Game Day Treats

I think I've mentioned it before, but my husband is an athletic trainer at one of the local high schools.  He's been doing this for as long as I've known him and I know I'm a proud wife, but I really must mention that he's SO good at what he does.  Not just his knowledge about injuries and treatment, but he's amazing at building relationships with his student trainers.  We miss him so much during football season when his days and nights are long and we don't see him as often as we'd like, but we know his school kids need him too and we're happy to share him for the season :)

Now that my schedule is a lot more flexible, I've gotten to know a lot of his kids and they are the sweetest.  Such good kids who work hard and deserve to be treated :)  I love surprising his kids with little treats throughout the year.  Nothing crazy fancy or anything like that, but the teacher in me really does love doing cutesy little things especially now that I don't have my own classroom.  

The first official home game of the season called for such treats.  

These would be great for birthday parties or game days, too!  So I wanted to share in case you need a few fun little treat ideas also :)

Making these football treat bags is super simple and just requires a white paint pen, a pair of scissors, brown paper lunch bags, and a little patience.  Just cut off the tops of the bags (it looks even better with jagged edged scissors) and use a white paint pen to draw on the football lacing details.  Simple, right?!  

You can fill the bags with anything, but I filled ours up with some candy, a bag of goldfish with a tag that said, "It's oFISHally football season!", blue gatorade bottles (our team colors are blue and white), and a few little football themed paper goods (napkins and paper straws). 

One year I had some extra time on my hands and even wrapped the gatorade bottles with this great football textured scrapbook paper (I drew the lacing on those, too).  Extra time doesn't seem to be happening very much lately so this year the kids just got the gatorade bottles :)  

As you can see, I also attempted football shaped chocolate rice krispie treats that year, too.  This should be in the "Pinterest Fails" category.  Looks like my 8-year-old tried to decorate those!!!  Ha!

In addition to the treat bags, I made the kids some game day cupcakes this year.  Y'all...these were SO easy!  I went ahead and just used a box mix for the cupcakes, but there's nothing quite like homemade frosting, so I used one of my favorite chocolate buttercream recipes to top these off.  I baked these in green cupcake liners and used a mini closed star cupcake decorating tip for the brown piping.  I used a mini round cupcake decorating tip for the white piping.  They're not the prettiest attempt at cupcake decorating, but not a total fail either :)

All of the paper goods (straws, napkins, coasters) are from Wal Mart.  Right now they have the best game day paper goods!!! I picked up lots of extras for the season in case they stop carrying them.  We love hosting Sunday Funday and these will make for some fun little touches.

If you're looking for a great chocolate buttercream recipe, these two are the absolute BEST!!!  You can't go wrong with either!!!  I used the Two Sisters Crafting recipe for the football cupcakes and it got RAVE reviews!!!

via Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour

via Two Sisters Crafting

A Simple Sprinkle

Happy Monday!  Are y'all ready for Thanksgiving?! Or are you making last minute preparations and trips to the grocery store like me?!  I'm not hosting Thanksgiving at my house, but I can tell you I'll wait 'til the 9th hour to head to the grocery store and grab everything I need for my dinner contributions and then I'll be saying all sorts of unkind words about the insanity that is the market the day before a holiday.  Whew.  

In other news, this is my current view...

The boys have the week off, my baby niece arrives in the morning, and I'm going to stuff my face FULL on Thursday.  You could say I'm JOLLY as all get out :)

The house is officially decorated and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Since we spend quite a bit of time out of town over the holidays I love to decorate early so we have lots of time to enjoy it all.  Last year at this time I was hosting Christmas Week here on the blog.  I posted some of my favorite Christmas traditions, some Elf on the Shelf Ideas, Christmas decor, and a little Gift Guide.  Since my mind is focused on my new niece (arriving tomorrow morning!!!!) and Thanksgiving festivities, I'm going to hold off on Christmas Week and wait until Monday, 11/30, to start.  Here's how we'll kick off the holiday season...

