Holidays | She Plans Parties

Snack Mix For Your Fall Harvest Party

October 21, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

It’s super fun to incorporate some of your favorite fall flavors into a quick and easy snack mix for your fall or Halloween party. Just throw this easy snack mix together into a large bowl, and set it out for your guests to enjoy. Here’s the recipe I like to use for a simple harvest or Halloween party snack mix.

Fall Harvest Snack Mix

Mix together:

5 cups of Chocolate Chex(tm) Cereal
1 bag Brachs(tm) Autumn Mix
2 cups of lightly salted peanuts

You can also spread this mixture out on a cookie sheet, or waxed paper, and drizzle it with melted chocolate, or white chocolate. Let it cool, then break it apart.

Yum, I love sweet and salty snack mixes.

Check out more kid’s: Halloween Party Ideas

Filed Under: Decorating, Halloween, Kid's Parties, Party Recipes Tagged With: fall harvest party, fall recipes, halloween party ideas, Halloween recipes

Using Gourds For Fall Party Decorating

October 20, 2010 By Linette 3 Comments

Today I have some fun ideas for you using one of my favorite (and low cost) fall decorating materials~ gourds. I love using gourds to decorate in the fall, and they make fabulous party decorations and centerpieces. You can use gourds several ways, either by themselves with other fall favorites.

Gourds are inexpensive, and come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. I think that’s why they’re so versatile for fall decorating.

Here are some ideas you can use to make simple party decorations featuring gourds:

Scatter them around the center of your tables, with a few miniature pumpkins and colorful fall leaves.
Put them in a basket together.
Paint faces on them, and make them fun for a kid’s party.
Place them around the base of potted mums.
Add them to a cornucopia.
Dry them and cut them out to use as serving bowls.
Mix fall flowers in with them for even more color and variety.

Gourds are so versatile, and since they’re also very affordable, especially if you grow your own.

Filed Under: Decorating, Featured, Halloween Tagged With: fall decorating, fall harvest party

Fall Cocktail~ Caramel Apple Pie

October 19, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

I love the fall season! When it comes around I know it’s also apple season around here, time for apple pies, caramel apples, apple cake, everything apple sounds good this time of year! It’s also time to start thinking about those fall harvest parties, and planning what’s on the menu. Today I have a fabulous caramel apple pie cocktail recipe you can add to your fall harvest party or Halloween party menu, courtesy of Three Olives Vodka. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Pie Cocktail

1 oz. 1800 Silver Tequila
½ oz. butterscotch schnapps
1 oz. apple cider
1 tsp. lemon juice

Combine ingredients and shake well with ice, strain into martini glass. Garnish with an apple slice.

The Three Olives Vodka website has more cocktail recipes for your fall and holiday party planning.

You could plan your whole harvest party around apples, from the main dish, to dessert, decorations, and cocktails. If you know someone with an orchard rent it out for the day and hold your party there.

You might also want to check out the yummy Pumpkin-tini cocktail recipe I posted yesterday.

Don’t forget to always drink responsibly.

Filed Under: Cocktail Recipes, Featured, Halloween Tagged With: apple recipes, Cocktail Recipes, fall harvest party, halloween party ideas, Halloween recipes

Pumpkin Cocktail Recipe~ Pumpkin Pie-tini

October 18, 2010 By Linette 2 Comments

Only a couple weeks until Halloween! Are your fall and Halloween party plans in full swing yet? Today I thought I’d share a recipe courtesy of Three Olives Vodka. One of my favorite fall flavors is pumpkin, so this pumpkintini recipe definitely caught my attention!

This yummy cocktail would be perfect for a fall harvest or Halloween party. Make a whole pitcher to shake and pour in your guests’ glasses as they arrive. It’s sure to be a big hit.

The crème de cacao, vanilla, and pumpkin flavors sound like a wonderful fall flavor combination. Yum!

Pumpkin Pie-tini

1 oz. milk
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 ½ oz. Three-O Vanilla vodka
1 ½ oz. crème de cacao

Using a small amount of honey, rim martini glass with graham cracker crumbs.

Shake milk and pumpkin puree over ice to combine. Pour in remaining ingredients and shake well. Strain into the martini glass.

