Home | Catch My Party

I'm so excited to share this video, because if you watch it, you might notice I'M IN IT!

A few weeks ago, I headed down to LA to be part of a Sauza Tequila video shoot with Jennifer Sbranti from Hostess with the Mostess, Candice Kahn from Fashionably Organized, Jenny Wu from Good, Bad, and Fab, Christi Johnstone from Love from the Oven, and Marisa Guerrero from Margaritas in the Rain.

I was nervous about it. It just seemed weird to pretend I'm having a Cinco de Mayo ladies night in a rented house with a bunch of women I don't know. My daughter even made me this sign back at the hotel to give me strength.

But then I got there, and I met the women, and we started hanging out...

If you've ever been to a video shoot, you know how long they take. We got there at 2:00pm and weren't going to be finished until 10:0pm. So what did we do to fill the time?

We chatted about our lives, our families, our kids, our blogs, our husbands. We talked about food and fashion and business. We got our hair and makeup done, took photos of each other and posted them on Instagram. We ate a ton (a real dinner and a staged dinner and we ate them both). And we even almost froze to death because it was 50 degrees outside when we shot the last outdoor scenes.

But the truth was, it turned out to be a blast!

You see, I spend so much of my time at home alone in my sweatpants in front of my computer, and people in my everyday life don't quite understand what I do. So to hang out for a day with these interesting women who know exactly what I do because they're doing the same thing, made me feel like I belonged. It was an instant bond!

Thanks Sauza Tequila, because by the end of the night, we really were girlfriends at a Cinco de Mayo party enjoying delicious margaritas (recipe at the bottom of the post) in an awesome house with a great view of LA. And I was so glad I did it!

SOME PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS...

Here's the insane house with the swimming pool in the living room, no joke.

Jenn and me posing for the camera.

The gorgeous dinner table. It really did look like a fiesta!

Candice, Christi, and Jenny goofing off between shots.

Marisa pouring more yummy margaritas. This will definitely be my go-to margarita recipe from now on. It has beer in it!

And here we all are posting photos and then commenting on them. Thanks, ladies, for the good times!

SAUZA-RITA RECIPE

• 1 can Sauza® Blue Silver 100% Agave Tequila*
• 1 bottle light beer
• 1 can frozen limeade
• 1 can water

He's equally talented in the saving of lives and the ways of love. And best of all? He's ready to pour you a Sauza-rita, and listen as you pour out your feelings. This perfect man is perfectly prepared to help make your ladies night unforgettably fun - with Sauza Blue, of course. Check us out at http://facebook.com/SauzaMargaritas.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Sauza® via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Sauza®.

This is one of my favorite desserts and I can't believe it has taken me so long to share it on my blog. It's simple to make and perfect for a quick mostly-healthy family dessert!

The best part about it is the added strawberries. They create a level of acid that makes the soft fruit sparkle in your mouth. How's that for a description!

This recipe makes 6 large ramekin-sized apple crisps or 1 large casserole dish-sized apple crisp.

APPLE CRISP

Ingredients:

filling

• 6-7 apples sliced about a 1/4 inch thick
• 1 basket strawberries
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

topping

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter (half stick)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, melted butter, salt, cinnamon, oats, and walnuts in a large bowl to make the topping.

Core the apples and cut them into thin slices. Toss in a bowl with lemon juice and cinnamon. The lemon juice will add some extra flavor, and help keep the apples from browning while you work with them.

Hull the strawberries and cut them into thin slices.

Use butter to grease the ramekins and add about a tablespoon of water, just enough to cover the bottom. Place a layer of apples at the bottom of the dish, followed by a layer of strawberries, then a layer of apples.

Cover the filling with the topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes in ramekins, 45-1 hour in a casserole dish. The apple strawberry mixture should be bubbling and the top should be brown and crisp. I wanted the tops extra brown so I put them under the broiler for about 45 seconds, but be very careful, they can burn every easily, especially the walnuts.

 

And here they are right out of the oven, piping hot!

