Holiday Party Food Ideas

The highlight of holiday parties is great food to nibble on.  These are few of my favorite appetizers that could be perfect for your holiday party this year.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Bacon Wrapped Sausages



Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Crab Rangoons

Dill Dip with fresh veggies











Layered Taco Dip











Olive Garden Spinach Artichoke Dip











Party Cheese Ball











Savory Parmesan Bites

Saucy Meatballs

Smoked Salmon and Chive Mini Quiches



Spring Rolls

Turkey Cranberry Ring


Some fun holiday beverages you may like as well:


Sparkling Pomegranate Punch


Mojitos


Raspberry Sorbet Sparkling Spritzer


Mango Sorbet Sparkling Spritzer

A Hostess' Christmas Challenge

Food for thought this holiday season to all of you who love to host and entertain....

12 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Luke 14: 12-14 (New International Version)

The above is a wonderful verse I came across the other day while reading some of Jesus' parables to my children.  I'm definitely one who loves to host get-togethers and this hit my heart like a knife.  As my family plans to gather together with good friends and family this Christmas season I am challenged by these words to remember that there are those who are hurting, poor in spirit, blind to the Christmas spirit, and crippled physically and spiritually.  It's these people we need to remember as we are sending out our holiday party invites, sending our yearly Christmas cards, making up those plates of holiday cookies, heading to advent and Christmas services.

Jesus is the reason for the season and He commands that we love our enemies and love our neighbors as ourselves.  So I challenge you to invite that unlikely person to your holiday party, send out some extra Christmas chards, make up an extra batch of cookies, and ask someone to head to church with you this wonderful Christmas season.

How to Feed 15 People for Thanksgiving for Under $65

Thanksgiving is all about being thankful for what we have been blessed with, but most importantly it's about that big turkey dinner with all the fixings.   Growing up it was tradition in our family that everyone would bring a side dish along with some kind of dessert to help feed our large extended family of about 23 people.  But when my little family moved to England for a few years, I took on making an entire Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves.  Each year though we would invite our friends and neighbors to join us and we would have up to 18-20 people over to share in this wonderful American tradition.  You might think it would be very expensive to feed that many people as my little family of four can easily spend $50 eating a dinner out at a restaurant.   But I have come up with a fabulous homemade menu will all the fixings that can feed up to 15 people for under $65 - that's only $4.33 a person!

During this time of the year all stores will have amazing sales for Thanksgiving meal items, so taking advantage of those will help cut down your costs.  Please note that the prices that I quote below are averages I've found from my local IGA, Kroger and Walmart stores over the past 2 weeks.  Be prepared that your biggest expense will come from your turkey and the extra items needed to prepare it (almost half your budget).  I found turkey prices ranging from $0.67 - $1.49 per pound so I took an average price of about $0.99/lb for a turkey. Using the general rule of thumb is to buy 1 pound of turkey per person and 1.5 lbs per person if you want leftovers - it will cost you about $20 for a turkey to feed 15+ people.

I have created a shopping list for all the rest of the items needed to create the menu I have listed out below along with estimated costs.  The next list is of items below needed that I assumed most people would already have in their pantries and refrigerators.  If you don't have them your costs might go up a little.  Now click on the links below to see the recipes for each of my favorite "Things I Like to Make" for Thanksgiving!

Menu:

• Herb Roasted Turkey
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Green Bean Casserole (I just follow recipe on back of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup)
• Sweet Potato and Marshmallow casserole
• Cranberry Apple Salad
• Jellied Cranberry (from the Ocean Spray can - just for nostalgic purposes)
• Crockpot Stuffing
• Homemade Butterflake Rolls (my friend Lana's recipe- but only need to make 1/2 batch for 18 rolls)
• My Aunt Tammy's Chocolate Pie
• Pumpkin Pie with Strudel Top

Grocery List:

• 20 lb turkey (gives you a little extra for leftovers)- Average price I found was $0.99/lb = $20
• 1 pkg fresh sage - $2
• 1 pkg fresh thyme leaves - $2
• 5 lb bag of Russet potatoes - $2
• 3 - 16 oz packages store brand frozen green beans - $3
• 2 - 10.75 oz cans cream of mushroom soup - $2
• 1 large can French fried onions (6 oz) - $2.50
• 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes - $0.79/lb = $2
• 1 - 10 oz pkg marshmallows - $1
• 1 - 12 oz package fresh cranberries - $2
• 1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple - $1
• 1 - 3 oz pkg cherry jello - $0.50
• 1 - 3 oz pkg orange jello - $0.50
• 6 medium granny smith apples - $2
• 2 medium red apples (stuffing) - $0.68
• 1 lb package whole carrots (turkey - 5) - $0.75
• 1 - 3lb bag of onions (4 medium - turkey, 2 medium (2 cups) stuffing - $1.50
• 1 bunch of celery (5 ribs - turkey, 4 ribs (2 cups) stuffing) = $0.75
• 5 medium mushrooms (stuffing) = $1.50
• 1 loaf white bread = $1
• 2 - 14 oz cans chicken broth = $1.20 (free if you use your own homemade broth)
• 16 oz of evaporate milk (1 1/2 cans) (3/4 cup rolls, 1 cup pumpkin pie) = $2
• 1 cello package of graham crackers $1.50
• 1 pkg chocolate pudding instant = $0.50
• 1 pkg vanilla pudding instant = $0.50
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream - $1.50
• 1 quart milk - $1.75
• 2 - 8 oz tub whipped topping - chocolate pie and topping for pumpkin pie = $2
• 1 regular sized Hershey's chocolate bar - $0.75
• 1 - 15 oz can pumpkin - $1.69 (free if you made your own pumpkin puree)
• 1 can jellied cranberries - $0.89 
• 1 lb margarine = $0.80
• unbaked pie crust = $0.75

Grand total = $64.51

Stuff to find in your pantry or fridge:

• salt and pepper
• yeast - 1 Tbsp (rolls)
• garlic - 4 bulbs (turkey)
• olive oil (1/2 cup for turkey)
• sour cream (mashed potatoes 1/2 cup)
• poultry seasoning (1 tsp for stuffing)
• dried sage (1 1/2 tsp for stuffing)
• dried thyme  (1 tsp for stuffing)
• cream cheese (1/2 cup for mashed potatoes)
• garlic salt (1 tsp for mashed potatoes)
• brown sugar  (1/2 cup for sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup for pumpkin pie strudel) 
• cinnamon  (1/2 tsp for sweet potatoes, 1 tsp for pumpkin pie)
• ground ginger (1/2 tsp for pumpkin pie)
• eggs (1 for sweet potatoes, 2 for stuffing, 1 for rolls, 2 for pumkpin pie
• sugar (1 cup for cranberry salad,  2 Tbsp + 2 tsp for rolls)
• flour (4 cups for rolls, 1/2 cup strudel topping for pie)
• corn starch (3 Tbsp for gravy)

Happy Thanksgiving and happy eating!!!!!

Butterfly Birthday Party

For my daughter's 4 year old birthday, she wanted a Butterfly Party. This was such a fun theme to work with as butterflies are pretty easy to find and make. We had 7 little girls (ages 3-5) attending late in the afternoon on a school day, so that we could celebrate my daughter's birthday on the actual day. (Note: I had a horrible mishap with my camera just before and during the party and did not get all the pictures I thought I had so I could show you all, so I will do my best to describe what it all looked like.)

The Party Invitation:

I made the invitations by printing off the wording on white paper (4 invites to one 8.5x11 page), then cut it out with a fun edged scissors. Then glued it on a pretty piece of purple paper and finishing it off with a little foam butterfly in the corner. I bought some bulk yellow envelopes for the invites and matching ones for the thank you notes.

The invitation read:

"Flutter on over to celebrate (child's name) turning 4 at her Butterfly Birthday Party"

When: (date and time)

Where: (child's name) Indoor Flower Garden

"Please dress in brightly colored clothes as we will be transforming from cute little caterpillars into beautiful butterflies in just 2 hours!"

RSVP to (child's name)'s mum (mom's name).

Decorations:

The main decorations that I used were these tissue paper butterflies.

