Hostess Jo at Home

Simplified Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is on a Friday this year!  Yay!  I could eat Mexican food everyday.  Could you?  It's my favorite.  Along with margaritas, sangria, Corona...you get the idea!

Why not have a few friends over this year?  Below is a super easy way to make your table look more festive.  All I did was grab a few empty Corona bottles and fill them with Carnations!  Ole!

(excuse the photo quality, this was years ago!)

Grab some brightly colored serving ware, plates and napkins and you're set. 

Chips and salsa, quacamole, mini tacos, quesadillas and a batch of margaritas or sangria... 

Check out this recipe  for Frozen Sangria!  Yum

For a sweet treat try these Mini Key Lime or Lemon Pies.  They are super simple and NO BAKE!

You can see I used regular pie crusts but they would be better with graham cracker crusts.  Either way they are super tasty.

I found the same recipe I used here.  I just did a mini version.  That way you aren't slicing pie.  Everyone can serve themselves.

Well I'm ready to celebrate!  How about you?

 

XOXO,

Jo

Peppermint Candy Crafts

My friend is celebrating her birthday next week with a peppermint themed party.  This is a theme that I could go crazy with!  Peppermints are inexpensive, readily available and so festive.  They are great to use this time of year for birthdays, showers and Christmas parties.  Here is a collection of easy decorating ideas with peppermints I've collected to inspire you.

(click titles for instructions)

Candy Cane Candles

 

Candy Stick Vase

Peppermint Disk Vase

Peppermint Candle scape

Peppermint Trees
 

  
 
 

Italian Pot Luck Part 2

As you know, tomorrow is my Italian Pot Luck Birthday Party.  I've decided on my dish and have been searching for an after dinner drink.  It is tradition for us to serve an after dinner drink at our potlucks.  Of course this one had to be Italian!  I learned last night from my dad about Sambuca with Flies or Sambuca con mosca.  It is Sambuca liqueur with toasted coffee beans dropped into it.  Traditionally it has three beans meaning:  health, happiness and prosperity.  Great things to toast to huh?  You can also chew the beans to increase the flavor of the Sambuca.  I like that this drink is unique and has tradition.  Perfetto! 

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

(photo from here)
 

Cool Treat

Here's a cute and fun popsicle idea for you and the kids to try this summer.  These would be great for a birthday party, shower or backyard bbq.

Confetti Pops

 

Ingredients:

8 piece(s)	(1 1/2-inch) soft-centered candy bars, (like Milky Way or Snickers)
1 pint(s)	vanilla custard-style ice cream, slightly softened
3/4 cup(s)	assorted-color candy confetti or sprinkles

DIRECTIONS

1. Insert a wooden Popsicle stick into one end of each candy bar and set aside. Place 1 tablespoon of ice cream in the bottom of a 3-ounce paper cup. Place candy in center of the cup, surround with 3 tablespoons ice cream, and smooth over the top.
2. Transfer cup to a baking sheet, repeat with remaining cups, and freeze until solid. Pour confetti or sprinkles into a shallow bowl and set aside. Peel the cup from each ice cream pop and roll in the decorations to cover completely. Store in freezer for up to 3 days

(photo from countryliving.com)

Grand Shindig

I am so excited to share with you this wonderful party from Natalie at Little Shindigs-her children's event planning company!  It is titled "Let Them Eat Cake" and I think that fits this party perfectly.  Get ready to step into a French Victorian setting with shimmering fabrics, beautiful flowers, whimsical costumes and much more!

 

Let Them Eat Cake!

Inspired by Marie Antoinette and
today’s cupcake revolution,
Little Shindigs brings to you a
Gala filled with French Victorian flair
A delectable mix of sweet treats, extravagant decor
and indulgent party grandeur!
We will roll out the carpet for you and your honored guests to another…
yet Fabulous time!
Because treating your guests to anything other than the finest cupcakes would be a travesty

 

 

 

 

Isn't this party every young girl's dream?  Talk about attention to detail! See more of this opulent party on Natalie's blog-Little Shindigs.  While you're there be sure to check out all of her other fabulous little shindigs, you will be so glad you did! 

Who Wants Ice Cream?

