Friday, December 14, 2007

Another Girlfriends Christmas Party

My friend Alisha and I enjoy hosting a party for our Girlfriends at Christmas as our "gift" to them. Here's what we did this year.



Wednesday night my friend Alisha and I hosted our 2nd Girlfriends Christmas Party. Neither of our days went as planned but we still had a great time and were happy with how everything turned out. When we were on the phone in the afternoon realizing how much was left to do in such little time I said "I think we might not be the super women we thought we were", she laughed at my drama.

These were the invitations we sent out.


We invited 6 friends to the party so there were 8 of us total. We started off with appetizers and punch while we played a little "get to know you better game". Okay, okay, I'll tell the truth, we started off with Alisha using my blender without putting the bottom of it on and then having quite the mess when she tried to take the blender off of the stand, after that our guests started arriving and we enlisted there help in some last minute food prep. THEN we enjoyed Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles, Veggie Pizza, Shrimp Dip and Frothy Pink Grapefruit Strawberry Drink while we played the "get to know you better game". Four of the girls won prizes which were either a bag filled with foot scrub, lotion, a pumice stone and pedicure kit, or a bag of chocolate covered pretzel rods rolled in toffee bits.



Then it was onto dinner. Alisha made the lime tower centerpiece and had extra berries left over that I used along with some ribbon and a tag to tie the napkins with. We served Christmas Salad, Barbequed London Broil with Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes, Crunchy Green Beans, Orange Rolls, and the most delicious and beautiful Island Fruit Cups you have ever seen (Alisha has an amazing gift for food presentation).




After dinner we did our dessert exchange. Everyone brought a fun holiday dessert on a new serving tray to give away! Here is a picture of them, I took individuals but most of them were blurry. Alisha made the Black Forest Cake, I made the tall cupcakes, Tanya made the Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Torte, Tina made the cutest snowman cupcakes, Kelly made her famous Peppermint Fudge Truffle Cake on a pedestal that I REALLY wanted, Lori made her own recipe of Ooey Gooey bars in this super cute candy cane tray, Heidi brought her favorite wassail recipe in this cute teapot, and Celeste made her famous cathedral cookies. Everyone was so excited to take their treats home to their families.




For the dessert that we actually got to eat Alisha made Double Chocolate Souffles.with Warm Fudge Sauce. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. Heaven in a bowl. Seriously a must try!


The last part of our evening was our little craft. We made these cute ornaments inspired by Becky Higgins. Each ornament has four pics of each child on it to remember this year by. Each person made them so differently and they all turned out so cute.





I had a great time and am so thankful for such good friends to share fun times with. I can't wait for next year!

submitted by Emily (www.delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com)

18 comments:

emily said...

hey, i love those ornaments, but can't quite tell what the boxes are - they look like styrofoam boxes? is that right? if so, did you paint them or what? thanks for your help!

Emily said...

They are 2" wooden blocks that you can find at the craft store. Then we just painted them with acrylic paint (again at the craft store). I bought some little round stencil painting tools to do the polka dots, then put a Making Memories page pebble (which I must warn you I used extra large circles and had the hardest time finding them, I finally found out they are discontinued but you can still find some on the internet, otherwise you'd have to use a smaller size or use the sqaures or you could just Modge Podge the pictures on) over the picture that I had previously cropped and resized and trimmed around the edge of the page pebble and stuck it on the block. I got the little eye screw at Home Depot and you just screw them into the top by hand and tie a ribbon and you're done.

jenny said...

Those cupcakes are darling. What a great evening....love it all!

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

I love your ideas Emily. Thanks for sharing your party with us!

emily said...

thanks, emily, for the tips on the ornaments. i appreciate your response!

Tip Junkie said...

There's an award waiting for you over on my site! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Kirsten said...

Anyway you could share the recipe for the peppermint truffle cake?!?! It looks so good!! Cute idea for a party!

Emily said...

Ohio Rasmussens - the recipe you are looking for was posted in an earlier post on October 17th, you can find it there. Let me know if you have any other questions :)

Christal said...

oh my gosh I just found your site and love it!! Such great ideas so many great sites out there!!
Do you know by chance what the glaze is on the cresent rolls?? They look so good!

brandy said...

Emily Banks??? I found you..i think...It was so good hearing from you a couple weeks ago! Hope all is well!! This website is so cute!! Can anyone post?

Stokes Family said...

Love those tall cupcakes? Mind sharing the recipe?? Such a cute blog!!

Heidi Robinson said...

Just found your blog. Love the tall cupcakes and would love a copy of the recipe. Is it on here? Where did you find a pan for the tall cupcakes?

Shanna said...

I would also love the recipe/directions for the tall cupcakes - they are DARLING!!

Jessica Marie said...

Wow! I found your blog online. You are so creative! Looks like so much fun! I'm going to have to try some of your ideas! I love the cool desert exchange with the serving dishes! What a neat idea! Happy Holidays!

Jessica Jensen

WaterfulLife said...

Those little boxes are really cute. i love them. I also liked the color of the card.... I love green!

KT said...

Those cupcakes looks yummy! And I like the personalized blocks ornaments! I shall make some for family to decorate our Christmas tree! It's really nice. And speaking of personal gifts, I found one that others might also consider checking out http://messageonanecklace.com/articles/love_letter.html

StevenHWicker said...

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SOS Booster said...

Looking for some Christmas ideas to spark your party planning? Here are fun Xmas virtual party ideas that are perfect for work from home teams.