Archive | September, 2013

Pony Party & Kentucky Pie in Jars Recipe

Many of you have already seen my daughter’s pony party here, today I am sharing the recipe for “Kentucky Pie” in mini mason jars. This is also known as Derby Pie, however, that name is trademarked so I had to give it my own name. This is a great chocolate pecan pie with bourbon. These pies are easy to make and would be a great fall treat! Perhaps Thanksgiving take home goodies?

The finished product looked like this. I dressed up the lids by printing the pattern onto cardstock and cutting out circles. I then tied with rope. Nice and simple !

WEB_Annabelle5th_birthday_042

I found the recipe here on Survival of the Scrumptious.  She shares the recipe for homemade crust and filling. I took the easy way out and used store bought crust and added the homemade {easy} filling.

Here is the filling recipe:

1 stick melted butter

1 c sugar

1 c corn syrup

4 eggs

1 T bourbon

¾ c. chocolate chips (give or take)

¾ c pecans

Press the crust into the jars. Put a spoon full of chocolate chips and pecans in bottom of jar top with filling.  Bake them at 350 for about half an hour. Cool and enjoy!

This was a perfect fit for our pony party…don’t you think?

party 1

desserts

WEB_Annabelle5th_birthday_119

picnic 1

cake

 

 

 

Continue Reading

Game on! Tyler’s Video Game Truck Party {Plus a Minecraft freebie}

Game on! My son Tyler turned 11 in August and we were very excited to have the GAME TRUCK to our home. Two whole hours of 16 quiet boys! That’s right! They were in the game truck with the “game coach” for 2 whole hours. When they came out (looking a little like Vampires that had never seen the light of day) they all said that it was SO MUCH FUN! A pile of pizzas, a table of desserts and let’s call it a party!

My son is a HUGE Minecraft fan, along with all of his buddies. I designed a very “non-commercial” Game On logo for the party but had a couple of minecraft icons here and there. The door was decorated with just paper and tape because the graphics in minecraft are that “simple”. We also served “creeper juice” by adding black duct tape to my drink dispenser. For those who want to add a touch of Minecraft to your party stay tuned for a FREE minecraft printable coming up next!

We had Maggie Russo there to photograph it and my sister made the very cool gray cakepops with lime chevron sticks.

Now let’s have a look at this fun Game Truck Party!

game truck 1-B

Look how awesome this game truck is! 16 kids can play at once on 3 Big Screens. Very cool! We used Illiana Game Truck. I made VIP badges for the kids to wear onto the truck to tie in the design of the party.

game truck party

The chocolate WII and play station remotes were a hit and took very little time and effort to make with these molds from Amazon. They set up in literally minutes so you can make a bunch quickly.

The cool vintage style Atari joy stick candy tins were found on EBAY. Even with this very modern party theme I had to throw my little bit of vintage style in there!

game truck 2

game truck

game truck 4

The boys seemed to love  the game truck and for me the best part was that they were 100% entertained for TWO WHOLE HOURS!

WebFiles_VideoGame_088

WebFiles_VideoGame_055

See… our door had a little touch of minecraft too 😉

Not too creative or good looking, but easy and the boys got a kick out of it. I thought it would be better than a floral wreath on my door since the dessert and drinks were set up on my front porch.

WebFiles_VideoGame_102

You can find the whole set or just the invite in my shop to add a little DIY flair to your game truck party. Find it here!

And for you Minecraft fans I have a special FREEBIE for you. These bag toppers are sure to be a hit when you send the kids home with these easy little treat bags! Download your copy here! All you need are 5″ wide cello bags and candy (I used cherry sours).

minecraft bag topper

Continue Reading

Fall County Fair Ideas

September is here and that means Fall Parties! One of my favorite settings for fall parties are farms, orchards and fair grounds. This is the perfect time of year to take it outdoors. I love the County Fair theme because you can really use it for any occasion. I used mine for a family reunion, but it makes a great theme for birthday, wedding shower or baby shower as well. This was done on a small scale because I like the simple country feel of it, but I think these ideas would make a great jumping off point for a bigger party as well. Here are a few of my tips and tricks for a great {and simple} County Fair Party….

tips

[pinit]

  • I like to look for fun ways to add varying heights to my table. This time I used a rustic metal plant stand, vintage Pepsi crate and worn wooden boxes. Look around your house and you can get creative with this.
  • Use local grown fruit in different bushels and baskets to fill in space on the table. It looks nice and it fits right in with the theme. Lots of people appreciate a healthy option as well.
  • The County fair is all about great tasting desserts so skip the fancy fondant frosting and jazz up a simple cake with a prize ribbon. This cake was just $3.99 at my grocery store bakery and has the homemade “prize winning” look I was going for.
  • If your county or venue is known for something be sure to work it into the table. This farm is known for their Apple Cider Donuts so they made an appearance in a wooden loaf pan. The well known cider also had it’s own display.
  •  Inexpensive fabrics are a great way to add color to your table. This blue gingham was just $1 per yard. A $3 tablecloth is a nice deal!
  •  I love to add fresh flowers for a splash of color. The sunflowers were just right for this event.

collage 3

Set the tone to your event with the invitation and pull it all together with matching printables. You can find the invite and the whole matching set in my shop.

FACEBOOKRESIZE_COUNTYFAIR_167

And can I just add…how cute are they? Annabelle, Tyler and their cousin Jack.

FACEBOOKRESIZE_COUNTYFAIR_078

And now for the games. You know my style is Homespun…..so these games are just that! My favorite is the Soda Pop Ring Toss. I filled my vintage Pepsi crate with 24 bottles of colorful soda and the kids had to ring them with small rings.

game 1

FACEBOOKRESIZE_COUNTYFAIR_065

FACEBOOKRESIZE_COUNTYFAIR_049

 

tin can

* We did not photograph lunch…. but corndogs, corn on the cob, pulled pork and fried chicken are county fair favorites for “real food”.

Photos by Maggie Russo Photo. For more County fair inspiration check out her County Fair theme baby shower. It was ADORABLE. I love the homemade chalkboard menu that Maggie made! See her shower feature on The Wise Baby Blog

 

Continue Reading

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes