This past weekend, a couple of friends and I hosted our first annual Pinterest Party. It was such a hit that the guests were already asking us to plan one for Valentine's Day! No one wants to wait a whole year before doing another one.
Here were the details of the invitation: everyone pre-paid $25 to cover the cost of the craft supplies, then my two friends and I each chose a craft. We didn't do a very good job staying within our budget, but it was a tough balance because we didn't want to pick something cheap and chinsy, or something that took too much time to complete. Even though we went over budget, we were really happy with the projects!
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| (the birthday side - more neutral colors) |
As for food, we asked the party guests to each bring their own Pinterest dish. I set up the table with pre-made
candy cane food labels and had the girls fill in the name of their recipe when they arrived.
I also put together a
hot cocoa bar complete with mini marshmallows, toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, whipped cream, Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka and chocolate peppermint dipped spoons.
I used an easy and surprisingly delicious crock pot cocoa recipe: 1/2 cup dry baking cocoa, 12 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, 1/8 tsp salt, 7 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. It's perfect for a crowd. Try it! You'll thank me.
I also made chocolate peppermint marshmallow stir sticks with some red and white striped paper straws that I found at Target.
One last thing I added to the tablescape were these adorable meant-for-Valentine's Day candy cane hearts. Such a fun idea to do with leftover mini candy canes! Place the two candy canes with the top of the crook touching the top of the popsicle stick, bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 350* for 3 minute until the candy canes are moldable, pinch the ends together (top and bottom) to adhere to the stick and "fill" the center with melted white chocolate or almond bark. (I used a very fancy Ziplock with the corner snipped off)
Curious what the other guests brought for their Pinterest dishes? It was a complete sugar fest. Let's just say I regretted skipping dinner.
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| Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies (not the most "Pinterest pretty" presentati, but Oh. My. Yum.) |
Everyone arrived at 6:00, we ate and voted on the best recipes, chatted for about an hour, then we finally got started on our crafting around 7:30.
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| The kids came home toward the end of the party and had fun with the fondue fountain. |
It's safe to say that we all had a blast. The weekend we chose was horrible for attendance (everyone had office parties and other commitments 10 days before Christmas!) so next year, we'll schedule our Pinterest Party before the craziness of Christmas is in full swing. Which will probably have to be before Thanksgiving.
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