flowers from around the house and tagged these flower pots..remember the ones I picked up for 99 cents!

For the table I used coordinating drinks, candy and seasonal fruit! I also made lemon cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes! This table was set up for UNDER 20.00!!!!

For food and munchies. I had all the girls bring over their favorite dish. We had all types of yummy food!!

My favorite thing to everyone was this beautiful BLOOM vinyl provided by Birdie Graphics. I ordered 16 of them at a discounted price for every girl in different colors. They also got a free birdy to practice with:0)

Take a look at everyone else's favorite things….

 

 

All the girls had a great time! Can’t wait to do it again!

What different entertaining ideas do you have for your girlfriends? If you end up throwing your own favorite things party or have any questions just let me know!

 

SideNOTE… Today I won the SILHOUETTE machine! Emily the DECORCHICK hosted a giveaway and I WON!!!!! I am so excited to share some crafty projects with you guys! Be on the look out!