I hung them from the ceiling in the main party area, over the party table, in the front entry of the house, stuck them on the chairs at the party table and all over the walls.

I also utilized the Happy Birthday banner I made last year for her princess party since the colors were the same. I also had pink and purple balloons left over from last year that I put a few up to add some more color. I also bought some pink, purple and yellow tempura paint to flowers on some old packing paper I had left over. I cut them out and clustered them around on the windows. I wanted to just paint directly on the windows which you can do by adding tempura paint to liquid dish soap (like they do for big window displays), but since it was going to be dark outside for most of the party I didn't know how well they would show up.

On the party table, I used an off white table cloth and utilized pink and purple 2'x2' squares to stagger in the middle. I bought bright yellow plates and cups and some pretty white napkins that had pink butterflies all over them. I also had some bright pink bendy straws left over from last year to put in the cups. The center piece on the table was a tiered cupcake tray with yellow and pink decorated cupcakes with loads of sprinkles on them. On either side of the cupcakes were two light green vases filled with huge bouquets of pink roses. Then trays of butterfly cookies and candies graced other tiered trays.

The Party Games and Activities:

When the girls showed up we started out by making our own party bags. I had little paper lunch sacks, a big container of foam butterflies, flowers, and dragonflies, markers and crayons all set out on a butterfly blanket on the floor.

When they got done with they could get their antennae headbands and could get their nails painted with glittery nail polish and then put on some lipstick and blush to get all prettied up.

Next we ready the book, The Hungry Little Caterpillar and talked about how caterpillars eat lots and lots then hide out in a cocoon until they come out and are transformed into beautiful butterflies. As I was ready the book I had loads of snacks sitting out like, apples slices, strawberries, blue berries, chips (crisps in UK), and pretzels for them to snack on. After the little caterpillars ate all their goodies it was time to turn them into little cocoons. I broke them up into two teams and they helped wrapping each other up in toilet paper. They had loads of fun doing that.

After they broke out of their "chrysalis" they got to pick out their butterfly wings. Come see how I made them with cardstock, paint, and elastic cording!

After the little butterflies gained their wings we played musical flowers. I had cut out large flowers out of construction paper and laid them out all around the floor. I had them flutter about the room and when the music stopped they had to hop onto a flower. The one that was "out" got to come pick a "flower pop" to enjoy while the rest finished out the game.

While they enjoyed their "flower pops" we played, pin the butterfly on the flower. I made this flower out of a big piece of card stock and used construction paper to make the butterfly cutouts.

Next we sat down to eat at the table. We had our goodies, sang happy birthday, and after some free play time they girls got to watch my daughter open her birthday presents.

When the girls got ready to go home, my daughter gave them each a little butterfly box with their monogrammed initial on the top and had a little candy necklace inside.

We also made them butterfly cookie pops to bring home as well.

The Party Food:

I made butterfly shaped mini pizzas ahead of time and froze them so that on the day I could just pop them in the oven. Simply buy a pizza crust or bread dough mix, make it as directed, roll out the dough and cut out the shape you desire. Lay on waxed paper, put on layer of pizza sauce, other toppings you want and then cheese. Set in freezer until almost frozen then layer in container with waxed paper between them in the freezer until you are ready to use the. Bake at 400 F/200C for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

These triple chocolate pretzel stick butterflies were a big hit.

Other butterfly-themed food included these mini butterfly sugar cookies.

And of course the butterfly birthday cake!!!!

I also served little platters of cut up fruit and vegetables and served the standard orange and black current squash that our little British friends love and enjoy. For the parents that were staying around or early to pick up, I made up a turkey/cranberry ring to cut up and enjoy.

I had a huge help at the party from my husband and especially my two neighbor girls and I think you so much! My daughter had a lovely party and was one tired little butterfly that night!

All Appetizers Girly Night

One night while my hubby was out of the country I thought I would invite over a few dear friends for a girls only night. I asked everyone to bring some type of appetizer or snacky food to share with each other.

To make things a little extra special I decided to make a trio of crostinis.

