Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Happy, Happy Hostess

Hello Hostesses!
So today I received a smashing surprise over Twitter! My fabulous friend Katrina (See her as featured in my events) featured me on the fantastic blog she writes for: Hey Little Birdie! I feel so honored and a little bit famous to be referenced on such a great site! So do me a favor and feed my ego a bit by checking it out!
Let me know what you guys think, and be sure to continue reading Hey Little Birdie! The wonderful women behind the blog are far better at staying on top of their blog than I am, and are constantly updating it with useful topics and whimsical posts. I am definitely a fan, hopefully you will become one too!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Homemade Hostess How-To's

How to create your own Homemade Hostess Helpers: Cake Plates

As a hopeless hostess, I am always looking for new ways to serve and display treats at my events! And with a few cheap goodwill purchases in combination with some glue, paint and imagination, I was able to create three different types of cake plates, each for under $10.

Two Step Serving Plates:
These are perfect for displaying a cake or even for serving something smaller such as cupcakes or rice krispie treats.

To create these cake plates is quite simple. For the first I purchased a gold candle stick holder (originally 4 dollars but bought on half off day at goodwill for $2) and a silver plate (originally 99 cents but purchased for 50 cents). After fusing the pieces together with a heavy duty adhesive ($8 a bottle, split between 4 creations for $2 each) I painted the finished product with white spray paint ($6 for a can, split between two plates for $3 a can).

The Candle Stick Holder:
 The Process:

Cost Breakdown:
$2 candle holder + 50 cent plate + $2 adhesive + $3 spray paint = $7.50

The Finished Product: 

The second cake plate was created the same way from some goodwill finds, this time I purchased a Peace plate (originally $3 purchased for $1.50) and some white item I found in the miscellaneous section originally priced at $3. I glued these pieces together before painting them white.

The Process:

Cost Breakdown:
$1.50 plate + 1.50 white piece + $2 adhesive + $3 spray paint = $8.00

Tea Cup Towers:
These towers work great for serving tiny treats or bite sized appetizers. Check out the finished products...

To create these I bought matching teacups and different sized plates, each originally priced at $1 a piece but purchased for 50 cents at half off day, stacked the pieces and fused them together with adhesive.


Cost Breakdown:
 $2 (4 teacups at 50 cents each) + $2 (4 plates at 50 cents each) + $2 adhesive
= $6 to create each tea cup tower

Creations at Work:
The most enjoyable part of creating these hostess helpers is putting your work to work and displaying them at an event. Take a peak of my creations being used at Dené's Marie Antoinette themed going away party, click on the party post to see more from this event.

You can also see my creations on display at my Harry Potter Party.

Try creating some of your own homemade serving creations and send me in pics! I would love to feature you and your hard work on my blog! Until then, happy hostessing!

Hoot Hoot Hooray: Owl Party

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Attention hosts & hostesses. All the hopeless hostess posts received a stylish new make-over & updates before moving to www.ColorMeCourtney.com. Click here to check them out & refer to Color Me Courtney from now on!
Welcome back hosts!
Sorry for my lack of party posting lately, I have been packing for my big move to SanFran and haven't been able to have any extravagant affairs. However, that doesn't mean I haven't attended one!

Earlier this month the fantastic girl I babysit: Estelle, turned two so her equally fabulous mother Katrina threw her a party! This event was extra special to me because the theme was Owls! My favorite animal!

Anyways, Katrina threw a fabulous event, if you don't believe me take a peak at some of the images owl-rageous (sorry I'm obnoxious) party for yourself.



Be sure to check out Katrina's blog post about the affair with more images and information at Hey Little Birdie


Friday, July 15, 2011

Harry Potter: The Final Party

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Attention hosts & hostesses. All the hopeless hostess posts received a stylish new make-over & updates before moving to www.ColorMeCourtney.com. Click here to check them out & refer to Color Me Courtney from now on!
How to plan a Harry Potter Dinner Party

This week was a bittersweet week for all potterheads for it marks the end of an era. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the seventh and final book turned movie premiered today (Friday June 15th) thus ending the series that engulfed a generation. To say goodbye to the Magical World, I hosted yet another Harry Potter Dinner Party similar to my previous Potter Palooza premiere party from last November. 

You're Invited:
Here is a copy of the invitation sent out to all the guests. I entitled the event: Something Wicked This Way Comes and create my own e-vites via: www.punchbowl.com 

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Let Us Eat Cake

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Attention hosts & hostesses. All the hopeless hostess posts received a stylish new make-over & updates before moving to www.ColorMeCourtney.com. Click here to check them out & refer to Color Me Courtney from now on!
How to plan a Marie Antoinette inspired Affair

So my always fabulous friend Dené (See her featured on my fashion blog, or follow her on twitter) is leaving Arizona next week :( to study abroad in Australia! Anyways, we decided to send her off in style... Marie Antoinette style (because we are both in love with Marie as well as cake!)

