Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

I don't know about you, but I definitely have a small collection of oversized sweaters from my youth...complete with animals, bells and other sound effects. Naturally, I needed an occasion to bust out my all-time favorite and so my husband and I threw a Tacky Christmas Sweater Potluck. I decided to make the tacky theme not only apply to the apparel, but the decorations, table setting and everything else possible. I figured this would be extra festive and let's face it - it's a lot cheaper to decorate tacky than classy.

Invitations
I found a picture of a tacky Christmas sweater and printed it out on cardstock. I printed the invitation wording on the other side of the paper. Then once printed, I cut out the sweater and had a cute little invitation. And I went with the tagline "The Tackier the Sweater, the Better the Party."




Decor
I really wanted to have Christmas lights everywhere and envisioned them hanging from the ceiling all over the table. So, I bought some of the vintage style big bulb strands and held them up with masking tape (no need for fancy brackets or methods of disguise...masking tape falls right into the tacky party theme!). Crazily enough these lights were extremely difficult to find and I ended up finally finding them at Walgreens of all places. For other decorations, I hit up the Dollar Store and bought plastic bell and ornament garlands and paper cut outs which I taped around the apartment.

Table Setting
First of all, I wanted to have a sit down dinner for 13 which was going to be impossible with our dining room table which seats 6. So, we rented two long tables from a local party equipment rental place - we got both tables for only $10! Definitely worth it. For the table decorations, once again the Dollar Store came through with paper, Christmas print table cloths, garland and these little trees in crazy sparkly colors. When you put it all together...awesome. Now, I did slack in the tacky by using our actual plates, silverware, glasses, chargers, napkins and these adorable ornament napkin rings from Crate & Barrel. And for dessert, I got to bust out my new Pottery Barn reindeer dessert plates. But...I really wanted to use them, so I did! I did actually assign seats, which may have been slightly elementary school, but I've read that with groups that big, it lessens anxiety and allows for "conversation flow," or something like that. Who knows. :P

Dinner was great - the sweaters/outfits were AMAZING. Mary Ellen won the "Tackiest" award and Justin and his self-made snuggie were also great. It was so much fun and I think we just might have to repeat next year...

From the Kitchen....Yummy Homemade Candy

Growing up, my family would make Christmas candy every year that mainly consisted of millionaires (aka turtles), potato chip candy and my all-time favorite, fudge. :) So, this year I decided to make candy myself...branching out into several different family recipes. I (with the awesome help of my friends and husband) made TONS and packaged it up to give out to friends, family and coworkers. Everyone seemed to eat it, so I consider it a success. And I know I ate my fair share...so I think the recipes are worth trying. :)

Millionaires
What you need:
Double boiler (I bought a cheap one (aka $20) at Bed, Bath & Beyond that worked fine
1 package Kraft Caramels 6 Plain Hershey bars
2 Tbsp. evaporated milk 2 cups whole pecans
1/3 bar paraffin wax (yes, wax....and yes, they do sell it at the grocery store)

What you do:
1.Spread out a large piece of heavy duty Aluminum foil on a countertop or table. Butter the foil.
2. Melt the caramels and evaporated milk in the top of the double boiler.
3. When melted, add pecans and quickly drop by spoonfuls onto the buttered aluminum foil (heavy duty).

4. Let the caramels pieces completely cool. I suggest letting them sit for 24 hours.
5. Melt choclate bars and parafiin in the double boiler.
6. Spear caramel/pecans (from the day before) with a toothpick or better yet, the metal things you use to truss a turkey.
7. Dip the caramel/pecan piece into the chocolate and place back on the foil in a clean spot to cool.
Makes about 30 millionaires.

Potato Chip Candy (huge crowd pleaser and super easy)
What you need:
4 cups crushed waffle chips (Ruffles or the equivalent)
1 package almond bark (the white one...I have used the chocolate brown one and I think the white chocolate is better)

What you do:
1.Spread out a large piece of heavy duty Aluminum foil on a countertop or table. Butter the foil.
2. Melt the bark in a microwave (follow the melting directions on the bark package).
3. Stir in the crushed chips.
4. Spread the mixture out on the Al foil so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Let cool and then break it out into bite size pieces.

Haystacks (another popular one)
What you need:
1 (6oz) package of Butterscotch flavored morsels (chips)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups Chow Mein noodles
1 cup dry roasted peanuts

What you do:
1.Spread out a large piece of heavy duty Aluminum foil on a countertop or table. Butter the foil.
2. In a saucepan, melt the butterscotch chips and peanut butter over low heat. When completely melted, remove from heat.

3. Stir in noodles and peanuts until all pieces are coated.
4. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.
5. Let sit until hardened.

Makes about 30 haystacks.