Chicken with a pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese on top

Ham, asparagus, and swiss cheese

Cream cheese, pesto and cherry tomato

Then on top of it all I make up a big pitcher of mojitos, but for an extra kicker I add a mango puree to it to make "mango mojitos."

I served them up with ice and extra mint leaves in the glasses.

We had a great girly night as we always do, but it was fun to wow them all with a fun little spread.

Christmas Cookie Exchange Brunch

I think a Christmas Cookie Exchange is a great event to use as an ice breaker for people you getting to know better and a wonderful holiday experience to share with some of your closest of friends. This year because my Christmas Cookie Exchange has become quite popular amongst the Brits I decided to host two parties to accommodate as many people as I could around the holiday season. I made hand made invitations in small scrolls with a ribbon tied around them and hand delivered them to my guests.

This party was a brunch held during morning "preschool" time. I asked each lady to bring 3 dozen cookies/cakes along with about 10 copies of the recipes. I set out some nice holiday plates around my dining room table for each person to put their cookies on when they arrived, then offered up beverages to my guests.

To keep things a little structured, I asked each guest to share their name, the type of cookie they made, why they selected it, where they got the recipe and have they made any modifications to the original recipe.

Next we ate some brunch and I served the following items:

Mini Sausage Quiches

Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Quiches

Butterscotch Bubble Bread (Monkey Bread)

Beverages served:  A proper "English" tea, coffee, and juice

While eating I asked everyone to go around and share one of their favorite Christmas traditions, either from their childhood or now with their own families. This was my most favorite time because I had quite a unique group of ladies with some many different backgrounds and traditions. Some stories make you laugh and other make you cry and I swear I am going to write a book some day with all of these stories in them to share with others.

After our gab session, we all gathered around the dining room table and picked up our share of cookies and secured them in our take away containers.

Cookies/cakes made from my 2010 brunch party:

• Holiday Sandies (my recipe) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!
• Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies
• Rocky Road
• Viennese Biscuits
• 3 traditional Polish cakes
• Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies (one friend got away with bring store bought cookies as her kitchen was under construction)

I'll get the rest of these cookies posted soon!!!

Pasta Bar Luncheon

I recently hosted a little play date lunch at my home for several mums and friend's of my daughter's from pre-school. I wanted to have a fun lunch for both the mums and for the kids and that was easy to prepare right after school. I also had a friend who was vegetarian so I wanted to accommodate her and her daughter. I made up three sauce toppings - two tomato based and one a creamy white sauce and two different kinds of pasta. I laid out all the sauces and pasta in the middle of the table with the veggies and fruit like a mini buffet, so the mums could help the children get their plates and then fill up their own before sitting down.

Sauces:

• Angel Chicken Pasta Sauce
• Vegetable Marinara - cut up red bell pepper, zucchini (courgette), and mushrooms to add to tomato pasta sauce
• Spaghetti Bolognese - added fried ground pork to tomato pasta sauce

Sides:

• Fresh vegetable tray with dill dip
• Fresh fruit tray
• Garlic bread (I bought a pre-cut and seasoned loaf, but you could make your own)
• Pre-made salad mix that I added cut cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and croutons

Dessert:

• Snickers salad, biscuits and fairy cakes for the children (brought by my friend)

Drinks:

• Flavored sparkling waters - light and crisp

The Princess Birthday Party

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, she wanted a princess party like all little girls her age seem to want. My mission was to create an amazing experience for her and all of her guests, but keep my budge as low as possible. So I choose to make a lot of the decorations, accessories, gifts, and food all from scratch, but worked to make the most of things I already had at home. It took loads of planning and creativity, but it turned out absolutely amazing. It was also so rewarding to see how much all the little princesses enjoyed the party especially my little girl who is growing up so fast.

The Theme:

I wanted all the little princesses to feel like they were attending a royal ball. My daughter wanted bright pink and purple for her colors and I found it very easy to find and they looked very "royal" together. I really liked the idea of using castles at the party since we live in England and my daughter loves visiting all of the castles so that was used throughout the party as well.

The invitation was a purple castle with a pink drawbridge that opened up and invited the princesses to a royal ball and to come dressed in royal princess attire.