If y'all are planning on doing some shopping this week, I'll be back with a few gift guides on Wednesday.  I think this is the first year I have lots of gifts already purchased.  The women in my families are all taken care of and Mr. Spouse will tackle all the men.  We haven't started shopping for the boys yet, but that won't take long.  We like to go by this gift rule:  something you want...something you need...something to play with...something to read.  Plus a few stocking stuffers and a traditional Christmas Eve gift from mom and dad.  Our families always do so much for the kids so Santa only delivers a few things.  Nothing crazy!  

In honor of my sister who is currently in her last few hours of pregnancy, I wanted to share with you the shower I helped host for her at the beginning of the month.  The theme was "Sprinkled with Love" because we were really just giving her a "sprinkle" and not a full blown invite everyone kind of baby shower.  She already has one little man so she didn't need anything huge, but since she's having a girl this go-round we did want to sprinkle her with a few girly things she doesn't have already :)

As you can see, the decor was super simple.  Her sprinkle was a week after Halloween and I didn't have time to decorate for Christmas, so I took down all the Halloween, kept all the white pumpkins out, and then strung together the pennants for baby Olivia's banner and hung it from the mantle. 

You can't really tell from the picture, but in the middle of the mantle is a set of 4 candle holders (from the Dollar Tree) filled with sprinkles and a tea light.  Couldn't have been easier!!!

Hobby Lobby carries the wooden pennants by letter.  I think they come in black and white, too.  They're $2 per pennant, but only a dollar if you wait 'til they're marked half off.  #winning

This is the table you see when you walk in the front door and we kept that as simple as possible.  I did a little chalk art and then set out a couple more sprinkle filled candle holders with tea lights.

Speaking of "sprinkle", here's what we did for the statement decor.  I made those very sad looking tissue paper clouds and the raindrops (using a pack of assorted pink cardstock).  I hung the clouds using fishing wire and did the same for the raindrops, too.  I wish I would've gotten a picture of the table completely decked out with food and whatnot, but this is as good as it gets.

I tried to mimic the same feel in the kitchen next to the drink station using balloons (for clouds) and those same raindrops.  I just taped the balloons and strands of raindrops to the curtain rod.  I'm not ashamed to tell you that there's still a rogue strand hanging from the curtain rod 3 weeks later.  #lazy

You might be able to see a chalkboard display in the picture above.  Here's how that looked up close

I just strung a few pieces of jute around the chalkboard and then attached mini clothespins to it.  I found those little kraft envelopes at Hobby Lobby and then cut the white pieces of cardstock to fit.  I set out a little pitcher of pens and labeled all of the envelopes with baby Olivia's name.  The idea behind this display was to have each of the guests write a little love note to Olivia...maybe a favorite scripture, a piece of advice, or whatever they wanted.  Then they put their notes in the kraft envelopes and hung them on the chalkboard using the clothespins.  After everyone had a chance to write a note to Olivia, my sister chose one note off the board, read it aloud, and then that guest got to take home a door prize (a chalkboard with the verse, "every good and perfect gift is from above" and a $5 Starbuck's gift card).  I wanted all the envelopes to have matching handwriting so that it would be fair :)

Speaking of gifts, here's what we gave to our guests....

These darling little test tubes full of "sprinkles" :)  We tried to find bath confetti, but dear Lord...it was an exercise in futility.  I couldn't find any anywhere.  Even Amazon failed me.  Instead we used the chiclets gum for the sprinkles and it was a perfect fit.  And let's be real...there probably wouldn't have been many party guests who would actually put the bath confetti to good use, so I think the gum was a great substitute!

Last but not least, we decorated my little buffet with a "Ready to POP!" bar.   I found the cutest little confetti sprinkled goody bags at Hobby Lobby and set those out so that our guests could fill their bags with whatever they wanted....popcorn with sprinkles, blow pops, ring pops, and bubble gum. 

This was a hit with the kids (are you surprised?! Ha!)

The shower/sprinkle was at 1 in the afternoon, so we served a light lunch and drinks.  Here's how the menu panned out...

