Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Olympic Party Food Ideas


 

Are you planning to watch the summer Olympics when they start this weekend?   If you plan on viewing with family and friends and having a party, here are some easy food ideas to help you get into the spirit of the games.  



One easy treat you can make it so make cookie Olympic gold medals.  Use a package of Golden Oreos and attach  some fruit by the foot as the ribbon. A bowl of Bugles also make a super easy snack.   An easy way to make an Olympic torch snack is to fill ice cream cones with Cheetos. 





If you are looking for other options, you can make they Olympic Ring Snack Board.  The three rings in the back are blue, black and red.  The two in the front are yellow and green.   Blue and black do not have as many choices as some of the other colors blueberries and blackberries work well.  Red has several fruits and veggies that you can use, such as strawberries, cherries, cherry tomatoes, and red peppers. Yellow also has many choices like pineapple, bananas and yellow peppers.  You might also for some cheese and crackers that would be good for yellow.   Some food ideas for green are kiwi, green grapes, honeydew, avocado, and green peppers.


Since the Summer Olympics are in Paris, France another idea is to use French inspired food.  You could serve a plate of macarons, mini croissants with chocolate, or baguettes with cheese.   "French" fries or a charcuterie board are also options. 



If you want some treats to root for team USA, how about a Red, White and Blue dessert.   You can find even more red, white and blue inspired ideas here.


Be sure to check out my post How to Throw an Olympics Party for more easy Olympic party ideas. 


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Friday, July 19, 2024

Let's Time to Dare to Share!


It's Friday night, and you know what means..
It's time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! This week kind of flew by for me. I was busy with work and also not feeling well... again.  This virus does not seem as bad as some of the others I had in recent weeks.  It came on quickly, and hopefully it goes away quickly too.  




 With the summer Olympics starting in just a week, I shared a post with How to Host an Olympics Party. While we had our party a few Olympics ago, a lot of the ideas are still relevant today.  I will also be sharing a post with some Olympics food ideas shortly.  



While Halloween is a few months away, I am starting to get excited. While rearranging out basement we found box of Halloween pans and molds that I can't wait to start using. I have not seen them since I moved here two years ago. We are doing a big Halloween market in October, and hosting a local Murder Mystery at the end of August.  We are currently starting to think about which treats we will make and serve.  I do know that I will be making some special cookies. I recently took a decorating course and learned so many new tips. 



Another thing we did this week was celebrate my bonus son's birthday.  Doesn't that cake look amazing.  While I can not take credit for making it, if you have a Meijer near you, you can find it there.  


We are finally expecting some good weather this weekend and might be doing something fun.  I will share more about it, if we actually go.  


Well it looks like it is getting late, so I better get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 




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Monday, July 15, 2024

How to throw an Olympics Party


 

A few years back, well in 2018, I threw a Winter Olympics Party With the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris right around the corner, I though it would be a good time to revisit my Olympic party ideas. One of the things we did was make an Olympic Flame Cauldron out of a bowl, crepe paper and craft foam.  It become the centerpiece of our table. 

** this post contains affiliate links 


A lot of our party supplies came from Oriental Trading, and still available on their site. 

The square flag plates, and cups are still available, but the napkins and tablecloth are currently out of stock.  



The table top flag fountain centerpiece looks a little smaller than the one in my picture, it is an interesting decoration.  



In the cups on the sides of the tables are the 72 flags of several nations  They are many ways you can use these flags as decor, or while cheering on your favorite athletes.  


While the medals I had bought for our party are slightly different, there are similar party favor medals available here. 




A fun backdrop that would make for some great photos is this Podium Door Banner.



If you want to have a feel of Paris at your party, how about this 88" standing Eiffel Tower.

If a smaller tower is more your style how about a tabletop version.


Look for another party post in the new few days with Olympic Party food ideas.



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Saturday, July 13, 2024

It's Time to Dare to Share!


It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It is time to Dare to Share! 




Last Friday I was busy getting ready for the baby shower for my soon to be granddaughter, and did not have a lot to share during the Dare to Share party.  I am happy to share this week that the shower turned out great! Everyone had a nice time, and loved the theme.  You can read more about it,and see what we did in my post Baby Woodland Animal Baby Shower.  Planning this shower has definitely made me want to plan more parties again. It may be happening soon, since we want to expand the bakery and event business by adding party planning.  :) 


Tonight since we were not in a rush we are able to stop by a balloon glow festival, and then go to dinner at a new to us restaurant.  I love nights like that when we can do something out of the ordinary.  

Well it is looking to be that time again. Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been doing.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 


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Sunday, July 7, 2024

Baby Woodland Animal Baby Shower



* this post contains affiliate links 

This weekend we had a baby shower for my bonus daughter and soon to be grand daughter.  I had so much fun planning the shower.  I made all of the decorations from my Canva account, and bought few items from the Dollar Tree. I plan on adding a baby shower kit to my Etsy Shop soon. 

