Monday, January 31, 2011

Clown Party Invitations

One of my favorite people on this earth is my sweet niece Camryn. Since the very first time I laid eyes on her, I've been totally in love with her. I say this all the time - but I don't know how it would be possible for me to love my own children any more than I love my nieces and nephews. Since Cam was a very young toddler, I've noticed a very special connection with her that I cannot explain in words. She affectionately refers to me as "Mousie Mommy" and I really hope her "Mousie-phase" doesn't end any time soon! I'm sure my closeness with Cam has a lot to do with how close I am to her mother (my sister), Sherry. Sherry is 13 years my elder and was like a 2nd mom to me growing up. As an adult, I appreciate her even more now that we are such great friends! She is the person I look up to the most in this world and I wouldn't be who I am today with her powerful maternal influence.
Sweet Cami and I

Camryn was born on December 23 - that's right, just 2 days before Christmas. Sherry's original due date was January 9 and I can still hear her say, 'Oh no! I feel so bad, her birthday is going to be so close to Christmas!' (Bear in mind, Sherry said this somewhere between her water breaking and all of us rushing to get her in the car to go to the hospital!) Since her birthday is so close to Christmas, Sherry devised a plan to allow Cam to celebrate her birthday with her friends - celebrate her half birthday in the summer!

Camryn's half birthday party was in my sister's highly qualified hands, but I had the honor of creating the invitations! (Yah! My favorite part of any party!) The theme was 'Circus' and so the search began for high quality circus-y images that didn't include some scary clown. Since clowns are innately scary, imagine my surprise when I came across this adorable clown girl! She was the perfect image to carry through the party. I used the image on the 'thank-you' tags for the goody bags (left) and on the invitations (right - although, this was a first draft). I positively love 'her'!
Using some gate-fold cards I had on hand from a previous project, I created the invitation below. The Clown Girl was matted to shiny green paper (positively my favorite paper of all time - the Thank-you tags were matted on this paper as well). One side of the image was glued (left) with the other side (right) Velcro'd to keep the invite closed.
Here is a view from inside the gate-fold. I included the pertinent details of the party in the larger middle section, with other notes on the side panels. The invitations that went out to guests had eyelets attached to close the top of the center, then the ribbon was looped through. Labor intensive, but it helped finished the look quite well!

Just for fun, I thought I'd include a pic of the cupcake stand. What would a party be without the cupcakes? One of the [many] things my sister has taught me is to include various icing designs when including cupcakes for parties. I tend to be a bit uniform and matchy-matchy with things, but I like the visual variety this route offers. I incorporate this into all of my cupcake designs now! (And, it's a nice gesture to those people who do not particularly care for a cupcake drowning in frosting, whoever those crazy people might be.)


The Cupcakes
Camryn and her party peeps!
Cam and her BFF Chey Chey

Vendor Credit
Paper - Paper and More

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Candy Buffet

2009 was a year of significant change for me, for both my career and personal life. My company was purchased by a large competitor, Francis and I got married, and we bought a house. All three of these life events are incredibly stressful but also very exciting. Luckily for me, with my my wedding in May and my company's holiday party in December, I was able to plan two very fun gala events in this same calendar year. Planning my office party was an excellent opportunity for me to do what I love the most (plan events - and get paid for it) and to include things we were not able to do for our wedding due to budget constraints. The #1 thing I was excited to include was a candy buffet.

The hubs and I enjoying my company holiday party.
Candy Buffets are growing in popularity and are popping up in all sorts of events from baby showers to wedding receptions (and, obviously, corporate holiday parties!). I wanted to create a candy buffet with that fit within the color scheme I had selected for the party - purple and silver.  
I began scouring the internet for bulk candy sites - and there are plenty out there! However, for me, there were few with very many purple options. Finally, I was able to find a site that not only organized their candy options by color (genius) but had many yummy sounding treats in my desired color scheme! I was able to create a selection of candy that was both tasty and pretty, which was my goal all along. I purchased glass in various shapes from Home Goods and added height under the table cloths to create visual interest.

The Cast of Characters
Purple
  • Rock Candy
  • Purple Gumdrops  
  • Grape Licorice 
  • Sugar Plums (could be called "super yum")
  • Grape flavored Old Fashioned Candy (in stick form)
  • Grape fruit slices (there were also VERY good - they are like the lemon/orange/lime slices you can find many places, but way better because they are grape - a flavor I happen to love)
Silver
  • Silvered almonds (these were really expensive but were the first to go!)
  • Silver wrapped chocolate mint truffles
  • Silver wrapped chocolate caramels 
  • Silver wrapped toffee licorice (yuck - this was the only disappointment) 

For each of the candy options, I included a hang tag with the candy variety attached so that people knew what they were eating. :-)

Grape Fruit Slices
Silvered Almonds

Sugar Plums
Toffee Licorice
Having a take-home option for the candy was really important to me. I found these cute silver boxes and placed purple tissue paper inside to continue the color scheme. 

A candy buffet is many things for an event: beautiful decoration, entertainment and parting gift for your guests. They can be quite pricey, but could also be the show-stopping piece your event needs!

Vendor Credits
Embosser - Paper Source

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

DIY Floral Centerpiece

Waaaay back in May of 2009, my beloved husband and I wed. We had almost exactly a year to plan for the wedding and I literally enjoyed every second. I never felt like the planning was a burden - in fact, I pulled out my wedding binders (yes, plural) nearly every day to brain storm, plan, or execute a particular facet or project for the Big Day. For me, it's the details that make an event unique and I wanted to put my special touch on our wedding without breaking the bank (read: source and make myself). One of the challenges of planning the dream wedding Francis I had hoped for was our limited budget. We were mostly on our own for our wedding financially, which made including some of these ideas difficult. Having some experience with event planning prior to my own wedding, I knew that flowers would be a significant expense and immediately started thinking about ways to reduce the cost. I had the crazy idea that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to actually do the flowers myself. Since I had no prior experience working with flowers, I knew I would be putting my research game to the test. 