DRINKS

Iced Tea

Pretty in Pink Party Punch

LUNCH

Aunt Gina's chicken salad served with crackers and croissants

Ham & Cheese Sliders

Sara's Favorite Pasta Salad

Fruit Salad

Chips and Spinach Dip

DESSERT

Cupcakes with Sprinkles

Donuts with Sprinkles

Sprinkle Cookies

Hard to believe that I'll be holding that sweet little sack of sugar by this time tomorrow!!!!  My heart is full!!!

Super Mario Bros. Birthday Party

As a parent, it's so much fun watching my kids get into things that I used to love as a kid.  I remember spending endless hours playing Nintendo when I was the age my boys are now.  Duck Hunt.  Super Mario.  Zelda.  The list goes on.  I still prefer the throwback version of the games even though today's graphics are, as my boys would say, so much "cooler".  Bless.

My boys love all things Mario.  The games...the figurines...the books...the plushies...so it was no surprise to me when my oldest said he wanted a Mario party.  He was so excited just thinking about it.  What was a surprise, however, was his insistence on having the party on the 20th.  9 days before his birthday and about 10 days after he told me he wanted to have a party.  So I quick whipped up an invitation and texted it to some of our friends because my planning...sad to say...was so last minute.   #storyofmylife.  I love how the invitation has absolutely NOTHING to do with the theme :)   

I started scouring Pinterest for ideas about 5 days before the party.  I needed simple and easy because I knew I'd wait 'til the last minute to throw it all together.  I put the PRO in procrastination.  For real.  

On Wednesday I ordered a few party supplies off of Amazon...tablecloth, napkins, and party favors...and on Friday I headed out to pick up some snacks, streamers, balloons, and a few extras.  Since the kids would be swimming and eating pizza I didn't have to do too much, but I did want to make it special since this was the first "friend" party he's had since we moved here 3 years ago (we're always in Indiana on his birthday).  When he woke up Saturday morning, he was ecastatic and that made everything SO worth it!

Happy birthday banner - Hobby Lobby (8 years ago)

Mario Tablecloth - Amazon

The set-up was super simple.  Streamers, balloons, and lots of snacks!!!  The boys were gifted those brick looking blocks for Christmas years ago.  I had them in the attic and knew they'd be perfect for this theme!  Do you see why it's so hard for me to get rid of stuff?!?!  I feel like I might always need it!  Even if it is only once a year ;)

There were so many great ideas on Pinterest, but since I waited until the day before the party to start putting it altogether, I knew I couldn't incorporate everything.  And really, there was no need to!   I found the polka dotted party cups at Hobby Lobby and picked up a couple dozen for people to use to store their snacks.  They went perfectly with our little theme.

The snacks couldn't have been easier....and cheap, too.  Cheese puffs, marshmallows, peach rings, jellybeans, malted milk balls, and cotton candy.  I got the candy at the Dollar Tree and was able to keep the cost to a minimum.  I made all the labels in power point and I had tons of leftover ribbon from different projects I used for an extra touch of fun.  When Landon saw all the snacks and the labels he said, "Mom!!!  This is SO clever!!!"  Thank you, Pinterest, for making me seem a lot more creative than I really am.

The "toadstool marshmallows" were super easy to make.  I used a bag of Wilton red candy melts and mini powdered marshmallows for the spots.  How easy is that?!  

These "star power" rice krispie treats were probably the most time consuming, but dangit...they were good!   I made the rice krispie treats following the original recipe, but when  I was melting the marshmallows I added yellow gel food coloring. After I cut them all out, I put little mini chocolate chips on each of them for their eyes.  

I made the cupcakes and then topped them with these cheesy rings I bought on Amazon.  Landon thought these were amazing.   Bless him.   I mean, he seriously couldn't have been more excited....

I also set out these little pirahna plants and some Super MarioKart fruit snacks. (#walmartforthewin)

I just used cardstock to make the pirahna plants and then glued a skewer on the back to make them stand upright.  I stuffed them in a little pot I found at the Dollar Tree (pack of 3 for $1) and then filled it with the scrunchy gift bag filler I found there, too.  These were really easy to make and made for really cute and inexpensive table decor.

