Chinese New Year Dinner

We celebrated the Year of the Rabbit with some close friends! Favorite Chinese dishes and friends will hopefully lead to a year of good fortune. Table was pretty simple with chopsticks, money envelopes and felt fortune cookie placecards.

Holiday Party for a good cause!

Today I hosted a holiday party for good friends! It was a wonderful few hours of good company, good food and most importantly - a project for a good cause. We enjoyed a brunch table of goodies and then made blankets and assembled bags for the nonprofit Project Night Night, http://projectnightnight.org/. Project Night Night helps children in homeless shelters by providing them with a blanket, stuffed animal and story book. Guests brought books and stuffed animals - I prepped fleece for blankets and then we tied them during the party. We assembled the bags and taged them for girl or boy and appropriate age. It was alot of fun to visit and do something to help others.

 Hot beverage cups with homemade felt cozies:

 Personalised cereal spoons for each guest:

 

The finished bags!

Advent Calendar

My parents have made my sister and I an advent calendar every December since we were very little. Each year's is different and unique and definitely one of my favorite traditions of the holiday. This year, I wanted to make Advent Calendars for four of the little people in my life. I sewed felt stocking with fun designs for each day, strung the stockings on ribbon and them filled the stocking with fun, little gifts! Two went to three children in England and one to a little girl much closer to me. Enjoy!

Holiday Cookie Buffet

Belated photos from a Holiday OPen House I co-hosted with my family before the holidays. We have a buffet of so many delicious cookies! Color scheme was gold and white with a little sparkle thrown in for good measure. It was all as delicious as it looks!

Children's Halloween Party

You can experiment, test, and make a mess when mad scientists gather for a fun Halloween party! We had a belated Halloween party today with a focus on science fun!

 The tablescape

 Snacks

 Jello petri dishes with gummy specimans

Test tubes held chocolate sauce, sprinkles, marshmellows and worms for our ice cream sundae concoctions!

Tray of supplies for our science experiments.

 

Colorful milk fun!

 Instant snow eruption

 Most other photos of the party include children which I'd prefer not to post. Other experiments incuded oobleck, gak, soap souffle and mento gysers! It was a messy, hands on and fun two hours.

Halloween decorations

One of my favorite decorations was the marquee film poster we created. We purchased a vintage movie poster and adhered it to a large piece of black foam core board. I cut pieces to frame the poster and then cut holes for the lights. I used Christmas ball shaped bulb lights which I secured through each hole. It looked great once it was lit up!

Vintage Horror Film Inspired Halloween Party - Food

The menu incorporated many vintage horror films!  Here's the menu and photos of the courses.

A Vintage Horror Film Festival ~ Menu

Previews

“The Mummy’s Tomb”

Baked Brie with

Raspberry Sauce & Crackers

“The Brain Eaters”

Shrimp with Roasted Red Peppers

“The Body Snatchers”

Chicken Drum Sticks

Opening Credits

“Creature from the Black Lagoon”

Split Pea Soup and Bread Fingers

“The Deadly Mantis”
Salad with Beets and

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Feature Presentation

“Dracula”

Leg of Lamb with Roasted Vegetables

“The Invisible Man”

Airy Popovers

Concession Stand

“The Blob”

Caramel Corn

“Flying Saucers vs. Earth”

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
“Bride of Frankenstein”

Almond Joy Cake

Rum and Coke

Grown Up Icee

Vintage Horror Film Inspired Halloween Party

Our annual Halloween party was this week and it was a wonderful evening! Our theme this year was "Vintage Horror Films" and we played it up through the decorations and menu. It was a seated dinner for eight. Here are my favorite shots of the decorations - check the next post for food and menu.

Invitations with film strips for details and vintage movie poster card.

 "Concesssion stand" inspired desserts

 The table:

 Movie theater poster place cards and menu on plate

 Marquee style movie poster

 Decorations - the boxes in the glass jar are favors with homemade chocolates