Mom and Dad-to-be love nature, and are always doing something outside, so a baby woodland animal theme was a no brainer. I also had some really cute woodland animal graphics with the perfect colors for a baby girl. 


I made this banner which we hung in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of it hanging up. After the party I gave it to the parents-to-be so they can use it again if they would like to. Each piece of the banner is an 8.5" x 11" piece of printer paper, so it is pretty large.  It would be easy to adjust the size, if a smaller banner is needed.  




If you are looking for a girl or boy balloon, be sure to check the Dollar Tree.  I found this one a day or two before the shower. 
 

 Another item I used from the Dollar Tree were these fairy garden mushroom houses.   The mushrooms are normally red, I painted a few pink, and a few light green which were our party colors. They looked so cute. 


 


I found these green frames at the Dollar Tree.  In addition to this little deer, I also had a framed hedgehog and a framed skunk. Each frame was decorated with pink roses.  


 I used another frame on our make your own trail mix table.  

On the trail mix bar I used twelve plastic bowls from the Dollar Tree.  The mom-to-be is gluten free, so we had several gluten free options available for her to make some trail mix too. 
The gluten free options  we had were Corn Chex Cereal, Honey Nut Chex Cereal, Limited Edition Berry Cheerios, Snyders GF Pretzels, and Dandies Marshmallows.  We also had regular marshmallows, regular mini pretzels, M & Ms, chocolate chips, Haribo gummy bears, Planters peanuts, and dried cherries. She was able to eat some of those items as well.  The little circles one the bowls had the names of the items and marked the gluten free options. 


I made these animal signs and used them through out the party. We bought this little rose for the mom-to-be. The skunk is the dad's favorite animal, and deer represents mom who is mama deer.  



A fun addition to our food was this hedgehog watermelon. I have made hedgehog watermelon before, like the one I made for my daughters Woodland themed birthday party.


We had a pretty healthy menu at the shower. We served fruits and vegetables in plastic serving cups from Dollar Tree. We did this before at my bonus son's graduation party and at my bonus daughter's wedding reception.  I like doing this for many reasons,but especially because it is a great way to keep germ sharing at a minimum. It is also great portion control. 



In addition to the fruits and vegetables, we had chicken salad croissant sandwiches. 



We also had these appetizer skewers. They were so good, and the perfect size for a party. 



 
 The cupcakes were gluten free, and made to look like pink and green mushrooms.  The cupcake toppers were each of the woodland animals.  I don't normally eat gluten free cupcakes but they really good, and we only had a couple left by the end of the shower.  




We played several games at the shower.  The baby bump game I found at the Dollar Tree.  Each participant cuts a plastic strip guessing the size of mom's baby bump. Maybe it was because I have had three babies, but I guessed exactly right. My sister-in-law who also has three babies was only an inch off.  Not pictured is the diaper game we played.  We used some cheap diapers, and melted miniature candy bars. Each person playing had to guess the candy bar by looking at and smelling it.  We bought the mini candy bars at Dollar Tree where we found Snickers, Hershey's, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Kit Kat, and Crunch.  

The three other games we played was guess when baby will be born, a word scramble and a celebrity baby name matching game.   As a keepsake for the new baby everyone filled out a Wishes for Baby sheet that she can read someday.  There were some really sweet wishes. 






Since I was the one of the hosts, I did not get a few pictures of all the printables I made for the party.  This is not everything since some of it went home with the parents to be, but you can see in the invitation, some of the signs, and some of the animal pics.  

Now we wait a few weeks to see who will win the guessing what day she will be born game. :) 




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Friday, July 5, 2024

It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share


It's Friday night, and you know what that means!
It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday!  I am going to make today's post short and sweet.  As you are reading this I am very busy preparing for a baby shower we are having Saturday for my bonus daughter and our soon to be grand daughter.  I still have a few things to do with not a lot of time to do it all.  I can't wait to show your  more about our shower in my next post.  :)


With that, it is time to get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 



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Saturday, June 29, 2024

Let's Dare to Share!


It's Friday night, you know what that means.. 
it is time to Dare to Share!

Can you believe that is is almost the 4th of the July?!  Next week will be another busy one. We are doing a special market on the 4th of July, and then a few days later I am throwing a woodland themed baby shower for my soon to be grandbaby.  I have so many fun things planned, which I will be sharing on the blog.   
Here is a sneak peek of one of the signs I made for the shower.  I'm getting excited for the big day, and can't wait to share it with you. 

We are visiting Michigan again this weekend. Tonight we celebrated a friend's birthday at the dance, and we will be celebrating my youngest child's birthday this weekend as well.   
Since it is getting late, I better get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 



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Friday, June 21, 2024

It's Time to Dare to Share!


It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It is time to Dare to Share!  



