{Parties} Spring Babyshower

Last year I had the pleasure of working on a dessert table for a girlfriend's girlfriend's babyshower.  No that wasn't a typo it was for my friend who was helping host another friends babyshower :-)

The colors were mint green and light blue.

The goodies included mini-chocolate mints, decorated sugar cookies....

..my signature brownie pops.

Can't have a dessert table without the cupcakes!  These were chocolate, vanilla and red velvet.

Most of all the decorations can be found at Joann's and the display dishes were found at HomeGoods.  The tags were from a babyshower scrapbooking kit.  I could have purchased them online or made them myself but because of the lack of time, this option was much easier and faster and it still turned out super cute.

{Parties} Fun Ideas for a Girls Night In

These past two weeks have been very difficult and they've reminded me not to take life or loved ones for granted.  While at times it feels like we'd like the world to just stop for a minute so we can take a breather, life reminds us that it'll keep on going whether we're ready for it or not.  So, in order to take the days one day at a time and help myself focus on happier things, I've decided on a girls night in for closest and dearest girlfriends.  It had actually been scheduled for the month of February when the day of love and friendship is celebrated but because of events that have transpired, I've rescheduled it for March.  It is nice though, to have moved the date, because I have a lot more time to brainstorm and come up with cute ideas on decorating, baking, and cooking and I wanted to share these ideas because they are too cute not too.  They have been taken from other websites whose authors are brilliant and creative women and credit will be given appropriately so put the phone down...no need to call in big shots ;-)

Baked goods are my niche but I sometimes like to look around and see how to make them cute and presentable.  My first source of inspiration is this beautiful dessert table presented by Glorious Treats.

It's such a cute table without being too "baby girl".  The tulip flowers give the table an air of sophistication and there aren't too many treats provided making the choices of what to eat a little easier.
And get this, Glorious Treats set up an almost identical table but with much healthier choices....

Love it, love it!  Notice the fruit kabobs on the lower left.  Yup, those are definitely going to be part of the menu at my little get together. 
Another item that will be placed on the table is this yummy appetizer I found on Gina's Skinny Recipes.
They are Skinny Baked Jalapeno Poppers.  My stomach is seriously rumbling right now just by looking at this picture.

Jump on over to her site for the recipe and how-to pictures here...Gina's Skinny Recipes.

A little hartiness is always recommended to help filler-up the tummies and I found the perfect appetizer also on Gina's Skinny Recipes.  I promise I'm not trying to keep my friends from the chubby side but Gina has so many delicious recipes on her site with the most appealing pictures that I just didn't bother searching other sites.  I mean if I can eat more for less of the calories then I'll take it!!!  Who wouldn't.  So anywhoo, her other recipe I was eyeing was this one for Southwest Turkey Balls with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce.

Do these foods not make you want to come over and crash my party?

For dessert, I found these adorable Pie's on a Stick on Our Best Bites.

How cute are they?  Even dessert is served as an appetizer and in a very convenient way.  Who needs a plate for their pie?  No one because it's on a stick and it looks so cute.

Since my little shin dig will be a group of fun, grown up ladies like myself, I plan to serve drinks.  And even the drinks have to served stylishly.  So to my rescue comes this nifty DIY Ice Bottle Cooler idea from Celebrations At Home.

I tell ya, if I don't get the ooh's and aah's I like to hear I will have to plan another get together....hmmm I think that's a great motivator.

Christmas Cheer

This past weekend I had the opportunity to create a dessert table for a mommy group christmas party in Irvine, CA.  It was a christmas party for the mommy's night in get-together.  It was also a small group of no more than 20 moms so not alot of desserts were requested, only enough to make a good impression.

The desserts on the menu were...

Snowflake Brownies....Chewy brownie bites dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkled with shredded coconut.

Gingerbread cookies....these were snowflake shaped but none the less, gingerbread.

Peppermint Candy....peppermint candy shaped into stars and round christmas tree ornaments.

Red Velvet Cupcakes.

The table was adorned with snowmen provided by the host, a couple candles and chocolate bars wrapped in christmas cheer.

I will post the recipe on how to make the Snowflake brownies in another post so check back soon!

Star Spangled Table

Well the final product is here!  The theme of the table was "Star Spangled" for the 4th of July of course.
We incorporated both baked goods and candies.  I wasn't able to shop from an actual candy shop so instead opted for the grocery store.   I was able to find Blue and White peppermint candy and half sized Twizzlers candy straws.  Client also requested sugar cookies so we cut them out in star shapes and sprinkled them with red sugar.  Client requested a home baked looking cake so we just "rough" frosted it and of course some cupcakes, yummy.  I found this really cool do-it-yourself labels you could print out for free here  http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2009/07/diy-4th-of-july/   So I printed them and added them to the table as description labels.

My first Buffet Dessert Table!

This weekend was awesome.  I finally designed and created my first dessert buffet table.  It was tough.  Lucky for me, my sister was here to help.  The table consisted of Vanilla cupcakes with my signature buttercream frosting, chocolate covered rice krispie treats, chocolate covered marshmallows, chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies and fresh strawberries.  I think the design portion was the most stressful because it's pressure to make it turn out beautiful!  So proud of me ;-)