I do! I do!  Especially when it is these adorable SOAPSICLES!  Yes that's right-they are soap.  What a terrific gift idea for mom, friends and children.  They would also make great party favors. 

Here are a few of my favorites, there are many more over at Soapy Love!

Nilla Sammie

 

Peachy Keen

 

Lemonade

 

All Soapsicles are the same size as a real popsicle and only $8!

30th Birthday Celebration Part II

Please welcome my good friend Nicole who is doing a guest post for us today on her beautiful birthday cupcakes!  Thank you so much Nicole for sharing this with us.  Not only did they go perfectly with the decor, they were delicious!

 

Hostess Jo has graciously allowed me to blog about  the cupcakes I made for the 30^th Birthday

Celebration. Thank you Jo!

I began by looking at cupcake recipes that didn’t have raw eggs in the icing.  I was a little wary of exposing so many people  to possibly contaminated raw eggs. I found the Sweet Revenge Pure Vanilla Cupcakes  recipe on marthastewart.com.  I followed the recipe to the letter and they were a hit!  I bought the Mexican vanilla from  mexicanvanilla.com. On this website is a video of these cupcakes being made by Marlo Scott from Sweet Revenge. She has my dream job, a cupcake bar!

I loved the look of the parchment paper, but did not have the time to make each one. Fancyflours.com has baking cups that look the same in various colors.  I bought the white ones to match Jo’s décor and these white wavy candles that reminded me of the branches. I received everything I ordered from Fancy Flours very quickly and it was all wrapped very neatly in the cutest paper! I will definitely order from them in the future.

The next thing I wanted to do was the cupcake flags. These cupcake flags were my inspiration. I have Adobe Illustrator, but I am sure there are other programs you could use to create your own. At Wordlabels.com there is a tutorial that explains how to use .pdf label templates in Illustrator. I used this guide to create the flags, then printed them on stock paper. Included on the flags was “Happy 30^th Birthday” on one side and on the other side the

names of our birthday peeps and an Aries sign. They are time consuming at first, but once you create the flags it will be a breeze to do it next time. My husband helped with cutting and gluing the flags on the toothpicks. I could not find any clear crystal beads  (they were out at Michael’s!) so I will definitely do that next time. Even without the crystals the flags turned out great!

Thanks again Jo for allowing me to guest blog! The décor was awesome, the cupcakes were yummy, and the party was soooo much fun. Happy Birthday again to our friends!

Thanks again Nicole!  Your post is as fabulous as your cupcakes!

30th Birthday Celebration

Well the birthday party was a blast!  We celebrated three of my friends 30th birthdays at a cantina style restaurant.  My manzanita centerpieces were a big hit.  I would have done a couple of things different but I thought they turned out well for a first attempt.  I will definitely be using them again.  They are so versatile. 

Thank you to everyone for your interest and creative ideas for the centerpieces.  You all were a big help and I love hearing your ideas.  Hope you enjoy the pics. 

My First Manzanita Centerpieces

I had to work around orange tablecloths!  I thought they looked ok with the bright green moss. 

 

My sweet brother-in-laws cut the 30s out of metal and we spray painted them black.

 

I ordered the branches and containers from Blooms and Branches.  I ordered 24" natural and spray painted them white.  I was going to go with sandblasted but I read that the blasting causes a lot of the little branches to break off so it's better to order natural and paint them. The trick to spray painting them is primer!  I used one branch per pot.

I thought they were a good height.  The crystals were from Save on Crafts.

 

I bought the green moss at Pottery Barn.  I also scattered some "crystals" I purchased at Michael's through the moss.

This next photo is a little blurry but I love how the crystals are glowing.

 

Luckily the room was already fabulously decorated with natural branches with white twinkle lights and white lanterns hung sporadically.

 

Check out these little beauties my friend Nicole made. 

 

More on these later...

Big thank you to my husband for all of his help!  Mixing plaster=no fun.  Here is a tutorial on how to set your branches in a container.

If you'd like to see more pics please check out my Facebook page.  If you have any photos of manzanita centerpieces you've made I'd love to see them!  Just upload them to the album or shoot me an email.

I hope these give you some ideas for the next time you need a one of a kind centerpiece!  They were fun to make and you can really express yourself with them.  All in all they were not that expensive to make either.