Happy Summer!  No, I am not on vacation right now, but I really wish I was. Instead we are home melting in a heat wave  with temps in the high 90s for days.  This photo was taken four years ago during my favorite summer vacation ever.  We started in Holland Michigan, where this photo was taken, and stopped in several cities around the west coast of Michigan. We drove all the way to Mackinaw City, with stops in Grand Haven, Ludington, Manistee, Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petoskey.  We took a ferry to Mackinac Island, and then traveled to several cities in the Upper Peninsula. On the way home we stopped in the Wisconsin Dells, and downtown Chicago over the course of eight days.  We hope to go somewhere this summer again, but have not decided where yet.  


We have had a pretty exciting summer so far though. We went to a celebrity softball game with our favorite football team, and saw a concert with some famous boy banders.  You can read more about it in my post Our Summer So Far

If you saw my post from last week's party, I do have an update. I got ok news.  They took several more scans of my spots.  The largest one is slightly smaller than a centimeter.  Since they are small and not the easiest location to see, they told me they are "probably" benign, but I will need another mammogram in six months to check them again.  While probably is better than getting bad news, it would be nice if they know they were definitely benign. 

This weekend we have a few fun things planned, I just hope we don't melt in the heat. :)  If you are in the heat dome, or in the path of the tropical storms stay safe everyone!! 


Now that you now what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you are up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 



 

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Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Our Summer so Far




I know I have been teasing this post for a couple of weeks now.  I think the last two weeks have been the busiest so far this year.  On June 1st we went to Logan Wilson's Celebrity Softball game. If you do not know you Logan Wilson is, he is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals and he brought together most of the team to raise money for the Brooks Joshua Anderson Foundation. Brooks Joshua was a sweet baby boy who died unexpectedly from SIDS. Logan Wilson is close with the Anderson Family, so this cause is close to his heart. 



Many of the Bengals players were there, and we were seated just a few feet away.  It was nice to see their personalities when they were having fun for a good cause. 


After the game, the players met and gave autographs to some of the people in attendance. 



This is Amarius Mims our first round draft pick.  He is a very large man. His stats say he is 6' 8", and 340 lbs.  It was so much fun watching him having fun with the team, and he proved it can run.  



Let's talk about this guy... Evan McPherson!  He is the kicker for the Bengals. We were so impressed with his athletic skills during the game.  Not only is he a great kicker, but he can also hit and catch! He could easily play professional baseball if he chose too.  He had 3 home runs during the game, and won MVP!  This is going to be an annual fundraiser event, and we will definitely be going back. 



On June 2, we attended the Strawberry Festival in Troy, Ohio. It is a great place to go if you love strawberries.  



If you were a music fan in the 90s to early 00s, you will recognize who we went to see in concert this past Saturday.  It was Joey Fatone and AJ McLean, and their Legendary Night Tour.  I have to admit I was fan girling pretty hard.  I love NSync and the Backstreet Boys! We also heard Joey say something out of his own mouth, there will most likely be a NSync reunion tour soon. I plan on going when it actually happens. 



AJ debuted some new songs that he will be releasing soon.  I am sure one in particular will become a new fan favorite.  He looked amazing, and shared the news that he is feeling great. He is up on coming up on his 3rd year of being sober.  He brought many of those in the audience to happy tears :) 

We have several more fun events coming up this summer. If they go as well as the first part of June, I will be happy.  




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Friday, June 14, 2024

It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It's time to Dare to Share! 



The wedding we attended last weekend was beautiful. On the rooftop of the venue there were great view of the city. The couple was married on the rooftop, and the reception area was decorated with flowers, candles and pretty flowered china.  Our favors at the end of the night were flowered tea cups.  This week since the bride was the infant teacher,I filled in for her room for three days.  I love working with the babies, so it was a fun few days. 

On a more serious note, I had the day off of work yesterday because it was time for my mammogram.  I had not had one in awhile, so I was a little bit anxious.  While I do not have signs of cancer, I do have some calcification spots that want to look at more closely, so I am going to have more testing next week.  The majority of time calcification spots are nothing to worry about, but in one in four woman it is early stage cancer.  I am glad they are looking more into the spots, just in case I am one in four.  




This week we had another market with a beach theme. We baked all day Sunday, and I almost forgot to take pictures.  These swimming bear marshmallow pops were a hit with the kids.  



These ice cream cone cake pops were popular too. They are quick and easy to make, and look like the real thing.  




Are you trying to think of a way for extra fun on Father's Day?  In my Etsy Shop I have a Father's Day Treasure Hunt where dad uses clues to find his gift. 


The post about the celebrity softball game will still be posted soon, and I will also be adding another fun post.  This weekend I am seeing a special concert by some very popular 90s singers. :)  I have been looking forward to this for weeks.  Any idea on who it might be seeing?  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you are up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 





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