Serve with a scoop of ice cream and enjoy!

I was excited when GE asked me to write a post about fresh food, because it's something my family and I live on. We shop at our local farmer's market every Sunday. I love coming home and biting into a peach that tastes like flowers.

So when I thought about what kind of fresh food I like to take on a trip (the topic is inspired by the new GE web series, Freshpedition), I thought about my favorite caprese sandwich. Just writing this makes my mouth water.

To add extra flavor to my sandwich, I like to drizzle a little chimichurri sauce on it. For those of you who don't know, chimichurri is an Argentinian marinade made from parsley, garlic, olive oil, red pepper, and red wine vinegar (we added basil to tie it in with the caprese).

BASIL CHIMICHURRI

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons basil chopped fine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced or pressed
• 1 teaspoon Red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)

Directions:

Combine olive oil, parsley, basil, red wine vinegar, garlic, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Mix. If you can, let it sit an hour or two to let the flavors develop. If you are impatient, it is still good!

BASIL CHIMICHURRI CAPRESE SANDWICH

Ingredients:

One large baguette cut into quarters 2 heirloom tomatoes (to make four sandwiches I used a large yellow and large red one; the gnarlier they look, the better!) 8 fresh basil leaves 8 slices of fresh buffalo mozzerella (I bought, which was delicious, at Whole Foods) Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

To build a Caprese sandwich, start by liberally spreading the chimichuri on the bottom half of the bread. Add two big slices of tomato, then two big slices of buffalo mozzerella. Finish it off with two big basil leaves and a dash of salt and pepper. Put the top on and... delicious! You will probably have enough tomato left over for at least a couple more sandwiches.

Here's how my four sandwiches turned out!

I wrapped them in parchment paper, tied them with bakers' twine, grabbed four peaches that taste like flowers and off we went to the park, not necessarily a long car ride, but a great afternoon with delicious food. :)

Check out GE's new web series called Freshpedition, about a chef and an engineer who take a 2,000 mile trip with a fridge strapped in the back of a pick up truck to find the freshest ingredients across the country and cook something special at the end.

GE is continuing this same passion for fresh food with the Freshpedition Sweepstakes. This sweepstakes uses Pinterest, which means you can actually pin for a chance to win all new GE kitchen appliances.

But wait, there’s even more to win!

You can also enter each day of the sweepstakes for a chance to win a $100 VISA® Prepaid Card. Entering for this prize is fun as you’re asked to pin your favorite fresh foods or your own recipes. Also, these pins when hashtagged with your state (e.g. #GEfreshTX) become part of a “Best of Fresh” map featuring freshness from around the country. Explore the map here: http://www.freshpedition.com/sweepstakes/fresh-map.htm

For official rules and to enter visit here: http://www.freshpedition.com/sweepstakes/

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by GE via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of GE.

Last week, Glam Media sent us a "party pack" filled with fun party supplies, and Bacardi sent us two bottles of their new Piña Colada and Mojito Classic Cocktails Light so we could style a "Shiny Chic" cocktail party.

We wanted to try something new, so we decided to make piña colada and mojito gelées! What's a gelée, you might ask? Well, it's fancy way of saying "Jello shot."

I highly recommend trying these at your next cocktail party! They were simple to make, looked great when we were done, and tasted delicious.

Here's how to do it...

Ingredients

1 cup pre-mixed cocktail 1 packet gelatin 1 tablespoon lime juice

For the garnish 1/4 cup shaved coconut 1/4 cup dried pinapple 12 bunch mint Zest from 1 lime

Directions

In a saucepan, add 1 cup of your cocktail and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Stir in one packet of gelatin.

Stir the mixture in the saucepan over low heat until the gelatin completely dissolves - about 5 minutes. You don't want it to boil (or even simmer) or the alcohol will evaporate.

Lightly oil a silicone mold, and wipe out any excess oil. We used a silicone brownie square mold for the square gelées, and a silicone mini muffin pan for the round gelées. We filled the molds with a baster, but you could also use a measuring cup to carefully pour the mix. Put the molds in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until the gelatin has solidified.

