Girls Christmas Party 2015 and Decorations

I’m having some technical difficulties right now (this was actually supposed to be posted yesterday), so I apologize for any weird layouts throughout this post.

Last Thursday I was finally able to host a Christmas party!  Years past has been too difficult since my kids have been babies and I have no hubby during the week to watch the kiddos.  My mom watched them for me over at her house (they spent the night). 

I decided to have a dessert exchange and craft at the party (I’ll explain the craft later in the post).  Each girl would bring a dessert for us to sample and take home.  I invited 11 people and 7 were able to come.  It was the perfect size for this kind of party.  Here is a picture of the table I set up for our desserts to go on.

The tin containers in the back are the boxes each girl took home, packed with desserts!  I found them at Dollar Tree (each for a $1 of course). 

These were the cookies I decided to make for the party.  Hot Cocoa cookie cups.  The “cup” is a sugar cookie.  The chocolate inside is a chocolate ganache.  Topped with Mallow bits.  And I added a pretzel “handle” with some white chocolate.  They were actually not hard to make.  The hardest part was attaching those pretzels.  I got the recipe for here.

When the girls arrived I had heavy appetizers for dinner.  I had them bring any drinks they wanted, but I made a Christmas punch and had a bottle of white and red wine for anyone. 

The appetizers included:
–Stuffed mushrooms – I added some cooked bacon pieces to my filling (about 4-6 slices worth).
–Meatball cupcakes
-Basil, Mozzarella, Tomato drizzled with Balsamic Vinagerette
-Corn Dip (4 cans white shoepeg corn, 1 stick butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 3/4 cup salsa…cook on low in crockpot a few hours).  Served it with Fritos.
-Green and Red Bell Peppers with Ranch
-Deviled Eggs

I prepped everything beforehand and left the mushrooms and meatball cupcakes till right before the party.  I did clean each mushroom, take out stems, and make the filling before hand so all I had to do was bake 20 minutes before the party started.

I cannot believe I didn’t take a picture of each appetizer, but this was the best I could get. 

After we munched a while, we headed into the dining room to start our craft…

When it comes to crafts I like things that are practical…not just “something to do.”  So I chose this Christmas card hanger.  It was easy, affordable, and so cute!

The girls did great and I loved seeing the variety of colors. 

Here is what you need:
1. 16×24 wood board (I went to Lowes and picked out two 24×24 pieces of Birchwood and had my neighbor cut into 4 pieces, making 8 total).  Each piece was about $8.  You can get cheaper wood, but I found it to bend the thinner it was.

2. Paint – I got white for the base, green for the base/dots, and silver, gold, and red for dots as well.  I used Americana Acrylic paint.  The silver and gold was Dazzling Metallics metallic paint.  Both from Hobby Lobby.

3. Brushes – We used the large sponge brushes to apply the base coat and 2 different sized sponge dobbers for the dots.

4. Red Vinyl Lettering – My friend Kristen, created the “Merry Mail” and we attached it with contact paper.  The Merry Mail measured about 3×18.

5. Different types of ribbon.  Make sure not to get any that will curl up or twist.  We each measured about 3 feet per ribbon on our board (5 pieces).  You also need some type of string to hang it with (we used a burlap rope type of string…sorry, I don’t know the proper name)

6. Staple Gun – You’ll use this to attach each ribbon to the back and attach your string (the string we had to tie around the staple once it was in so it didn’t slip out).

7. Mini clothespins to hang up your Christmas cards (I had these for the girls when they left).  I found super tiny ones at Walmart.  I just gave each girl a small bag.

Directions:
1. I first laid out all the supplies for the girls before they came over.  I had a red table cloth (just those cheap ones), and parchment paper under each board so the paint wouldn’t get stuck to the table cloth…most of us didn’t paint the edges though).  The paint and brushes are laid out in the middle.

2. Paint the board with your base coat.  Most of us used white, but one girl used green (I had a light green for base and Kelly green for dots).  *The base coats did not take long to dry (maybe 15-20 minutes?).

3. After the base has dried (we talked, drank wine, and ate dessert during that time), add the ribbon/string to the back of your board with the staple gun…this way you won’t have to flip it over with wet paint from the dots.  This was the first time I had used a staple gun, so if you’re like me, go for it!

4. Then add your vinyl letters and your dots to decorate.

Here is one with silver and gold dots.  And we were terrible and didn’t take a group shot till after two people had already left.  Jennie, you are cracking me up in this photo!

We were all pleasantly surprised how well the crafts turned out.  And you know it’s a good party when your last guests leave at 1:15 AM!!!!  The party started at 7:30pm.  And don’t you worry, I was up at 5:30am that morning to pick up my kids from my parents since they work, and go to MOPS.  Totally worth it 🙂  Love these two…even though I looked like death the next morning.

This was the  most calm I’ve been before a party.  My mom came and picked up the boys around 5:30 so I could get ready without kids (Ryan was reffing all night).  I’m so thankful for her as it  helped tremendously.  And you want to hear a funny not so funny story?  Beckham had his Christmas program that morning, 45 minutes after drop off, so after waiting and seeing him perform, I darted home and started prepping the food (that was my plan while they both were at preschool for a few hours..I had done most of the cleaning the day before).  5 minutes after I walked in the door, Maddox’s teachers call me and he needed to be picked up (won’t go into details why, but he was not feeling well).  So I turned back around and got both boys (no point in leaving B only to get back out and get him)…to come home…with me…the rest of the day!!!!  I didn’t panic though…luckily M hadn’t taken his nap yet, so I fed them their lunch, put M down, and B watched a movie so I could prep food.  #momlife Then it was just managing their mess till my mom came. 

It all worked out and I even  had time to SIT DOWN with a glass of wine and WAIT for my girlfriends to arrive. I’ve always aimed to be a “Martha” BEFORE the party (prepping like crazy) and a “Mary” DURING the party (enjoying my guests).  Mary and Martha from the Bible in Luke.  It was such a calm moment I could enjoy in such a crazy season of life!

I also had some party favors for each girl!  Warm, fuzzy socks.  I actually found these at Dollar Tree, so it was a great, inexpensive, but thoughtful favor!  I just tied some tags that I already had with that burlap/rope string we used, and wrote “Warm Wishes” on each one.

Here are some additional pictures (terrible, but oh well) of my Christmas decorations since I didn’t share them last week with the link up.  These pictures do not do it justice at all.  Here are last year’s decorations that are pretty similar with exception to the entry way, dining room, and stockings (got at PersonalCreations.com).  The pics are way better last year because I didn’t have my flash on.

2015 Christmas Décor…

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