I have more fall and Halloween party cocktail ideas and recipes coming up. Maybe I’ll roundup some of my favorites! Don’t forget to remind your guests to drink responsibly.

Filed Under: Cocktail Recipes, Featured, Halloween Tagged With: Cocktail Recipes, fall recipes, halloween party ideas, Halloween recipes, martini recipe, pumpkin recipe

Painted Pumpkins For Fall and Halloween Party Decorations

September 24, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

Decorating a pumpkin doesn’t have to involve a sharp knife. We haven’t carved a pumpkin for several years at our house. We paint them! Painted pumpkins will last longer than carved pumpkins do, and you can get very creative with paint. Here are some cute and fun painted pumpkins for inspiration.

You can use any acrylic paint, and top it with a coat of polyurethane to give the pumpkin a shiny finish.

Image via flickr

Dress them up like your favorite character, better yet make a pumpkin look alike for everyone in your family.

Here are some painted and carved pumpkins.

Image via boliyou flickr

Any of these would make wonderful Halloween party decorations, or a wonderful addition to your fall outdoor decorations.

Filed Under: Decorating, Halloween Tagged With: fall decorating, fall harvest party, halloween party ideas

Summer Party Planning Tips

June 21, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

Today I have a few summer party planning tips to share. It’s wonderful when you have everything planned out, and ready to go, so you can kick back and enjoy yourself at party time. Summer parties always work better when they’re laid back, and easy. A complicated formal summer party just isn’t as much fun.

Guests love to hang out around the pool, or on the back deck in their chair, playing a game of cornhole, horseshoes or around the grill on warm summer nights, talking and laughing about good times.

Keep your summer parties easy going and fun. Here are a few summer party planning tips to get you started:

Set the mood for the party before your guests arrive. Add some tiki lights for decoration, or some candles placed on the tables to help set the mood.
Keep the decorations simple, let the great outdoors do your decorating, with some simple single flowers in vases for table centerpieces.
Look in your cabinets before you go to the grocery to see what you already have to serve to your guests. Sometimes some simple crackers and dip will save you from making an extra run to the store.
You don’t have to make everything from scratch, use a few prepackaged items in with your homemade and no one will know the difference.
Make dishes you can prepare ahead of time, marinade your meat the day before, make chilled desserts you can store in the fridge until party time.

I guess basically what I’m trying to say is, keep your summer party simple! Oh, and have fun and enjoy the night!

Filed Under: Featured, Summer Entertaining Tagged With: summer party, summer party ideas, summer party planning

Cucumber Sandwiches

May 2, 2010 By Linette 1 Comment

I have an easy Summer party appetizer or finger food recipe to share with you today. Cucumbers are a cool refreshing taste of summer.

Cucumber sandwiches are super simple to make. They’re great for bridal or baby showers, graduations, a summer garden tea, or backyard cookout.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Mini pumpernickel bread (in the Deli section at most supermarkets)
1-2 cucumbers~ sliced
Dill weed
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1~ 8oz cream cheese (at room temperature)

Mix the Mayonnaise and cream cheese together with a blender until smooth. Spread the cream cheese Mayonnaise mixture on the pumpernickel slices, then top each one with a cucumber and sprinkle with dill on top for garnish and flavor.

Filed Under: Party Recipes, Showers, Summer Entertaining, Uncategorized Tagged With: cucumber sandwiches, recipes, summer party, summer recipes

Cinco De Mayo~ Summer Tequila Cocktail Recipes With a Twist

April 30, 2010 By Linette 2 Comments

Today I have some fabulous Cinco De Mayo cocktail recipes to share with you. These recipes would also be perfect vor any summer party. I can see myself beside the pool, or lounging in the beach chair with one of these in my hand.

These cocktail recipes would also be fabulous for a backyard barbecue, with a tropical island theme. Just looking at them makes me think of sandy beaches!

I might just have to make one of these tequila cocktails this weekend!

The recipes are courtesy of Oro Azul Tequila.

Island Sunset

1 ½ oz Oro Azul Blanco Tequila
½ oz Cointreau®
2 oz pomegranate juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz simple syrup

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add above ingredients shake well and pour into a Collins glass filled with ice.

