Outdoor entertaining can be easy as A, B, C! Here are a dozen tips for you. • Keep Your Guests Comfortable & Clean A. Banish the bugs – 1 hour before guests arrive, light bug bomb and citronella candles. Set out individual bug spray wipes and/or spray for guests’ convenient use. B. It’s a picnic, so while you’re “roughing” it, offer your guests the opportunity to “wash up” with wipes and/or hand sanitizer – a
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Mother’s Day is around the corner and brunch is the perfect way to celebrate. Brunch is also a great way to host many other occasions. Brunches can be a fun, enjoyable and a budget-friendly way to entertain. Follow our Brunch Basics Guide below… 3 Practical & Easy Tips For A Stress-Free and Successful Brunch 1. Serve the right balance of breakfast and lunch foods. Why? Your guests will fall into 1 of 3 categories:
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While many may focus on cleaning their clothes closets this spring, strike out in a different direction and clean out your kitchen cabinets. Inventory your items and then restock them so you’re ready for some Spring Entertaining – consider the contents your “tools” for entertaining. Ask yourself questions like these as part of your inventory process: Do I have the right tools to make entertaining easy? What are my “lifesaver” tools I simply must have
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As Featured in Kroger’s Spring Mailer “MyMagazine” Supermarket floral departments can be a great resource for creating affordable flower arrangements to decorate your home. We love shopping the supermarket for a few bouquets of flowers and then seeing just how many arrangements we can create to decorate the house when prepping for a party. It’s actually quite easy to become a savvy shopper and DIY your own flower arrangements: shop the supermarket floral department for
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It’s most definitely the greenest holiday of the year, so as you Plan to Party this Saint Patrick’s Day wear green, Go GREEN! Try our six super tips and spread the “Luck of the Irish” to Mother Earth too! On St. Patrick’s Day, be truly green when you drink beer. Try organic, buy local, purchase a keg instead of cans and bottles, or use growlers* Go green with electronic invitations, save paper and all the
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Want a peek at the HOT TRENDS in food and drink for 2013? Below are some of the answers. The National Restaurant Association surveyed professional chefs, members of the American Culinary Federation, on which food, cuisines and culinary themes will be hot trends on restaurant menus in 2013. The “What’s Hot in 2013” survey was conducted in the fall of 2012 among more than 1,800 chefs. Here are the Top 20 Trends Locally sourced
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Here are some great tips for Holiday Baking from Elizabeth and her Mom! A BAKERS DOZEN Tips for Holiday Cookies (you get one bonus) ! Stock Cookie Ingredient Basics – butter, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, confectionary sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, eggs, chocolate chips, unsweetened baking chocolate. Anytime the mood strikes or time permits, I can whip up a batch or two – no shopping required! Maintain
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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Family and friends sharing a meal around the table is pure joy! I put lots of time and love into the meal I’m serving and I want everyone at my table to savor and enjoy it. I can’t imagine making anyone sick from it! However this happens to many during the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. It’s a large meal with a lot going on (a big turkey, a variety of sides,
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The holiday season is fast approaching. For many, this means stress, but it doesn’t have to. Take it from us, you can be a guest at your own party, if you plan ahead and keep it simple ! Food Network star, Giada De Laurentiis agrees and this month she tells Women’s Health her secrets to enjoying the festivities. In the article she “dishes” her tricks on making entertaining look easy and how she stays slim
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The more you entertain the more you realize, the mood you set, is just as important as the food you serve. One way to make sure the mood is right is to follow our 5 “Be” Attitudes for a Happy Hostess. Planning an event can be stressful, so here’s our best advice for your next party! 1. Keep it small – with an intimate gathering you can connect with your guests – that’s the goal, right?
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Parties are the perfect way for us for us to connect with the people in our lives and provide a great opportunity for fun! But what happens when the fun gets out of control? Well, it can ruin your party and in some cases put you or your guests at risk. To avoid these “party pitfalls”, I offer some suggestions and tips for how NOT to host an “out of control” party. There are 2
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Entertaining Al Fresco should be casual and fun, but there are a few things you should consider before hosting in the great outdoors. Check out our tips below – they make it as easy as the A, B C’s ! • Keep Your Guests Comfortable & Clean: A. Banish the bugs – 1 hour before guests arrive, light bug bomb and citronella candles. Set out individual bug spray wipes and/or spray for guests’ convenient use.
