It.s All in the Details

Now, if I’ve learned anything about my readers over the years, it’s that you folks are nosy, nosy, nosy. And that comes from a very nosy person myself. I love knowing details about things. Where stuff came from, how much it cost, where the idea started. And I know you all do, too, so this post is all the behind the scene details from Gracie’s party.

I set the food up on our dining room table, and we moved our deck table out into the backyard under a tree in the shade. People fixed their plates inside and then moseyed on outside.

I decided not to go with a theme, and instead settled on colors – pink, yellow, and white. With the cake, cupcakes, and Gracie’s wings, though, butterflies kind of became the unofficial theme.

I found a lot of the decorations at Party City, like the yellow tissue pom poms and the banner handing over the window. But I saw a lot of the same things at Target for cheaper prices after I’d already bought everything.

Most of the food ideas came from Pinterest. One of my favorite, simple ideas were the clear plastic punch cups with ranch dressing in the bottom and then carrot and celery sticks standing up in them. It made it super easy for people to have their veggies and the dip without making a mess. Plus, they were really bright and colorful. I thought this was such a neat idea, and even used it later to give Bean some peanut butter with animal crackers. I think this will become a staple when I entertain from now on. So many options!

Another great Pinterest hit was the funfetti dip (also called the “Dunkaroo Dip” on Pinterest). It was super easy to make. You take a box of Funfetti and mix it with 1/2 a large carton of plain yogurt and 1/2 a container of Cool Whip (I used the fat free). Blend it with a hand mixer until it is combined well and serve with animal crackers or graham crackers. I put out animal crackers for the kiddos and it was a big hit. It tastes like icing!

My last big Pinterest idea was super simple, too. Rainbow fruit skewers. I bought a whole pineapple and cut it into chunks, green and purple grapes, blueberries, and strawberries. You just put them on the skewers in rainbow order. I had enough fruit and long enough skewers to do it twice. I thought they looked really cute, and they were one of the first things eaten.

I didn’t get a picture, but my Grandma made finger sandwiches that I put out on a cake plate. She made cucumber and cream cheese, chicken salad, and egg salad sandwiches. They were delicious! I also had lemonade punch in a punch bowl (a gallon of lemonade, a 2-liter of Sprite, a 1/2 gallon of pineapple juice, with floating lemon slices).

I tried one Pinterest thing that, sadly, didn’t work. But I think it was my mistake that messed it up. The Pinterest link said to fill balloons with water and then freeze them. Then, you put those into your cooler at a party and they act like ice to keep things cold, but they look more festive. Sounds super easy, right? It really was. I messed it up, though, because I didn’t give the balloons long enough to freeze. I did them at 8:00am the morning of the party, but by party time at 2:00pm, they still weren’t frozen. I also messed up because I used water balloons instead of regular balloons, and I discovered that water balloons are water balloons because they are super thin so they pop easily (makes sense, right?). Unfortunately, because the water balloons were so thin, it was really hard to keep them from popping…all over my kitchen! Bean thought it was hysterical every time it happened, and it happened several times! I will definitely be trying it again because I like the idea, but next time I’ll use better balloons and more prep time.

As party favors, I gave out little mason jars with Easter basket green straw in the bottom of them, then with Skittles piled on top of that. I tied a yellow ribbon around the top to tie in the theme. I meant to put a sticker label on the top of the jars that said, “It was SWEET of you to come,” but I just ran out of time. Still, I thought the little jars came out cute.

I used the extra mason jars I had to hold plastic utensils on the food table. Waste not, want not!

It was a pretty laid back party, which was nice. Pinterest definitely came through for me again, but so did my family. It was nice to have help getting everything together, but it was even nicer to be getting things together for our family and friends. Graciekins is a lucky girl to have such great people around her!