La Bonita

1 ½ oz Oro Azul Reposado Tequila
½ oz Cointreau®
2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz pear juice
1 oz simple syrup

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add above ingredients shake well and pour into a Collins glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

El Matador

1 ½ oz Oro Azul Blanco Tequila
3 oz pineapple juice
Juice of ½ lime

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add above ingredients shake well and strain into a champagne flute.

Pomegranate Perfection

1 ½ oz Oro Azul Añejo Tequila
½ oz apple brandy
2 oz pomegranate Juice
2 oz fresh squeezed lemon Juice
Splash of cinnamon

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add above ingredients shake well and strain into an ice filled 12 oz glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Mangorita

2 oz Oro Azul Reposado Tequila
½ oz Triple Sec®
2 oz mango juice

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add above ingredients shake well and strain into a martini glass.

Oro Azul is produced by the Lopez Garibay family, which has been in the tequila business for over 100 years. Established in 1921, their present ranch is located in the heart of the tequila region, Los Altos, where only the finest blue agave is found.

After five generations, the family continues to follow a traditional style, handmade tequila production process that focuses on 100 percent estate grown blue agave and attention to preserving the original cultivation and distillation techniques used over a century ago.

Always remind your guests to drink responsibly, and never drink and drive!

Filed Under: Cinco De Mayo, Cocktail Recipes, Featured, Summer Entertaining Tagged With: Cinco De Mayo, Cocktail Recipes, cocktails, summer party, tequila cocktail

Cut Some Fresh Flowers For Your Summer Party Decorations

April 30, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

Fresh spring an summer flowers make fabulous table centerpieces, and decorations for your outdoor or indoor party. Just walk out in your garden and clip a handful of your favorite blooms, and arrange them in a vase.

A couple more quick flower arranging tips:

1. Use the freshest flowers possible.

2. Clip your flowers early in the morning, late in the evening, or just after a light rain. The flowers will be holding more moisture at these times. The extra moisture will keep them fresh longer.

3. Carry a pitcher of warm water with you as you clip, and put your flowers in it as soon as you cut them. This helps keep the stems open, and helps the plant continue to take up moisture.

4. You can use almost any flower in your arrangements. If you’ve got enough flowers, you might want to do a practice run ahead of time to make sure the flowers you pick will hold up, and to check out what looks good together.

5. Even tiny flowers can be used in small vases, or glass jars to make a cute table display.

You can’t go wrong with cut flowers for a summer party centerpiece. It’s really hard to make a floral arrangement look bad if you include an assortment of different flowers, and plenty of greenery! Just have fun with it!

Filed Under: Decorating, Featured, Summer Entertaining Tagged With: decorating with summer flowers, flowers, fresh flower party decorations, Summer table decorations

Graduation Party Themes

April 30, 2010 By Linette Leave a Comment

Every graduate has their own unique personality. You don’t have to stick to caps and gowns for your graduation party. You can create a party that’s as unique as the graduate themselves.

Here are a couple graduation party themes and some basic ideas to go with them. Over the next couple days we’ll expand on some of these themes, and give you more food, decorating, and cake ideas.

Do you have a music fan? Someone who loves to play the guitar, drums or any other instrument? Plan a music themed graduation party. Use music notes, or cardboard cut out musical instruments to decorate for the party. Music note cupcakes, a keyboard, or guitar shaped cake would also be fun.
Plan a graduation luau, complete with roast pork and grass skirts.
Is the graduate into sports? Either playing a sport, or a spectator, plan their party around their favorite sport or sports team (high school, college or professional). Decorate your party with team colors and memorabilia.
Plan a Mardi Gras theme graduation, use the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold to decorate. Hang brightly colored streamers and and masks for decorations. Let New Orleans influence your menu choices.
Make graduation a red carpet event. Take photographs of the graduate and their friends as they arrive, and let them walk the red carpet, just like the stars. Serve a star shaped cake, or add star sprinkles to your cupcakes.
Does your graduate speak a foreign language? Are they thinking about studying in a different country? If they’re fluent in French or Spanish use those cultures to influence your party decorations and food.

For personalized graduation invitations, cake ideas, graduation postage, banners and more, make sure you check out Graduation Party Ideas and Supplies.

If you have a unique graduation theme party idea please share!

Graduates Image: istockphoto