Makes approximately 12 gelées

We left them in the fridge until we were ready to serve, then we carefully popped them out. A few stuck so we used a knife to loosen the edges. Next time we will add a little more oil to the silicone trays so they slip out more easily.

We garnished the piña colada gelée with a small piece of shaved coconut and dried pineapple, and we garnished the mojito gelée with some lime zest and a small mint leaf.

To keep it simple, we served our gelées with plantain chips and macadamia nuts.

I have to briefly discuss the cool party pack we received. It included:

• Cream and black napkins from West Elm
• Shiny silver napkin rings from Crate & Barrel
• Silver bowls and a silver tray from CB2
• Rhinestone tea lights from Z Gallerie
• Cocktail picks from Williams-Sonoma (which we put out with the gelées but was a cheat because you couldn't pick up the gelées with the picks, you had to use your fingers, or better yet tasting spoons :))

The napkin rings were these pretty silver loops, so I wanted to find something interesting to do with them. I ended up wiring them together with an antique pearl and crystal necklace and draping them from the lighting fixture in our dining room. It made for this cool effect. BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails Light is a new line of low calorie, ready to serve cocktails. At less than 95 calories for a 4-ounce serving, BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails Light is available in Piña Colada and Mojito flavors and is made with natural flavors, real juice and pure cane sugar. Whether enjoying a favorite cocktail after a long day or throwing a party, BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails deliver classic cocktail taste that’s a hit with friends, won’t add inches to your waistline and won’t take all day to prepare.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Bacardi via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Bacardi.

One of the newest party trends is mason jar sippers. These are mason jars with special daisy perforated metal lids that fit fancy straws perfectly. They're a great chic detail to add to your table and can work at kids' parties and grown up parties alike.

Lisa from Fancy That, a custom party good and gifts boutique, is giving away this complete drink package worth $50 that includes:

• A set of 12 mason jar sippers with lids
• 12 paper straws (you choose the color)
• Personalized drink flags to match your party decor

You win 12 jars, 12 lids, 12 straws (in your favorite color)... And 12 drink flags customized to match your party decor... To enter, just "like" Fancy That on Facebook and leave a comment at the end of this post saying you did just that.

Thank you, Lisa, for such a trendy giveaway!

We’ll pick the winner at random on Thursday, June 7th at 10:00PM (PST).  Any entries after that won’t be considered, sorry. We will use random.org to generate our winner and will notify you by email. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

 

With summer approaching, I can't help but think of ice cream, so I was planning to write a post about the incredible ice cream socials on our site. But then I noticed how many treats people make that look like ice cream, but aren't actually ice cream.

I love anything clever and fun, especially when it comes to dessert, so here are my favorite "ice cream" desserts pulled from different parties on our site. (Click on the photo to see the party it's from.)

Pretty unbelievable...

When I first posted about this gorgeous flower pot cake that Marta T made for her Spring Time Party, the response was incredible. People wanted to know exactly how she made it.

Well, Marta put together this easy DIY explaining every step, so now you can make one for yourself. Thank you, Marta. It is fantastic!!

Materials:

• 3 layers of chocolate cake 7 inches in diameter each
• 3 cups or so of chocolate butter cream frosting or chocolate ganache
• 2 cups of vanilla butter cream frosting
• 2 lbs of white rolled fondant
• Gel food colors: Terracotta and Buckeye Brown from Chefmaster
• Gel food colors: Deep Pink and Forest Green from Americolor

Instructions:

My husband is really excited about baseball season starting, so I thought it would be fun to try my hand at baking homemade pretzels.

I love hot pretzels, especially when paired with a good dipping sauce (like the spicy Gruyère and creamy Nutella recipes I've included below). Honestly, what could be better than enjoying a hot pretzel and a cold beer while watching baseball?

Plus, if you like making dough -- mixing it, kneading it, shaping it -- this is a very satisfying recipe to try. The results are fantastic!

Here's how you do it...

HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS

Ingredients:

pretzel dough

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115F)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter (melted)

topping

• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt or pretzel salt (for topping)

poaching liquid

• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda

Directions:

In a large bowl, add 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and yeast to 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Let the bowl stand about 5 minutes to allow the yeast to activate. It should bubble.

Add the flour and melted butter and mix until completely combined.

If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can mix on low for 5 minutes. Otherwise, drop the dough on a smooth surface and knead for 7-10 minutes (trust me, it's not hard).

Put the dough in a  lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour. The dough should roughly double in size.

After it the dough has risen, preheat the over to 450F and start boiling the 10 cups of water in a large stock pot. Once you have a rolling boil, add the 2/3 cup baking soda. Prepare a baking sheet with a silpat, or very lightly oiled parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into 16 inch ropes. The dough is very elastic, so it will tend to shrink a few inches as soon as you stop rolling it out - that's normal.

To make a traditional pretzel, take the rope and form a 'U' shape. Twist the ends twice, then fold them back down onto the base of the 'U'.

To make pretzel bites, take the 16" ropes and cut into 2" sections.

For the traditional pretzels, lower them carefully into the boiling water with a spatula. They will sink initially, but float up to the surface after 15-20 seconds. Let them boil for about 45 seconds then lift them out with a spatula, and movebthem to the baking sheet. If you are making pretzel bites, you can add 8-10 at a time. I like to use a large slotted spoon to scoop them out.

Brush the egg yolk on the tops of the pretzels, then sprinkle some coarse sea salt over the top (use as much as you'd like).

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until you get a nice brown exterior.

Serve warm with a cold beer and a nice cheesy dipping sauce.

SPICY GRUYÈRE CHEESE SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of grated Gruyère cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat (you don't want to brown the butter). When the butter starts to bubble,  whisk in the flour. Whisk over low heat for about 5 minutes.

Add about a quarter of the milk to the sauce pan, and whisk until the mixture is smooth, and there are no lumps of flour. Add the rest of the milk, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so.

Whisk in the garlic clove (finely minced, or pressed), chili powder, and mustard powder.

Turn off the heat, and add the cheese in 4 parts, mixing after each until it is melted. Add salt to taste.

Here's my daughter tasting the pretzels with the Nutella/whipped cream sauce!  Start with Nutella and add the whipped cream until you like the creamy consistency. Yum!

The whole thing takes about 1 1/2 hours (because of rising time), and makes 16 traditional pretzels, or 50 pretzel bites. Trust me, these are good!

 

I have to admit... I am a snacker. I spend a lot of time either sitting in front of my computer or in my car driving my daughter to school, so it's rare when I actually sit down for lunch.

I was asked by the people at Activia Harvest Picks to write about my favorite snack foods, and I was happy to do it.  Plus, I thought this would give me a great opportunity to work on my food photography skills with my new Canon DSLR.

I live in Santa Monica, CA, and there is the most incredible farmer's market right down the street. This is what it looks like, just two blocks from the beach. My husband or I go once a week.

Yesterday, I took my camera with me (it was 75 degrees outside and a little hazy) and I photographed all the foods I love to snack on.

Berries -- Any and all kinds of berries, my favorite being blackberries and strawberries.  The only place I've had better berries is on my mother's farm in North Carolina. Otherwise, these are the best.

Raw almonds -- I can eat them by the handful. This is my snack when I want something filling and satisfying.

Satsuma Mandarins -- I like my sweet with a big dose of tangy and that's exactly what these taste like, plus they're super easy to peel and very portable. I just pop them in my bag as I'm heading out the door.

Heirloom carrots -- I like my carrots in a variety of colors (I find the purple ones to be extra sweet). I just peel them and eat them... a lot of them. I wonder if I was a rabbit in a previous life. They are just so crunchy and have such a delicious earthy taste.

Pink Lady apples -- Not only do I like the name, but again it's got that great balance of sweet and acid, plus they taste great with a spoonful of peanut butter.