The party favors sat right next to the snack table because I didn't want anyone to forget them on their way out.  I taped mini yellow paper plates (Wal Mart) to the wall as gold coins and then scattered a few more of those brick blocks on the shelves.  

The party favors were SO simple.  I mean, let's get real.  They all get thrown in the trash anyway, so I didn't want to go too crazy with them.  A little Mario figurine,  Mario mustache whistle, Mario tattoo, and MarioKart fruit snacks.   All in all, I think the party favors averaged out to about $1.32 per bag.  

 I had the lollipops leftover from a different occasion and just slapped a label on them and put those out for fun.  I wanted them out of my house and this was the perfect occasion to get rid of them :)  I made the labels in power point and bought the figurines,whistles, and tattoos on Amazon.  The little gift bags are from Hobby Lobby (12 for $3)

The kids spent the day swimming and playing on the water slide.  I also had a little bucket full of cheapie water guns they could play with as well.  I wasn't sure they'd get touched, but they LOVED them!!!  It was too cute! 

Obligatory family pic :)  I thought it would be fun to dress the part, too!  I found my shirt in the boy's section at Target for $9 :)  Landon has already requested that I give it to him because I don't need to wear Mario stuff....and really, it was probably too small for me anyway.  Ha!

It was a great day celebrating with our friends and seeing Landon so happy...and so very, very grateful...made everything so worth it.  

Gender Reveal Party

I am THRILLED to announce that my "baby" sister is pregnant again!!!  More like ecsteatic.  I was beside myself when she had her first.  I couldn't wait for another little nephew to join the family.  And I couldn't wait to watch the bond between our boys grow as they get older.   And let me just tell you....my boys are smitten by their baby cousin.  They love him to pieces.  

When I found out Sara was pregnant this time, I offered to host a gender reveal party for them.  I've never been to one and I always find myself in a puddle of tears when I watch the reveal videos.  I (selfishly) crossed my fingers in hopes she'd agree and she loved the idea!  Yay!!  

We hosted our first gender reveal party this past Saturday and went with a simple pink and blue theme. Team Blue or Team Pink....What Do You Think?!  We didn't get too fancy.  I just sent out a quick Evite with a little blurb asking our guests to choose a team and then wear their team colors to the party.  Score.

Chalkboard:  Michaels

I decorated the snack table, the mantle, and that's it.  Everything was pink and blue.  Let me just tell you that I had the best time buying #allthepink.  I love my boys like crazy....and I love all the boy "stuff"... but having a little bit of pink in the house sure was fun :)  

Here's the snack table.  Since the party was at 3, we decided not to serve lunch.  Instead, we had a table full of punch, candy dipped Oreos, cupcakes, candy/sprinkle coated marshmallows, and mommy's cravings...pickles and fruit salad.  We also served baby meatballs, tailgate chips, quarterback queso, and baby corn dogs :)  

Hanging decor, tablecloths, straws, paper goods, scoreboard chalkboard:  Hobby Lobby

Drink dispensers:  Wal Mart

Mini Chalkboard:  Michaels

I know I could've outsourced the cupcakes, but I really didn't want to.  I have a huge problem spending money on things I feel like I can do myself.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  I love a good bakery cupcake.  And theirs most ALWAYS looks and tastes way better than anything I bake.  However, I love making my own.  Less expensive and so much fun and homemade cupcakes are just so darn good.  I cheated...of course...and used a box cake mix as the base...but then I used THIS RECIPE to amp it up a few notches.  Ohmiword.  Y'all.  Some of the BEST cupcakes and frosting I've ever had!!!!  It's a MUST try!!!!  I dipped the golden Oreo's in the pink and blue colored Wilton candy melts then tossed a few sprinkles on them, too. 

The punch was insanely good and they both make the most delicious summer cocktails (with the addition of vodka or rum.  You could even go old school and toss in some Malibu :) ).  