The Dinning&Drinks:
This party was all about delicate desserts and sassy sweets, most of which were pink. I served pink cake balls, mini strawberry cupcakes, peanut M&M's (one of Dené's favs), chocolate covered strawberries and marshmallows (some pink some white), smarties, strawberry milk and cookies, strawberry pudding, brownie bites, and homemade rice krispie balls.

The Dress:
So most of the gals came in some sort of fabulous pastel colored ensemble and some channeled Marie for  extravagant hair dos. Check out some of my favorite outfits of the night below and learn the details of my Marie inspired outfit at fashion blog


The Decor:
The majority of the Decor was created by my equally fabulous friend Katrina (check her out as featured on my fashion blog, or follow her on twitter) for her daughters birthday last year so check that out as well. So we had parasols hanging from the ceiling, hand fans draped about the house, feathers filling the corners, a big banner I created in Dené's honor and a hat box where guests could leave Nay with some last words before venturing to Aussie Land.



The Games:
As always we played just dance, but I also set up a photo shoot area complete with a backdrop and dress up box so guests could take photo's!




Lets Party:
See the fabulousness for yourself, here are some more images from the affair!



Snap, Crackle & Pop

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Attention hosts & hostesses. All the hopeless hostess posts received a stylish new make-over & updates before moving to www.ColorMeCourtney.com. Click here to check them out & refer to Color Me Courtney from now on!
Hello Hosts!
So last weekend was the Forth of July and although I did not do anything too extravagant for the holiday, I did celebrate with my fabulous mother and amazing boyfriend at my childhood home. For the three of us, I created some exciting celebratory desserts in addition to our all American burger and brats lunch. 

Dynamite Drinks
For drinks we had tropical red punch but I lined the rims with blue poprocks

Jello Martini's
I made strawberry jello in Martini glasses and topped it with cool whip and fruit: raspberries and blueberries

Fruit Kabobs
For the fruit kabobs I strung strawberries and blue berries with marshmallows and drizzled with finished products with white chocolate.

Celebratory Cup-Cakes
I also made red velvet cupcakes and topped them with creme cheese frosting and blueberries

Red White and Blue Strawberries
To create white chocolate covered strawberries, I dipped the berries in chocolate and them covered them in red, white and blue sprinkles

I Scream, You Scream
I created dip cones by covering waffle cones in white chocolate and sprinkles before adding vanilla ice cream

Check out my Forth of July event ensemble by visiting my forth fashion blog post: You're a Firework

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Transform Yourself

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Attention hosts & hostesses. All the hopeless hostess posts received a stylish new make-over & updates before moving to www.ColorMeCourtney.com. Click here to check them out & refer to Color Me Courtney from now on!
How to host a Transformers Party

My latest dinner party was inspired by the newly released Transformer Movie. To celebrate the premier I hosted a Transformers themed dinner affair where guests got to Transform their different food and desserts.

You're Invited:
Here is a copy of the invitation sent out to all the guests. I create my own e-vites and send them via the free site: www.punchbowl.com  I used to love this site but as a recently made some disappointing changes. Now in order to use images in your e-vites you have to upgrade to plus and therefore pay.


IMAGES

The Details&Decor:
I didn't do much decorating for this event, the real effort went to the table setting. For the party, I made a table runner out of foil, made place cards with Transformer images and purchased Transformer plates and napkins. 

The Dinning&Drinks:
The food for this event was a big part of the theme. The idea is that guests can Transform their different food into whatever they want them to be. For appetizers we just had chip and different kind of dip so guests could Transform their average chips.

For the meal I created a chicken painting station by putting chick on skewers and providing five different sauces and paint brushes. Guests painted or Transformed their chicken with BBQ, Ranch, Buffalo Wing, Caribbean Jerk and Sweet and Sour sauces. 

For the rest of the main course I also created a baked potato bar so guests could Transform their potatoes with cheddar cheese, chives, butter, sour cream and my personal favorite bacon bits. I also served salad with multiple dressings and rolls.

For dessert I created a Ice Cream Sundae Bar so guests could Transform their Vanilla Ice Cream by adding candy, sprinkles, chocolate chips (white, milk and peanut butter), coconut, nuts, syrup (chocolate, butterscotch and vanilla) and more. 
(before and after)

The Dress:
So this was a hard one to dress up for... Some guests choose to wear metallics, others wore foil and some just added mechanic touches.