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To the girl who wants to throw a party,
Have you ever wanted to throw a fabulous party but you don’t know where to start? Personally, I love to throw a good party. The first “adult” party I remember throwing was for my good friend’s 25th birthday, I was just 22 at the time. At the time I was obsessed with the magazine, Martha Stewart Living and had seen this dinner party in the magazine the previous spring that was engrained into my memory. I knew that I would find the perfect reason to recreate this party and it happened to be my friend Jen’s 25th birthday party. The party was a color scheme of different pinks, ivory and gold. At the time a lot of
gold wasn’t being used often as this was late 2005. This party was the first time that I planned a menu, cooked for close to 20 people (I had my helpers!), made flower arrangements, purchased linens and chargers and, if I can remember correctly, I used some of my mother’s fine china for the first time. This party was just the tip of the iceberg for me in the last 20 years.
You need a lovely dinner party, cocktail party, ladies brunch or tea, something with a fun theme? I’m your girl. I love to design and plan, prepare for it, do the cooking if I am able and decorate. When I was a child, I remember my mom making these elaborate cakes and throwing us the most fun birthday parties, watching her cook for dozens of people, host all of the doctors from the local hospital for a true New England Lobster Bake, and set the table beautifully with china and crystal. I think its fair to say I got the bug for hosting a gathering from her.
I know that throwing a party can seem daunting, but you just must remember that you should only do what you are comfortable with. If you just want to be the location that it is hosted at, then that’s okay! Frankly, making sure your house is clean and ready is a lot of work! If that’s what you need to do, then that is totally okay! Cater in the food or ask people to bring a side. If you want to go bigger, do what you are comfortable with, and then your party will be amazing regardless. If you are enjoying the party, then your guests will.
The thing that I like to do if I am hosting let’s say a Valentine’s Day party (these photos are shown above), is that you can dip almost anything in chocolate! Dipping different things in chocolate is the easiest way to impress your guests in my opinion. It's pretty and shows that you made an effort and that’s always a winner. For my Valentine’s Day party, I dipped strawberries in dark chocolate and drizzled them with white chocolate. I dipped Oreos halfway with white chocolate and then decorated them with Valentine’s Day sprinkles. I also made cake pops. Cake pops are fun and so easy. I will put my cake pop recipe at the bottom of this blog (its super easy!). I made a charcuterie board with everything on it from Aldi (a friend told me that it is as good as Trader Joe’s charcuterie section and I do agree!), I also purchased macarons from the sweetest little macaron bakery we have here in Peoria, Viola Macarons.
For cocktails I created a “Bubbly Bar.” I was inspired to do this for brunch that I threw a little over a year ago when I found the cutest sign on Etsy. The bubbly bar is an easy thing to put together. You need some champagne, juices (for a mimosa bar), alcohol additions (I always use Chambord, Grand Marnier, Lychee liquor, and this year I added some prickly pear liquor that I found in Greece last summer) and some fruit; I used sliced strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and some oranges that I dehydrated myself. It's quick and easy. Grab a beverage bucket and throw a bunch of ice and the champagne (and juices if you have them), set everything else out in pretty dishes and you are good to
go!
For my flowers, I sometimes order them from a local florist, or I bulk order them and make them myself, it simply depends on how much time that I have to prepare for the party. This year I bulk ordered them. I generally bulk order them from Costco. There are lots of options when you go to do this, you literally have options to do an entire wedding if you wanted. This year I did lots of greens and my color palette for the flowers was different shades of purples and pinks. I also purchase vases to do my flowers in at Hobby Lobby, but only when they are 50% off (usually every other week), so I end up getting most of the vases for around $2. After my parties I like to drop off the flowers at different places like assisted
livings/retirement homes, schools, or I gift them to some friends out of the blue. Everyone is always excited to get flowers and I love putting a smile on peoples’ faces. I love arranging flowers. It isn’t something I set out to learn! I just tried it one day and had fun doing it and I got better at it over time. You never know if you will be able to do something unless you try it one day and I am so glad I tried to do this!