Chocolate Fudge - I use the recipe on the Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar - delicious
What you need:
3 cups sugar
3/4 cups (1.5 sticks) butter
1 small can (5oz) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cups)
1.5 packages (12 squares) Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1 jar (7oz) Marshmallow Creme
1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans...the recipe says walnuts)
1 tsp vanilla

What you do:
1. Line 9 inch square pan with foil (extending to the sides of the pan)
2. Place sugar, butter and evaporated milk in large heavy saucepan
3. Bring to a full roiling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly (very important - you don't want it to burn)
4. Boil 4 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F stirring constantly to prevent scorching (seriously)
5. Remove from heat and add chocolate and marshmallow creme stirring until completely melted.
6. Add nuts and vanilla. Mix well.
7. Immediately pour into the foil lined pan, spread to form an even layer (about 1" thick).
8. Let it cool at room temp at least 4 hours.

Makes a lot...I cut my squares pretty small (about .75"x.75") and get over 50 pieces.

Apricot-Coconut Balls
What you need:
2 (6oz) packages dried apricots, ground
2 cups shredded coconut
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
Powdered sugar

What you do:
1. Combine apricots and coconut; stir to mix.
2. Add condensed milk and mix well.
3. Shape into 1" balls and coat with powdered sugar.

Makes about 50.
Peppermint Bark
What you need:
1 pound white chocolate (use the white almond bark like in the Potato Chip Candy)
1/2 cup finely crushed peppermint candy (I took a hammer to some candy canes)
4 to 7 drops of red food coloring

What you do:
1.Spread out a large piece of heavy duty Aluminum foil on a countertop or table. Butter the foil.
2. Melt the bark in a microwave (follow the melting directions on the bark package).
3. Stir in the crushed peppermint and food coloring.
4. Spread the mixture out on the Al foil so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Let cool and then break it out into bite size pieces.

To package the candy, I went to the dollar store and bought tons of cute Christmas tins for....you guessed it, $1. After cleaning them out, I lined them with green seran wrap. I recommend putting in enough seran wrap to come up the sides of the tin and hang over the edge a bit - this provides a great seal for the lid. For some of the tins, I tied ribbons around them and slid a Christmas card in, which looked extra cute. They were a big hit (I hope!) and a nice gift if you want to give to a lot of people (I ended up making around 60 tins). By far the biggest expense is the pecans in the fudge and millionaires. If possible, I recommend buying in bulk from a local farm as they can be quite pricey in the grocery store.

Will You Be Mine?

As you can probably imagine, I really love Valentine's Day b/c it's another card giving holiday (along with Christmas....and if you're me....Halloween or any other holiday). I found this really cute idea from Martha Stewart and decided to make something similar with paper that I already have.

You can really do any color combinations - I went two different combos: red cardstock with pink accents and pink cardstock with green/teal accents. Then for the little hearts I just used scraps of all different colors.

How to Make:
1. Cut one piece of your cardstock in half to make two pieces with dimensions of 5.5"x8.5".
2. Fold each piece over to make a basic looking, top folding card measuring 5.5"x4.25".
3. Cut two strips of your accent paper - this can be transparent paper, construction paper - anything! I went with that papyrus feathery looking paper (I don't know the name of it). Instead of cutting it with scissors, I tore the paper into the strips to give it a featherly border look. The strips should be 4" long and about 1" wide.
4. Glue with two strips onto the front of your card, one above the other.


5. Measure the distance between the fold of your card to the center of each strip. We will use these measurements to give us a guide for the upcoming sewing.
6. Turn the card over so that you are writing on the inside top flap of the card.
7. Measure from the flap and make a line for each of your strip measurements. Basically, you should be drawing a line directly on the flip side of the paper from your glued on strip.
8. Still on the back flip side, mark the center of your card. You will want to space each of the sewed on hearts one inch apart and centered. So, measure 1/2" from your center mark on each side. Then from each of those marks, measure 1" over. You should now have made 4 marks on your line (in addition to the center mark). You will be sewing one heart at each mark.
9. Repeat the marking on the second line for the second strip. I would also recommend making the marks 1 cm long and centered on the strip line.
10. Taking your heart punch, punch out 8 different colored hearts. Fold each heart in half.

11. Take your first heart and sew it in the top right position. Put the needle through the back of the card at the top of the 1cm line, go through the heart towards the top of the fold, back through the heart about 1 cm down, and back through the card.

12. Repeat the process sewing all 8 hearts in place.

13. "Fluff" the hearts by folding them together.
14. Using another piece of cardstock (preferrably another color), cut a piece that is 5"x8". Center it on the inside of the card, gluing it to the first piece of cardstock. This will give you an inner lining which will hide your sewing and give you a nice place to write your inside message.

15. Write your message and deliver it to your Valentine!


I got a GREAT book for Christmas from my brother and sister-in-laws and niece Sonya - it's a book of card making ideas with awesome templates. I'm really excited to try it out for my next batch of cards....St. Patrick's Day perhaps?

From the Kitchen....Cute Sugar Cookies

Just a couple of cute ideas for some yummy and pretty sugar cookies, for Game Day and Every Day.

I found the ultimate cookie cutter website, Off the Beaten Path. Seriously, this online store is amazing. They have all kinds of cookie cutters from stilettos to poinsettias to states, their selection is incredible. And they're only about $1.50 a piece. So, when I was looking for a hot air balloon cookie cutter (for the St. Louis Balloon Race pre-party, of course) this site had it. And by the time you pay for shipping, I figured I might as well order every cookie cutter that I could imagine wanting in the next year at the same time. So, I also found these very cute girly ones (purse, lips, XO, sunglasses, engagement ring), football ones (football and helmet) and many others. It's very difficult to pick out just a couple.

I use a very simple recipe for the cookies and icing. I usually use homemade icing to coat the cookie and then Betty Crocker or another store bought brand for the details. I find the store icing to be thicker and easier to work with on the accents.

Sugar Cookie Recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer. Beat in the egg and vanilla. By hand, blend the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Then add the baking powder and flour mixture to your creamy mixture 1 cup at a time. Roll out the dough on a bed of flour (not included in the 3 cups) and cut out your favorite cookie! Bake 6-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. I highly recommend lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper so the cookies don't burn or stick.

Icing Recipe:
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups icing sugar

Mix all together with a mixer. Divide into small bowls and add food coloring.

To make the icing details, I also recommend using a Mechanical Pastry Bag, like this one from Williams-Sonoma. It makes it easy to control the icing and add fun details like a basketweave which I used for the basket of my hot air balloon cookies.

Girly Cookies that I made when my college roomie came to visit:


Cookies for the big OU TX football game (Go Sooners!):

A Magical Evening With Harry Potter

Like many people in the Muggle world, I was extremely excited about the release of the newest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price – the 6th movie in the Harry Potter series. Opening weekend happened to be near my birthday, so my co-worker Rachel , my husband Justin and I all planned an amazing Harry Potter Birthday Party. Some of our great ideas:

Decorations - Snitches
We wanted to create a Harry Potter environment without actually buying “Harry Potter” party supplies….so after much brainstorming we created a lot of great decorations. We made golden snitches by putting two fake feathers in a Styrofoam ball and then spray painting the entire thing with gold spray paint and then gold glitter spray. We made about 20 and displayed them around the apartment – some hung from the air with silver string and others perched around.

Decorations – Hogwarts
I made several signs out of black and gold poster board and gold paint with gold glitter. I put one on the front door of my apartment building that said “Platform 9 ¾” and another on the front door of my apartment that said “Welcome to Hogwarts.” Also, outside by the door, I posted a sign saying “Please Leave Your Brooms At the Door” and positioned a little witch’s broom next to the sign. Inside the apartment, we displayed a sign “Beware of Moaning Myrtle” on the bathroom door.

Decorations – Potions
Hobby Lobby had a sale on glassware and so we picked up several cute, small glass containers to serve as bottles for our potions (food coloring + water). We displayed them on a shelf and accented them with candles.

Decorations - Yule Ball and Candles Everywhere!
Final accents included some glittery silver snowflakes descending from our dining room light to give the party a little "Yule Ball" flavor. And we turned out the lights and put candles everywhere that we could - including some great floating candles in a nice glass bowl. Definitely gave it a nice Great Hall feel. I also found some cheap quills at Hobby Lobby and stuffed them in a vase with a snitch.

Food – Honeydukes
The food serving area was labeled with a sign saying “Honeydukes” where we had a Chocolate fondue station, drinks and other snacks for our guests. We printed little place cards to showcase our creative food names:

Mead = beer
Pumpkin juice = orange cream soda
Butter beer = mix one shot of Buttershot with a cream soda in a mug
Broomstick salad = Vermicelli (noodle) salad
Dragon tenders = chicken tenders
Peppermint humbugs = peppermint candies
And more that I can't remember....

For the birthday cake, my husband made the most amazing "Harry Birthday" cake out of two giant chocolate chip cookies with ice cream in the middle. He made the ice cream filling half mint chocolate chip and half chocolate chip cookie dough. To mold the ice cream, he used our cheesecake pan. After making the giant cookie sandwich he decorated it beautifully with yummy icing.

Party Favors - Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Wands
I bought two giant bags of Jelly Belly jelly beans and put them in individual clear bags tied with maroon and gold ribbons (for Griffydor, or course). Then I found a logo of Bertie Bott's online and made little circle sticker labels to go on the bags. I put them all in a bowl for guests to grab and take with them to the movie.

We had a couple kids coming to the festivities...and other guests who act like kids...and so we decided to make our own magical wands. We bought a floral arrangement of sticks (basically...) from Hobby Lobby and cut them to a nice wand length (about a foot and a half). We then sprayed them with gold glitter spray to give them a nice sparkle. I displayed them in a vase and let each guest pick their wand.

The party was great - lots of people came for the celebration and we enjoyed the movie - can't wait for the 7th one!