Haas avocados -- I just cut them in half, sprinkle them with kosher salt, maybe a dash of lemon, grab a spoon, and go to town. This is another filling snack for me.

And finally my downfall... These are dark chocolate cakes with chocolate ganache. I could seriously live on chocolate alone and need a piece (or two or three) every day. It's my major Achilles heel. I don't know how I could ever live without it. Or why I'd ever want to.

Hope you enjoyed the photos. I'd love to hear what your favorite snacks are.

New Activia Harvest Picks is a deliciously fruity and silky smooth yogurt. You will enjoy a Harvest of real fruit in every silky spoonful.

Compensation was provided by Activia via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Activia.

When I read that Candy from The Party Bakery spent $125 on her daughter's Tangled Up in Fun Rapunzel Birthday, I almost flipped. How did she do it? Well, I asked her how, and she was kind enough to write up her money saving tips. Thank you, Candy, for all your practical and creative ideas. Take a look...

Have a Little Princess who’s dreaming of a Royal Birthday Bash? Gonna need a fairy godmother to pull it off on your budget? No problem…you’ve got this!

My little princess wanted to have a Tangled Birthday party for 6th birthday this year. Being an excited kindergartener with a classroom of willing party guest she, of course, wanted to invite 18 kids to the party…never mind her siblings, family friends, and family.

We were able to explain that we couldn’t invite every child from her classroom but that she could invite her best friends from the class. Apparently, she has many best friends…lol! So we still ended up with a large guest list when it was all said and done. She skipped away happy as pie, dreaming of her upcoming Royal bash, and I was left a bit stressed and frazzled trying to figure out how we were going to pull this off.

Long story short, we were able to do it and stay very low budget. In all, I spent about $125 on food and decorations and the whole shebang. Now in full disclosure, I do own a party design and printable business. So I was able to make a great deal of the accessories including my invitations for cost. However, you can access printable elements yourself online inexpensively.

So let’s dig in and let me share my top money saving tips with you.

TIP 1

Invitations. You could run out to Party City and buy the 8 pack of the Disney licensed Rapunzel party invitations BUT do you really want the same invitations that everyone else has? Your invitation sets the entire tone of your party! It is in my opinion, the single most important piece of your party. When I design my party sets, I first start with my invitation and then build the rest of my pieces around it. That being said, I love the idea of a custom invitation.

You can find so many wonderful party vendors on Etsy and on the web that have pre-designed invitations, and complete party sets that you can download and print yourself. Or if your budget allows, you can order them ready made. Like I said, I am in the business of party design, so I designed my own invitation which is available in my Etsy shop (shameless promotion time). For $12 you can download the printable file and send it to your favorite photo print shop (Walgreens, Wal-Mart..etc.) or print them at home. Add your Rapunzel braid, and they’re ready to go. A unique party invitation that sets the tone for your party and lets your guest know there in for a unique and fun time!

Tip 2

Decorations. Look around the house and use what you have. If you need something, ask your friends to borrow it before you go out and buy it!

I knew I wanted to serve some of our food items in iron skillets since it plays such a big part in the movie. I did not have a single iron skillet to my name. I knew I couldn’t afford to buy one so I started asking friends and before I knew it I had 5 iron skillets waiting for me. Perfect!

I basically took a walk through my house and looked around for things I could use. I found a cute lantern candle holder that I could place on the table, a little restaurant style standing chalkboard to welcome my guest, a couple cute baskets for holding various items, and some Christmas lights for stringing the trees outside to make a magical forest. All for FREE!

I knew I wanted to created the Snuggly Duggling (the thug pub) in my dining room, and serve all of the food from there, so I would need a table cloth that was rustic and inexpensive. I went to my local Jo-Ann Fabrics and found some burlap and purchased 2 yards. I think it ran me about $4 because I also used one of their 40% off coupons. Woot woot! I love a deal!