The Princess Party Dress

I wanted my little princess to feel extra special at her party so I made her a bright pink satiny princess dress. I got the pattern for $0.99 on sale back in the States and spent about 15 GBP on the material and notions for it. The nice thing was that there was lots of extra fabric left over for me to use to make little monogramed Princess Hang Bags for the guest's treat bags.

Kicking Things Off with a Crafty Bit

I prepared pink and purple magic wands for the girls to decorate with glitter glue, sparkly stars, flower, and hearts, and assorted ribbons. I set up two card tables in our living room and directed all the little guests in there to make their wands as we waited for everyone to show up.

The ball was ready to begin I lead all the moms into the "Royal Ball Room" (our conservatory). I started up the "Princess Party Playlist" on my iPod to "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast. Then all the little princesses made their way into the party room through a curtain of pink, purple, and white streamers to be cheered on by all the moms when they paraded through.

The dining room table was decorated with pink and purple with pink and purple streams draped above.

The table centerpiece was a Princess Cake that I made and put on a decorative stand which I was able to weave dark purple ribbon through. I tried to make the dress of cake look like my daughter's party dress and it was pretty close. I even found edible glitter to sprinkle all around it!!!

I made pink and purple royal banner to hang across the conservatory entry way announcing the little princess' birthday.

In our conservatory, I hung balloons from the ceiling to keep the strings up and out of sight but gave the room a floating feeling. Also a few streamers were hung to highlight the area that we would be hanging the pull string pinata.

I drew pictures of my daughter's favorite Disney Princesses and painted them to hang up around the room. I framed them off with pretty colored paper. I also hung up a couple of my daughter's princess dress up dresses for decor as well next to the princess paintings.

Our conservatory also serves as our only playroom in the house so I had a few IKEA storage units that I wanted to cover up since they didn't go with the party decor. I had some leftover packaging paper that I used to cover the units and then I painted a castle on to it. I got pink and purple wall sample paint from a home store to use as the main colors and to get the big castle to match the other castles. The rest of the colors for the trees and flowers came from my daughter's water color set.

My daughter picked out some pink and purply flowers for her party and we put them on top of the castle along with some Disney princess books that we had for added decorations.

The Party Games

I had three games lined up for the girls to play. We started out with Pass the Frog and while they ate their treats, I blind folded them one by one to play Put a Kiss on the Frog.

Finally they all participated in a pull string Castle Pinata that I had made to match the rest of the decor and the party invitation. I made the pinata myself out of old cereal and juice boxes.

Once the girls picked up all the treasure that fell out of the pinata, I handed out their monogramed Princess Hand Bags (Treat Bags) that I already put a little bag of Cadbury chocolate buttons, a candy necklace and sparkly bracelet in. I displayed the little bags on my daughter's princess tea tray.

The games were great and very age appropriate for 3-4 year olds. Also I was able to use the games and accessories as part of the party decorations.

The Princesses' Royal Table

The royal table was adorned with an off white plastic table cloth and then I found royal purple table topper squares to overlap in the middle. I then sprinkled some pink cut out flowers that I found at a scrapbook store over the top. The centerpiece of the table was the beautiful pink Princess Cake which was accompanied on either side by pots of chocolate covered marshmallows. I used a three tiered tray to display the Magic Wand Pretzels, Rice Krispy Birthday Cupcake treats and princess sugar cookies.

At each place setting the little girls each had a bright pink plate (the birthday girl got a special princess plate). On top I had rolled up a bright pink napkin to hold the fork and spoon and I tied it all together with a dark purple ribbon. Each guest also got their own royal glass with pink bendy straws and a Magic Wand Cookie.

The Princess Party Menu:

• Heart-shaped cheese pizzas
• Veggie tray with dill dip
• Fruit tray
• Ham and turkey wraps
• Yogurts
• Pretzels

The Royal Sweeties:

• Chocolate covered marshmallows
• Homemade purple marshmallows
• Rice Krispy Birthday Treats
• Magic Wand Pretzels
• Princess Cookie Wands
• Princess sugar cookies
• The Princess Birthday Cake