Party Time! Library Baby Shower!

Earlier this year (yes I am aware that it is only March but this party took place in January so give me a break!) I helped plan a party to celebrate that Best Friend is expecting her first baby!

As a little background on Best Friend and her Hubby I should tell you that they are both post secondary teachers, they are both supper geeky and supper fun! But most of all they love love love books! I mean LOVE books, Best Friend got encyclopedias for Christmas last year and she was so excited, I mean thrilled... that's how much they love books!

So when planning a shower for their little bundle that is soon to arrive what else could I do other than a library theme!


Best Friends mom provided a lot of the decor as she had picked up most of it at a big party store in Florida during her last trip down south! (It is my dream after seeing what was brought back and hearing about this store to go there and shop for every party I will ever plan!)

So here you have it the Library Baby Shower!

 These super simple centerpieces are simply my kids books straight from their bookshelves at home, I stacked them and used a bull dog clip to put the quote on top written on a library card!

I added the expectant parents as the authors on the library cards and made the due date the babies due date of course and then I used them for everything from the centerpiece toppers to the game cards. (we played Baby item Price is right! Daddy Knows best and the more traditional games like guess the baby's birth time and weight)

 I knew exactly what kind of cake I wanted to use for this shower and after trying to make it perfect and with only fondant I resigned to the fact that well... it wasn't going to happen, but I still got the look I was going for. (hardest part of this cake was trying to make sure that one breast wasn't too much bigger than the other... it was a riot!)

Best Friend and her fabulous Momma did up the favors and the poem from one that I had posted on my Pinterest party idea board and it came out so cute! I love the tiny Chinese food boxes and I think that the poem on the scroll really worked with the theme.

We also had the guest fill out wishes for baby cards (see link below) which I think was the sweetest part there are so many nice comments on them for both Best Friend and Baby J to read and re-read over the years!

To top this off I had written a poem for the invites which let the invited guests know that rather than bring a card we wanted to build a library for the baby and to bring a book! (so not my original idea but it worked for us!) I just have to share... (please if you like it use it but be sure to credit me or at least don't say that you came up with it in your brilliant little head... thanks!) We did most of our inviting on Facebook, which I know to some is considered tacky but hey it worked for us, so I don't have any photos of the invites to share.

Our favorite stories stay with us as we grow,
Both ____ and ______ love to read as we know!
So when planning a shower to greet Baby _____
There was no better theme for us to go with!

Lets build a library fit for this girl,
bring a book in place of a card, lets give it a whirl!
Write your message just inside of the cover
for Baby _____ to read and discover.

In just a short time she will learn how to read!
What a smart little girl and you helped plant the seed!
Join us for a game or two or three
and if a treat you'd like to bring please do check with me...

Were inviting you to share in the baby shower joy
Help us shower this baby and remember its NOT A BOY!
Meet us at the Hotel from 1 until 3
The beautiful Momma to be you will see!

Need help with a gift well that is just a snap!
If you prefer give your computer keys just a tap...
Online number: (fill in info here!)

Or if you are one to shop till you drop
At Toys-R-Us is where you should stop!
(fill in info here!)

We hope you will join us at this her first party
We will have lots to do so please don't be tardy!

Find the items that I used through the links below!
Library Cards
Wishes for Baby

If you would like the printable for the games that I used please email me or leave a comment and I will gladly email you the word document to personalize and print for your showers!

Our little shower went over very well everyone had a great time, complimented the theme and asked where did you get the library cards!

Hope this gives you some inspiration for your parties in the future!

Bachelorette Party fun! Part 2

I showed you yesterday some of the fun things I did for the Bachelorette Party we held this past weekend and here is more....

I made each party goer one these survival bags....

These were planned as a way to give the attendees everything they needed for the night in one neat package rather than passing out the few game cards and such throughout the night as needed.

I used the same label on the outside of the bag as I did for the cupcake toppers and I just glued them with a regular glue stick to the front of the bag.

Inside they each found, one pair of Mardi Gras beads (this was for the don't say his name game, no one was to say the name of the groom to-be all night), a ring pop (cause they're fun), a glow stick (to easily identify each other when they went out to the clubs dancing), a party goers pledge (see below), a card with the phone numbers and names of the DD's and the bridesmaids in case anyone got lost in the clubs and the two game cards they would need (see below).

The survival bags were such a hit! 

Everyone loved them! 

And they made things flow a lot better too as all we had to say was in you survival bag is... and they all just pulled the item out and were ready for the next game.

I made up this party pledge based on one I found online and I just changed it up and re-worded it to suit our party!

 Basically I wanted to make sure they all knew that we had DD's available so drinking and driving was completely eliminated and that this was a night of fun, giggling and being silly!

The games we played were Guess the Name of the Dirty Drink, and Well I've Never. 

The Dirty Drink names were easy to find online and I just made a fill in the blank page for that game and did up a poster board to give them the names for the drinks. 