I wanted to have something incorporated into my decorations that resembled Rapunzel's flowing golden hair. My first thought was to use golden yarn and create a huge braid to hang out of my daughters window onto the porch below. Well, after trying to braid the tiny hair piece I made for a photo prop I decided that was going to be way to time consuming and take way to much yarn!! So I found a roll of vinyl table covering at Party City that would be perfect.

The entire roll was $22.00 and quite honestly I barely put a dent in in. If you don’t have a huge area to cover you could easily buy a few of the rectangular table clothes instead.Check the Dollar Store first.  They usually have a good selection of basic colors. I then unrolled a large section and cut it in half and was able to string it from the windows, on the ceiling, and through the tree’s outside. It was perfect! You could even weave some Christmas lights through it and make it look like the glowing hair! Cute!

Next I knew we could not fit that many kids inside our house so we were going to have to utilize our front yard. I planned the party for the evening so that I could create a magical forest outside. Using several strings of our Christmas lights, I put my husband on the task of stringing a big tree on our side yard with lights and Rapunzel hair. Inspired by a Taylor Swift video I had seen, I wanted to have pictures from the movie hanging from the tree branches for the kids to look at as they sat under the tree and ate.

I started Googling Tangled pictures and found a bunch of free high quality clips from the movie that I could print on my home computer and use. If you can’t print them yourself send them to your favorite photo place and for a few cents a print you’ve got some great decorations! Then just use some fishing line or even white thread and hang from the tree. It was really cute and the kids loved running around looking at all of the pictures!

Tip 3 

Games. You have to have something to keep 18 kids busy for 2 hours. I am a huge advocate for the “home” party. I like the way it enables the kids to interact with each other and actually spend time with the birthday girl or boy. Sometimes these parties at other places can feel so disconnected, and I don’t think it gives much opportunity for the kids to really connect. However, you have to entertain them yourself when they are at your house so you better get creative!..lol.

We decided an easy game would be pin the nose on Flynn Rider. That is a big reoccurring joke in the movie that his nose is always different on all of the wanted posters. So again I turned to my trusty friend Google and found a free Flynn Rider wanted poster. I printed a few of these off for decorations and for the game. Then I just made some little square pieces of paper with noses drawn on them. A simple blind fold and you have a fun game!

One of my favorite things we did was the painting wall. Rapunzel loves to paint and basically paints her entire room to occupy her time. I wanted to run some paper all the way down the side of our fence and let the kids go crazy but couldn’t figure out how to make that happen with out spending a fortune on paper. Then we had the idea of using the back side of wrapping paper. That was one of those “ah ha” moments! We bought 2 rolls of Dollar Store wrapping paper and covered the entire fence for $2.00. We then bought 2 packs of the Crayola paints and some Dollar Store paint brushes and let the kids line up and go crazy! It was awesome! They loved it and what a great art piece we had when they were done.

Another inexpensive idea was to get some sidewalk chalk..again Dollar Store…and let them draw all over the driveway!

I love when I look at party pictures and they have a cute photo op set up with props. So I scoured the clearance section at Michaels and found a white frame that did not include the glass.  It was only $6 and would work perfectly. Using some yarn I made a Rapunzel braid to attach to a princess tiara that I pulled out of my daughters dress up box. We hung the frame with fishing line from the pretty tree outside and the kids were able to put on the crown and braid and have their picture taken…turned out pretty cute! One tip though, make sure you take a minute and make the kids go over there to take pictures because otherwise you will forget and they will be having to much fun to stop and want to do it themselves!

Lastly to add to the atmosphere we brought out our MP3 player and some little speakers and played the Tangled soundtrack as the kids ran around and ate outside. We downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes for about $10.00

Tip 4

Food. I didn’t want to break the bank on foo, but knew we had to have something substantial for the kids and parents since it was just after dinner time. Rapunzel's favorite soup is Hazelnut stew…I wasn’t feeling too confident about making and serving actual Hazelnut soup…although the reviews are all great online from people who have made it. I choose to make a pot of potato soup that I made early that morning and just placed in a crock pot. A simple dish of cheese, bacon and green onions to top it off, and it was perfect! We just labeled it Hazelnut Stew to play along with the party theme.