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When planning a party, it’s important to find the right balance between your available resources of time and money. Knowing when to BUY and when to DIY can make all the difference to you, the host! In our book, Plan To Party, we go into great detail helping you find a strategy and plan that fits your budget and style of entertaining. The following is an informative guest post from Nicole Steeger, the Marketing Manager
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“Not your Parents’ Potluck” Host 12 people for $80 that’s less than $7 per person! ( $50: 2- 750 ml bottles of Gin and/or Vodka, $10: 1-750 ml bottle of Vermouth and $20: for Garnishes) We’ve got a solution for those yearning for “good times” on a budget. Instead of dining out in a bar or restaurant and sharing appetizers and a big bill, bring the party home and ask guests to share their favorite
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OUTDOOR PARTIES can be easy and enjoyable when you are prepared and have a great plan. At Party Bluprints we are sure of this, and when it comes to outdoor parties it’s essential to create a footprint for entertaining. A footprint is unique to you and when creating it you need to factor in your own personal style, budget and space constraints. To help you get started we partnered with Kmart to come up
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Tea Parties are the perfect way for girls and women of all ages to connect. Whether celebrating Mother’s Day, a baby shower, a teenage birthday or women’s club get-together, be inspired by the feminine spirit of the Tea Party we all loved as young girls. Mix and match modern and traditional elements to fit the celebration. Below is your guide for how to host this Par-Tea: featuring links you’ll love for menu ideas, a signature
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In honor of Earth Day… Partybluprints.com’s Top 5 “Respect our Earth Entertaining Tips”. 1. Bring the party and your people into your home and condense your carbon footprints. Forego gassing up the plane, train or automobile and create a festive environment in your home. If you want to go the distance, host a destination party and invite friends who live within walking distance. 2. Grow your own herb garden. Plant herbs, such as basil, mint,
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Here are all the basics you need to know for how to stir or shake up a great Martini. CHEERS! Martini Making: The king of all martinis is the “basic martini”. It is a symbol of elegance and adult recreation. Those who are passionate about their martini fall into one of 2 camps: (1) those who believe there’s only one real martini and it’s made with gin, and (2) those who believe a vodka martini
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If you missed our Twitter party last night, here are some tips I shared with the party-goers. Katja Presnal of the amazing company and blog: Skimbaco Lifestyle gave away 10 Hamilton Beach Blenders and the conversation was BUZZING! Thanks to all that came and Happy Holidays to everyone! Here are the tips TWEET STYLE: TIP #1: Skip the ‘open house’ and host friends for Christmas Cocktails (2hrs). It’s a more manageable way to share holiday
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Keep the Holiday Season SIMPLE and SPECIAL and you will enjoy it more, we promise! Here is an idea for each of the 12 days of Christmas that won’t break the bank or stress you out. Enjoy. 12. December 13th – Watch a Christmas Special ABC Family has one every night! 11. December 14th -Read THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS > online here 10. December 15th – Make Candy Cane Hearts > MakesandTakes.com 9. December 16th
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Hosting at the holidays is a rewarding experience and can be lots of fun, so plan properly and make sure YOU get to partake in it! Making memories for your family, friends and especially the children in your life is a gift you give each guest as a hostess but you don’t need to sacrifice your own enjoyment to give it. Here are 7 super tips that not only save time, they allow you
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Dinner has the power to create family and community, whether the gathered are blood relatives, business colleagues or newfound friends. Simply put: Good things almost always happen when people share a meal. – Unknown Sharing a meal forces a time out to nourish mind, spirit and body. If you consider all three then you realize how important it is for families to eat together. Here are 3 ways to make it happen when your budget
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Party snacks are stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight when it comes to menus for entertaining. Like fashion filters down from the designers on the runway to main street shops; entertaining trends filter down from chefs in top restaurants to the tables in our homes. One such trend, I am taking note of was spotted in a recent research study by Mintel Menu Insights. It found that “snacking is the new way
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Recently, we had a chance to share our tips for easy entertaining with Good Housekeeping Magazine. In this month’s very special 125th Anniversary Collectors Issue, a few of them made their way into the good (enough) monthly feature on page 31. Above are images from the article and below are some of our simple and special tips for throwing a party that’s low-key and low-cost: Host a daytime affair like a brunch verses a more
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In honor of the upcoming Earth Day celebration, here are Partybluprints’ Top 5 “Respect our Earth” Entertaining Tips FIVE for keeping the planet ALIVE when you party! 1. Bring the party and your people into your home and condense your carbon footprints. Forgo gassing up the plane, train or automobile and create a festive environment in your home. If you want to go the distance, host a destination party and invite friends who live within
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Stimulate the Senses to Create the Perfect Party Experience We believe the perfect party experience is achieved when people simply feel good, relaxed and open to connecting with others. Follow these important tips and free your guests’ senses for a fabulous and memorable experience: People will forget what they ate, People will forget what they drank, But people will never forget how you made them feel. – our spin on Maya Angelou’s famous quote 1.
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