Posts Tagged: Entertaining

Entertaining

Bloody Slugs

October 28, 2016

"Would you like a bloody slug?"

Come on, how cute are these guys?! I'm aware that the name "Bloody Slug" is mildly unappetizing, but let me assure you: these are suuuuuper delicious and will be consumed within seconds by the children in attendance - so if you want one, trust me and move quickly. (And yeah, they're essentially sugar bombs, but whatever, Halloween is like a Defcon 1 high-fructose disaster anyway. Might as well not fight it.)

So what these are, essentially, are cake pops made with extra frosting so that they sort of collapse on themselves and don't hold on to the exterior coating as well (thereby letting the color of the cake show through). And when the color that's showing through is red and the overall effect is that of a melty, ghost-ish, vaguely slug-like creature, there you go:

DIY Projects

How To Make An (Inexpensive) Bubble Chandelier

August 23, 2016

When Elise and I got together a few days before the Mermaid Party to work on the decor and she told me that we were going to make a bubble chandelier, I kind of went "mmmhmmm yeah sounds great!" and then returned to hot-gluing starfish to sticks, because obviously we were not going to make a bubble chandelier. Because in my world, that is not something that people do. It turned out that I was right (that day at least): after hot-gluing many, many starfish to many, many sticks we ran out of time, and no bubble chandeliers were made. And so I forgot about the whole thing, figuring Elise had realized that trying to make one of these things was way more labor-intensive than anything created for a two-year-old's birthday party should rightfully be.

Then, on the morning of the party, Elise showed up an hour early to help me set up (I've said this before, but helloooo awesome friend), sat down at my dining room table, and said: "OK, let's get started on the chandelier."

Excusemewhat? Do you not see I am presently pouring frozen meatballs onto a sheet of aluminum foil and not exactly ideally situated for a four-hour plastic bubble extravaganza?

DIY Projects

Odd (But Strangely Useful) Little Idea: DIY Wine Charms

December 2, 2015

skull glass with rope and berry wine charm

You know those little charms that you can hook onto your wineglass so that everyone at a party can tell which glass is theirs? I've always thought they sounded like a nice idea, but there are two problems with this: 1) Most of the charms I've seen around are a little on the cheesy side (although these are kind of cute); and 2) I usually use tumblers for wine instead of traditional glasses, and wine charms are made to hook around the stem of a glass.

Those aren't the biggest problem, though; the biggest problem is that owning something like wine charms requires forethought, and forethought is not something that I typically possess. The only times that it has ever occurred to me that I might like to own some wine charms has been when I am mid-party and suddenly discover that I have no idea which glass is mine. Over Thanksgiving weekend, this is exactly what happened, and so do you know what I did?

Broke out my crafting box, of course. A little twine, some jewelry clasps that I have hanging around from a bracelet project I did with Michael's, and a few fake berry branches leftover from a photo shoot, and BOOM. For real, if you have some string (twine, Christmas ribbon, cooking string, etc) laying around, you can do this...and you can use anything as an identifier - a couple of beads, a dried flower, a leaf, whatever. It's totally something you can do in five seconds. And it's fun. And free.

Decor

Easiest-Ever Black, White & Green Holiday Tablescape

December 19, 2014

I like a pretty tablescape as much as the next fancy-pants, but what I do not like is buying items that I will use exactly one week out of every year. This holiday season, I'm going for a Christmassy table setting comprised entirely of items that I either already own or have plucked from my very own backyard, making it both completely practical and completely free, whee.

Black, White & Green Holiday Tablescape

1. Pull every single white, black and gold piece of china you own out of your cupboards, and layer 'em up. If you've got any Jadeite or other green serving pieces, throw a couple of those on there, too.

Decor

Holiday Entertaining Hacks (Using Stuff You’ve Already Got Handy)

December 9, 2014

I'm not big on shelling out tons of money on holiday decor. I mean…that stuff can get expensive. And only gets used for, what, three weeks a year?

Nothankyou.

But for real: you totally don't have to do a massive decorating run in order to make your home look like Christmas exploded inside it. Presenting: some holiday hacks that let you get good and festive without stepping one single foot outside your door (or laying down one single cent).

Entertaining

Best-Ever Oreo Truffles

December 28, 2012

You have to try making these.

Entertaining

Small Spaces And Holiday Entertaining

December 21, 2012

But despite the fact that our previous apartments were less-than-ideal for hosting parties, we've always done a lot of entertaining (that's the aftermath of last year's New Year's Eve party, pictured above)...and I like to think we've actually become something approaching "expert" when it comes to small space fiestas.