(I wont post them here due to ADULT CONTENT but if you Google it trust me there are many to be found!)

The Well I've Never game is loosely based on two other games, Never Have I Ever where you tell the group out loud something you have done that was naughty and anyone else that has done it has to drink with you, and the other game I think... (can't be sure because there was alcohol consumed when we played it) is called WHAT its a board game where you write down your answer and everyone has to guess who said what when they are read out loud. So I did up little sheets so that each lady could write down their answer and play that way but as things tend to do when alcohol is involved it deteriorated and just became Never Have I Ever.... but I must say that it was very interesting to hear what all these ladies had written down!

And besides that we had the typical  Brides scavenger hunt and pin the parts on the hunky fireman... (priceless) 

A lot of these ideas can be adapted to other parties, I plan on doing the cupcake toppers for Delaney's Birthday Party (which is approaching faster than I keep up with) and the labels on the bags make for cheap frugal loot bags too!

PS. if you'd like a copy of the game cards or the pledge leave me a comment or email me and I will certainly send it pack for you to print at home! 

Make it monday! MeatBalls and Dipping sauces!

This past weekend myself and a few girlfriends held a Bachelorette party for our Best Friend! 

It was so much fun and there was so much food!

SEE! 

I told you lots of food!

For the party I made, the cake and cupcakes (see more on this tomorrow) , meatballs with two dipping sauces and apple dip (more on this next Make it Monday!)

Today I share the meatballs unfortunately without pictures but I'm sure you can imagine what a meatball looks like...

Easy Party Meatballs

Ingredients:

2 lbs of Lean or Extra Lean Ground Beef

1/2 of 1 Small Onion

1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs

1/4 Cup Milk

1 Large Egg

1 Tbsp Ketchup or BBQ Sauce

Steak Seasoning (I like the Keg Steak Spice)

BBQ rub ( I use one that the Chef at Robyn's work makes but you can pick them up in the supermarket or make your own...)

Start by dicing your onion as small as you can (I sometimes grate it into the mix rather than leaving bigger pieces in there). In a large bowl mix all of your ingredients together, be careful not to over mix the meat! Then roll into balls that measure about 1 tsp each, and bake on a sheet pan (I cover mine with foil so that its easier to clean up!) at 350 for about 10 min then flip them over and bake for another 10 mins. 

These are great as an appetizer or add them to a week night supper, you can even put them in marinara sauce and put them over pasta! 

(They freeze very well too)

I got so many compliments on these meatballs but not as many as the dipping sauces.... so here they are!

I used the same basic recipe (that I made up as I went) for both but used two different salad dressings for flavor... I used Ranch for one and the new Kraft Mango Chipotle dressing for the other.

Creamy Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 pkg of cream cheese

2 Tbsp of mayonnaise

2-3 tbsp of salad dressing of your choice

Mix the cream cheese with your electric mixer until it is smooth, add your mayonnaise and then your salad dressing, you may need more dressing than I used to thin it out so its a good dipping constancy. 

Both of these sauces worked out great! 

They were enjoyed by all and I was asked for the recipe several times.... 

(don't you love when that happens!)

PS. don't worry about the mango chipotle being too spicy its really not that spicy but does have a bit of a kick in the after taste! 

What is your go to party recipe, is there a recipe that your family love that you modify for parties....

Hope you give these meatballs a try! You might just love them!

Bachelorette Party Fun! Part 1

This past weekend, myself and my girlfriends held a Bachelorette Party for our Best Friend... (Her name is on a few of the things I made for the party so you will learn very shortly that her real name is Erika... I guess her anonymity is gone for good now!)

Of course I made her cake but I wont be posting that due to ummm ADULT CONTENT.... but I also made a few other very fun things!

As well We all made a few things to contribute to the snacks for the evening.

As you can see we didn't go hungry!

We didn't really have a theme to the night but one running joke was that We're Team Edward! as Our friend is marring a man named Edward and she is a bit of a Twi-hard (like me.... )!

I made some very yummy cupcakes that went over very well!

I used the same recipe that I used here for the Easter cupcakes... and of course I use my recipe for butter cream icing found here. Then I just dyed it teal which is the main color for the wedding it's self, I did that with the Wilton teal icing color. (gives such a rich color and doesn't water your icing down! highly recommend it if you haven't used it before!)

I also made the cupcake toppers as well I used them for the survival bags for the guests! You can see them above but here is a close up...

(Sorry its a bit dark had to turn off the flash so you can read it!)

To make these I used Microsoft Word, I made a circle then typed the wording in the circle. Then I printed and cut them (you could do this with a circle punch) then I cut out a circle of the black or teal card-stock that was just a bit larger than the paper circle.Than I hot glued a toothpick to the back!

More on the Bachelorette Party tomorrow!

Here's a sneak peak at the survival bags I made up too!