We kept the rest simple --remember you’re feeding kids -- they will grab a few small things and then run off to play and not eat it anyway! We did some cheese cubes, fruit and bread, Jell-O cups and my sister made cherry cheesecake cupcakes...Yum!

Now you can make a little look a lot more impressive by just being creative. Take your fruit and make fruit tower kabobs instead of just a bowl of fruit. Use your iron skillets to fill with cheese and bread. Using some cupcake printable circles you can take an ordinary cupcake and give it a unique and custom topper. Work on your presentation of your food and you don’t have to have a bunch to make it look full.

The Jell-O cups were a very easy and fun thing to serve! I was inspired by Supermomments.com, where she made these for her Tangled party. Basically you take some blue Jell-o and pour into small clear plastic cups. Then once the Jell-o is set, take a slice of orange and poke a toothpick into the top and using either a piece of purple cardstock or some printable kingdom flags attach them to your toothpick to make Rapunzel and Flynn’s boat. Easy and super cute!

For drinks I made a classic wedding golden punch to resemble the magic flower potion they give the queen in the beginning of the movie. I picked up a few golden flowers from the Dollar Store to place in front of the punch and labeled it “Magic Flower Punch.”

The cake. This is where a lot of people like to splurge and who could blame them! I have seen some amazing and beautiful cakes and it is the centerpiece of your table. So if that’s where you want to put your money, go for it!

My little one decided she was soooo over cake and cupcakes (she’s only 6…really?) so I had to get creative with the cake! I decided to use donuts to stack and make a tower. It was a little harder than I thought to keep them from falling over, and I encourage anyone who wants to try it to use something like a thick dowel rod to place down the middle!

I used some store bought icing and made green and pink and purple, and using a pastry bag I started making vines and flowers around the tower. I was fortunate to have purchased a castle cake set a few years ago that I was able to use pieces from for the window and the tower peaks. If you don’t have something like this, you could simply use a sugar cone for the peak rolled in sprinkles and you could use a fruit rollup to cut out the shape of a window…just get creative!

Tip 5 

Favors. This was my one splurge! I found this amazing local cookie artist, Decorated Desserts, thanks to Facebook, and happened to see pictures of Tangled cookies she did. Gasp! they were adorable and I sooo wanted some! I had saved money on everything else so I ordered 2 dozen Pascal cookies to wrap up as favors. They were adorable and worth every penny! They ended up being about $2 a cookie which wasn’t really to bad for a favor I suppose.

I feel that it’s the extra little things that make a party! I used elements from my printable set to accent my food table and my decorations. Printables are easy and I feel a lot of people get intimidated by them. The beauty of it is that you have creative freedom to make them as fancy or simple as you would like.

So if you can cut out shapes, glue things together and string ribbon through holes…you pretty much can create it yourself. There are various companies that offer printable sets. Prices can vary but most average around $30-$40 for a set. Included in your set you have access to invitations, thank you tags, thank you cards, banners, water bottle wraps, candy bar labels, cupcake topper circles, welcome signs, table tents…etc.

One price, one download and you can print as many as you need. Now granted ink cost can suck up your budget really quickly, so be careful and make sure that your printer can handle it, and if you feel it can’t,check into printing at one of the many office stores.

For my party I used the cupcake toppers to place on top of my cheesecake cupcakes. I printed a Kingdom flag banner to string around the trees outside. I printed the favor tags to add to each cookie to add a personal touch to my favors. All of the food was labeled with food table tents that were themed for the Snuggly Duggling. I also printed my Thank You cards and loved that they matched the theme of my party! So if you want to add the special touches and don’t have the budget to order them ready made, this is a great option!

Whatever your budget you can create a wonderful party that your little Princess and all of her friends will love!

Thank you Candy, for sharing all your tips. I especially love the activities you came up with!

If you haven't seen the rest of Candy's party photos, you're in for a treat, and to learn more about Candy, please check out her blog, The Party Bakery, and her Etsy shop.