PRETTY IN PINK PUNCH

2 jugs of Simply Lemonade (Raspberry)

1 liter of Sprite

(You can toss in a few raspberries and lemon slices for an extra touch of fun!)

LITTLE BOY BLUE BREW

1 jug of Berry Blue Typhoon Hawaiian Punch

1 liter of sprite

Countrytime Lemonade (I used two capfuls - 4 qts. - of the powder mix)

I found blue & pink cups and then adhered little chalkboard sticker labels to each of them and just wrote "team blue/team pink" on each.  I also found some fun pink and blue straws and set those out by the pitchers of punch.

I also loved the idea of having a little setup of mommy's cravings.  Right now my sister is craving pickles and fruit.  So I set out some Dell Dixies and then a bowl full of fruit salad.  The fruit salad included pineapple chunks...with a little bit of the juice undrained...chopped apples, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.  Then I took a package of instant vanilla pudding and poured about 3/4ths of it on top of the fruit and mixed it up.  It was like a dessert!!!  YUM!!!

We also set up a scoreboard in the middle of the food so that our guests could add their tallies to their team pick :)  

I set out a little "Suggest a Name" station for the guests to fill out while they were waiting for the reveal.  Girl names were written on the pink paint strips or post its and the boys were written on the blue.  It was so much fun reading all of the suggestions.  Even funnier was reading the suggestions from my oldest.  Somehow I don't think "Princess Peach" or " Mario" will make the cut :)

Large chalkboard & mini pink and blue chalkboards:  Michaels

I went really simple on the mantle and just hung a few little decorative circles and a little chalkboard banner that read "Oh Baby".  Then I made a chalkboard of Old Wives Tales gender predictions.  I had it all written out and then waited to complete it as a little party activity with the parents and all of their guests.  It was so fun!

Hanging decor:  Hobby Lobby;  Chalkboard banner - Michaels;  Large Chalkboard:  Marshall's

After we filled out the old wives tales, we headed outside for the big reveal.

My sister wanted balloons, so I picked some up at our local party store and then (very poorly) wrapped them up in a big ol' box.  I decided to weigh the balloons down with a gift bag (full of clothes) so that they could take pics next to the box when they found out the gender.

And....

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!  Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!

They decided to wait to find out along with everyone else and they were overcome with emotion :)  I LOVE IT!!!

I couldn't be more excited for them!!!  And I'm SO excited I'll have a baby niece to dress up :)  This side of the family needed some estrogen.  

Before our guests left, they got to take a little snack for the road.  I made some pink & blue sugar cookie puppy chow for party favors.  IT was SO yum!!!!  

PINK & BLUE SUGAR COOKIE PUPPY CHOW

9 cups of Vanilla Chex Cereal

1 cup of powdered sugar

3 cups of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix (in a pouch)

3/4 cup Blue Wilton Candy Melts

3/4 cup Pink Wilton Candy Melts

Set aside two large bowls.  Add 4.5 cups of the chex cereal to both bowls.  In two separate, small bowls mix together 1/2 c. of powdered sugar and 1 1/2 cup of the sugar cookie mix. Melt the blue candy and pour it over one bowl of the vanilla Chex.  Mix until combined.  Now pour the powdered sugar/sugar cookie mix  over the blue vanilla chex.  Cover the bowl (I used Press N' Seal) and shake until all of the cereal is evenly coated.  Pour out onto baking sheet to dry.  Now melt the pink candy, pour it over the remaining bowl of vanilla Chex and mix until combined.  Repeat the process adding in the remaining powdered sugar/sugar cookie mix over the cereal, cover, and shake until combined.  Pour out onto wax paper covered baking sheet to dry.

Such a FUN day and such a precious memory.  I'll never forget the way my sister reacted when she found out they were having a girl.  I can't wait to spoil this little girl rotten...and then send her back home to her momma ;)  

Hot Chocolate Bar

Today is Polar Express Day at school for these two cuties....

