Owl-Themed Birthday Table & Food

This is the last post about my daughter's owl-themed 1st birthday party...I've shared lots of little projects that I made to set the theme, but I wanted to show the table decor, cake, food, and even a few of the birthday girl!

The table~I covered it with a pink disposable plastic tablecloth and then put chocolate brown burlap scrunched up on top. I spray painted the pine cones pink. The party was in early September and I was going for a full-on Fall feeling!

The cake turned out great! I didn't make it--I bought it!

Pink punch: Raspberry sherbet, ginger ale, & pineapple juice. Simple & yummy.

Happy Birthday!

I made a big crockpot of chili and a baked potato bar. I must say, the food was good!

One last little trick I learned on Pinterest...I wrapped the water bottles with patterned Duck (duct) Tape! They looked so cute!

Yummy Party Favors

Since the guests at my daughter's first birthday party were mostly adults, I had to forgo the little favor bags filled with cheap plastic dollar-spot toys we usually give out. (Hey, the 5 & under crowd love those!)
So I opted to make some cute snack food items for them to take home. I had them ready to go on trays and brought them out at the end of the party.



I made the Fall Snack Mix that my family loves and packaged it in these little boxes I found at Hobby Lobby. (They are like mini collapsible popcorn boxes) They were too plain looking, so of course I had to decorate them. I used a scalloped circle punch on some scrapbook paper, stamped a "1" on it, and stapled on a loop of ribbon and a felt flower. I put the boxes inside a cellophane bag & tied it with a tulle bow.





I also made these jumbo marshmallows by pushing a lollipop stick into them & dipping them in chocolate & adding shaped sprinkles. I let them dry & then packaged them up!
I bought these polka-dot paper sacks (also at Hobby Lobby) and made a digital scrapbook image on CropMom with my daughter's photo on it. I printed them on cardstock, cut them out & adhered them to the bags for everyone to take their favors home in.


It WAS a hoot and I think everyone enjoyed the favors!

Homemade Cilantro-Lime Salsa

While on a mission to make something summery & fresh to eat a few weeks ago, I decided to fly by the seat of my pants & make some fresh salsa. Man, was it good! (shameless brag) I have since made it again!

Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes
1 bundle of cilantro
1 lime
1 small container of chopped green onions (or chop 1 small bundle, if you're not as lazy as I am)
Salt to taste

I used my electric Black & Decker Handy Chopper (love it!) to chop the green onion up a little more...(sorry for the blurry pic.)

Then, after cutting off the stems, I chopped the whole bunch of cilantro. I LOVE cilantro!Next, I chopped all 3 tomatoes into a chunky puree...
I rolled the lime to release the juice inside, then cut 1 end off & squeezed all the juice into the mixture. I added salt & mixed it all up.

Then, we ate it with tortilla chips...
...and put it on our carne asada soft tacos!

The first time I made this salsa, we had it with chips & on top of grilled chicken breasts. YUM! Enjoy.

DIY Fresh Fruit Arrangement

So we've all seen those wonderfully beautiful arrangements of fresh fruit in a great container that you can pay an arm & a leg for to give as a gift, right? Well, a few years ago, I decided that I'd just make my own! I needed an original, healthy Father's Day gift and I thought this would be a big surprise. (Dad loved it btw) Luckily, I took pictures of the process to share~but I'm just now remembering to share them!


Supplies needed:

Lots of fresh fruit
(I used strawberries, grapes, pineapple, honeydew melon, & cantaloupe. I even cheated & bought the pre-cut tray of fruits at the grocery store! This doesn't have to be time-consuming!)

Note: Try to steer clear of mushy fruits that won't want to stay up on the skewers or fruit like bananas and apples that will immediately turn brown.



Fruit Dip (optional)
I snagged a pack of Marzetti's chocolate dip in the produce section)

Bamboo skewers

A container of your choice

Weights to hold container
I used those glass decorative things--just poured them in & it added enough to hold the container up against the weight of the fruit.

A piece of styrofoam (you can cut it to fit your container)

Cookie cutters, sharp knife, cutting board

Directions:
1. Start by weighting your container. Then add styrofoam on top. I filled in around the sides of the styrofoam with the weights as well.

2. Alternate fruit pieces on the skewers, leaving enough room at the bottom to stick it into the styrofoam.

3. Cut some fruit into shapes using the cookie cutters (or freehand it with your knife, if you're feeling it.)

4. I covered the styrofoam with something so that the fruit didn't touch it, but honestly, I cannot remember what! Sorry...like I said, I made this a few years ago.

That's it. Present it with pride, knowing that you paid half the price and you made it yourself!

Spooky Snack Mix

This is my family's new favorite Fall snack mix. It's super yummy and easy to make.

Mix 2 cups of each: (or more, I just sort of dumped it all together & tossed!)

Caramel Popcorn (I used boxed Crunch & Munch)
Reese's Puffs cereal
Waffle Pretzels (I used Snyder's "Snaps")
Mini Nutter Butter cookie bites (they come in a bag)
Peanut M&M's
Toss together & Enjoy!