For linens, glasses, place settings, and silverware I combine what I do. I almost always rent my linens and glasses from Create a Scene Events in Morton, they have been helping me with my parties for years and it is easy to rent let’s say 50 wine or champagne glasses and it is very cost effective (the champagne flutes cost me 75 cents a glass for this party, in my mind that’s a win). I have a ton of china, so I always use that for my parties. I have some from my mother, some from my late grandparents (my stepfather’s parents), and I love to find great sets at estate sales and thrift stores. I have really collected some cool unique vintage china over the years.
Hosting a party is a love for me. Although, I can get a little stressed out and hyped up as I plan, the end result is always something that I love. I love sharing things with people that appreciate it and enjoy it. It fuels my creative energy. I love to plan the menus and learn how to cook a new dish. The details are things that I don’t let pass me by in the planning. If it is something as simply as adding a sprinkle of flaky Maldon salt to the butter plate at each setting, to making sure that the name cards are perfectly placed, and the flowers reflect the season and the inspiration of the evening. I love to make a beautiful table.
Trust me, I have had my fails along with my wins. I will tell you a little secret. The first time I hosted a Friendsgiving the Sunday leading into Thanksgiving week at my home in East Peoria in 2009, I was stressed and freaking out. I wanted everything to be perfect. This was my first year living in my home (with my then future husband) and I made the decision that I wanted to cook the entire Thanksgiving dinner on my own, without assistance while using all my family recipes. A friend of mine was helping me get the turkey out of the oven and prepare to slice it (I asked for help with this because I had never done it before) and when we were getting ready to cut into it, she giggled. I asked my friend Nicole what was so funny, and she reached into the inside of the turkey and pulled out the bag of giblets. I didn’t check the inside of the turkey to remove this. I was freaking out and panicking because I didn’t want anyone to know I blundered, but Nicole knew what to do. I was especially panicking because one of our friends was pregnant and she was constantly asking what the temperature of the turkey was to make sure it was safe for her and her baby and the last thing I wanted was to get anyone sick! Nicole and I stuck it back into the oven and then checked the temperature again in each spot that could have been undercooked. She told me it was okay, and no one would know. And you know what? No one did. They all ate the turkey, everyone enjoyed it and we had a wonderful evening. I will never forget the moment that I realized all of the giblets were in that turkey and it makes me laugh to this day, I am literally giggling right now as I write this at the memory. The reason why I share that with you is because no one is perfect. There is no perfect party no matter how much you try. Also, every party or dinner is a learning experience. The key is keeping your confidence and not letting anyone know that there was a problem, because they will only know if you tell them. No one is perfect, not even Martha, so just laugh it off and add it to your memories. It will give you wonderful stories to tell.
The moral of my story is don’t forget to pull the giblets out of the turkey! You got this!
- Heather
Cake pop recipe:
- Make a package of your favorite cake mix per package directions and make it in the 9x13 pan; place parchment paper in the pan first for easy removal.
- When cake comes out of oven, remove from pan and let cool.
- after the cake is cool, place the cake in a bowl and combine 1 can of your favorite frosting that compliments the cake flavor.
- mix together thoroughly (with clean hands is easiest) and then scoop equal sized small balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place into your freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes.
- while the cake balls are in the freezer, melt down some melting chocolate wafers in any color/flavor that you desire. Make sure that the chocolate is warm, not hot, when you go to dip your cake balls.
- sometimes I just make cake balls(not pops), then you would lightly coat in the the melted wafer or bark and place back on parchment paper and sprinkle with sprinkles to decorate.
- if making making cake pops, take the cake pop stick and dip the tip in the melted chocolate then stick into the ball and swirl into the melted chocolate/wafer/bark and then set to chill and decorate as desired.
Personal tip: The combinations of cake and frosting I generally use is chocolate/chocolate then dip in chocolate and funfetti/vanilla/dip in white chocolate or vanilla bark in any color.
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