 

All cozied up in their jammies about to have pretty chillaxed day at school.  They've been listening to their Christmas playlist and switching back & forth between watching Home Alone &  Rudolph more times than I can count.  I feel like life has finally come full circle :)

 

Currently these are their Top 10 Christmas songs...in no particular order.  Bless.

As they were all cozied up in their jammies on the way to school this morning, they were singing at the top of their lungs (and you can bet I was belting out the tunes right along with them) and exclaiming their excitement for a morning full of movies, popcorn, and hot chocolate.  Oh, to be a kid again..sigh....

Speaking of hot chocolate, today's post is all about our little hot chocolate bar.  

I originally set up this little space for my sister-in-law's bridal shower, but we loved it so much we decided it should stay put during these next couple of winter months.  The boys absolutely LOVED that idea and ask for hot chocolate treats often.  I only oblige if I can indulge, too ;)

The Keurig is on display for hot water purposes.  We keep disposable traveling cups with lids in the bottom portion of the buffet as well as coffee mugs.  The top right drawer holds all of our coffee K cups and I have a little Christmas dish full of creamers set out next to the Keurig, too.  Coffee & hot chocolate = dreamy.

We have 4 jars full of different flavored hot chocolate...salted caramel, milk chocolate, peppermint, and hazelnut.  I found all of the hot chocolate mixes at Marshall's. The boys' favorite mix is the tried and true milk chocolate.  I'm a sucker for the salted caramel and the peppermint runs a close second.  Hazelnut is pretty darn good, too.  Heck...I like 'em all!!!  HA!

All of the jars were found at Wal Mart (about $4 per jar).  The vinyl chalkboard labels were also a fun Wal Mart find.  They came in a pack of 24 for about $3 and all I had to do was use a chalk marker to add the edging and label.  I found them hanging next to the large jars.  Score!

The red containers are full of toppings and fixin's.  Caramels, chocolate chips, crushed peppermint, and marshmallows.  I don't leave these out on the reg because I don't want them getting stale, sticky, and gross.  I keep them in baggies inside those drawers on the buffet and pull them out when we have company.  If it's just us and the boys, we pick straight from the bags. #lessmess  

I found the chalkboard labels on clothespins at Michaels...they came in a pack of 2 for $1.50.

The red containers were a fun find in the baking/holiday section at Michaels ($1 each) and the spoons are from Amazon (pack of 10 for $8.50)

I personally love adding caramel candy to my salted caramel hot chocolate and then topping it all off with the Reddi Whip I love so much.  When I reach for the peppermint hot chocolate, I toss in a few chocolate chips, a handful of marshmallows, a little crushed peppermint, and of course, my beloved Reddi Whip.  Don't forget the candy cane stirrer, too!  #straightupsinful

I also have a few little things set up in mason jars.  Candy cane stirrers, pirouettes, peppermint marshmallows, and straws.  I found those fun and festive Christmas straws at Michaels and no one ever uses them.  But they look cute, so they stay :)

As if you didn't know what this display was all about, I decided a little chalk art was necessary to tell you ;)  #captainobvious

When the adults come over to play, I make sure to set out a few mixers in case they want to partake in the hot chocolate, too.  Our favorite hot chocolate "spirits" are Rum Chata, Baileys, Peppermint Schnapps, & Butterscotch Schnapps.  You can find some rather delicious hot chocolate drink recipes HERE.

I fancied up the jars with some fun and festive ribbon (totally unnecessary and excessive...just the way I like it).  This has become the most visited little spot in the house.  We decided that we're going to do this every winter starting during the Christmas holidays.  Not only is it fun to look at, but it's functional, too :)  I'm sure I'm missing a few things I could've added to the mix, like butterscotch chips and gingerbread marshmallows, but we were running out of space :)  

This really is the most wonderful, fattening, indulgent time of the year :)

A Christmas Bridal Shower

{tap, tap, tap} Hello??  Is anybody there?? {tap, tap, tap}

We've had a bit of radio silence here on this little blog for the better part of the last few weeks.  All good reasons, I swear.  LIFE.  It gets in the way of other stuff.  I always let go of the blogs when life gets a little crazy and these last few weeks have been all that and then some.  

If I'm being totally honest, I love it when I look at my planner and see NOTHING planned. Truly.  I love spending time with my friends...I love having family functions to attend...I love helping out at the boys' schools....I love traveling to present...but I REALLY love those quiet nights at home doing absolutely NOTHING with the people I love most.  Can I get an amen?!

In the past 2 weeks, I've planned/prepped/hosted a bridal shower, chaperoned two field trips, traveled to Michigan and back to Houston, presented 8 sessions to some amazing educators, attending a late night dinner & earring exchange with my girlfriends, took the boys to a milk/cookies/pajama party with Santa, planned/prepped/hosted an Ugly Sweater Party for our friends, helped my old team decorate for our Christmas Around the World, and now...NOW...I'm finally home.  And ready to start Christmas shopping. #everythingissoldout #waitedtoolong #iloveamazon

I don't want to glorify the busyness.  I just tend to over commit too often.  Saying no is NOT my strong suit.  Putting that on the list of things to consider for New Years resolutions.  I had to invest in this book for our upcoming trip up north...I really need to learn how to say no so that I can save the "yes" for the big things God wants for me :)  But darnit...that's HARD!!!!!  

Moving right along...

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law...she's the one in the middle.  

A few family friends, my aunt, & my sister all helped with this little party.  Everyone was in charge of bringing their favorite dish(es) for our little soiree slated to start at noon on the first Saturday of the month.  I absolutely LOVE the group of hostesses that helped out.  These women are some of my mom's best friends and they are just that...the best!!!!  LOVE them!!!!  And they always go above and beyond with things like this. 

We had a great little turnout and the bride-to-be scored some amazing swag.  I'm SO happy for her & my brother!  I just love them to pieces!!!!  

My aunt brought these delicious bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  I love serving these as opposed to the traditional bridal shower cake....easier to hold and they taste WAY better than anything I could even attempt to conjure up in the kitchen.  This was the only picture of the spread that I got :(  SAD...because the rest of the food was equally as delicious!!!

I also set up a hot chocolate bar.  I took away all the random Christmas decor on our buffet in the living room and set out several jars of different flavored cocoa mix, all the fixin's & toppings, stirrers, and the Keurig {for hot water}. It was a HIT!  

large jars - Wal Mart / red containers - Michaels {$1 each!!!!} / wooden serving spoons - Amazon

I decided to keep the hot chocolate bar up for the rest of the winter.  My boys are OBSESSED and it's seriously the perfect little indulgent treat.  I'll post more about the hot chocolate bar tomorrow!!

Instead of games, I decided little "stations" would be better.  I guess that's the teacher in me ;)  My house has a really open floor plan, so this worked out really well.  

In our little sitting room, I set up an ornament decorating station.   I wanted to do this not only to go along with the Christmas theme, but because the couple-to-be doesn't have a big collection of ornaments and I thought it would be so fun for them to decorate their tree with little bits of their friends and family before they have a collection that can replace it.  

chalkboard & ornaments - Michaels

It worked just perfect!  I set out plain, matte ornaments and gold/copper/silver metallic sharpies.  The guests could decorate the ornaments however they wanted and if they were stumped for ideas, I wrote down a few that might help get their creative juices flowing.  I wish I would've taken a picture of the finished products...they were adorable!!!

We also had a bible signing station.  I loved this idea when I first saw it.  I bought the couple a large print bible and then set out bible highlighters and pens. The guests were instructed to highlight their favorite verse about love/life/and/or marriage and then sign their name next to the verse.  I also had the iPad set up to Bible Gateway in case they needed help remembering where to find their favorite verses!

chalkboard - Michaels

Someone said this would be a great to use as a "traveling" bible...taking it to future showers...both wedding & baby :)  LOVED that idea!!!  

Stay tuned for more details about the hot chocolate bar tomorrow!!!