Unknown to me prior to my research, there are MANY wholesale florists out there with farms in countries like Ecuador. I was nervous in the beginning about ordering my wedding flowers through a website. I mean, what if they sent the wrong color? What if they didn't arrive when promised? What if they looked like complete junk when they arrived? Luckily, many of these sites have sensed these fears from their customers and include sample packs - they even market them specifically as "wedding sample packs". I started with a certain company and when the wrong colors showed up on my doorstep, I knew they would not be the "one". I was not discouraged (largely due to the fact that they offered a refund...) and I went forward with sampling another site. Flowers and Freshness not only got my sample pack order right, but the flowers turned up on time and absolutely beautifully packaged. The nice thing about ordering flowers farm-direct is they are not in full bloom when they arrive. They arrive with the petals tightly closed and with all thorns and leaves attached - but this ultimately means your flowers (in my case, roses) will stay fresh for almost 2 whole weeks.

Here is how the flowers came packaged. I scheduled them to arrive 2 days prior to the wedding.
Here are some very special ladies de-leafing (word?) the stems. We had quite the assembly line going!
Here are the flowers in water - we cut them and set them out overnight to open up before working with them. 

Since we were planning a semi-formal reception for after the wedding, we opted for something low key and casual for the rehearsal dinner. The difference allowed us to not only include more guests (specifically our grandparents, who are not traditionally invited to the RD), but offered variety in the wedding events that weekend, specifically for those who may not be comfortable in a formal setting.  

We had our Rehearsal Dinner in my sister's back yard, poolside. Since our wedding was in May, we were *fairly* certain the weather would be perfect for an outside event. As luck (and many, many prayers!) would have it, the weather was absolutely perfect that weekend. We seated 30 people along the edge of the pool and we were able to rent the tables, chairs and linens quite cheaply from Best Rentals here in Indy. 
 
We went with a Neapolitan color scheme for both decor and wedding party outfits. (Hey, it made for better pictures!) For the centerpieces, I wanted something simple and chic that would blend well with the outdoor nature and laid-back style of the event. Several years ago (before we were even engaged - I mean, when you know you know :-), I found a picture in a magazine of flowers somehow attached to a box and then covered with ribbon to emulate a "present". I loved the idea and held on to the photo. When the time came, I decided it might be best to insert the roses into a piece of water-ready foam on 5 sides. In the picture below, I added the (strawberry colored) flowers only on the top layer and included a 3" wide cream colored (vanilla) ribbon with a smaller brown (chocolate) ribbon to save on flowers. Other centerpieces included flowers on all sides (except the bottom, obviously).

Here is an example of a centerpiece on a tambourine. We used these white tambourines to add a bit of height to the tables. (Since my husband is of Latin decent, it only seemed appropriate.) Each place setting also dubbed as a short note to each important guest - thanking them for being a part of our special day and how much they mean to us. The tiny sombreros are fastened to the note cards with a color coordinated prong.   
Here is a top view of the centerpiece. I just loved these flowers and the color scheme really helped make the pink (err, strawberry) pop. 

Working with these flowers was really fun. And, it was really cool to be able to contribute to the wedding events in such a fun and beautiful way!

Vendor Credits: 
Ribbon: Michael's
Notecards: Paper Source


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Dog Cookies

For those of you who know me, you know that there are few people critters I love more than dogs - especially MY dogs, Princess and Paco. There is something about the nature of a dog that speaks to my soul. My dogs are more like children to me than pets. In fact, for as long as I can remember, I've always loved dogs. My first pet was Sandy, the cockapoo. She was a rescue that came into our lives when I was a baby. She lived to be about 12 years old and passed away from congestive heart failure when I was in 6th grade. I was absolutely devastated but I know that she is snuggling with my mama in Heaven!

For my 16th birthday, my sister bought me my special Princess. She is a Schnoodle and very much so lives up to her name. Princess and I have been BFF since the day I got to take her home. She is the most loyal and protective dog I have ever known! Princess has been there for me through so much - in fact, we are so connected that she immediately knows when something is upsetting me. If I cry, she is right at my hip ready to console me. What's more, she doesn't even have to hear me cry, she just instinctively knows when I'm upset. Empathy is definitely Princess's 6th sense and I love her so much!

Princess, schnoodle (born 8.09.1999)

Francis never had the experience of a puppy growing up, so I knew we had to have a young puppy when it was [finally] time to get one. I had wanted a puppy for a very long time, but Francis was adamant about  waiting until after the wedding was over to bring one home. Since I'm not really known for my "patience" and generally get my "way", Paco came into our lives just two days after returning from our Honeymoon. A common hobby of ours at the time was to tour open houses with our friends Bobby and Amanda. After an open house adventure on a Sunday afternoon, I [somehow] convinced Francis to "just look" at puppies - we only had about 45 minutes until the store closed anyway. (Enter devious smile here.) Anywho, we noticed Paco in a glass box and the rest is history. We instantly fell in love - as do most people who meet Paco. He's the kind of dog who has never met a stranger and has no enemies. He is simply the happy-go-lucky gem that I am ever grateful for. The kid seriously sees right through me and accepts me for who I am. Paco would seriously be the perfect therapy dog, simply because he can't help but bring joy to any room. We love him so much and are so thankful he came into our lives!
Paco, maltichon (Born 3.17.2009)
You might be saying to yourself, Wait a minute, I thought the name of this post was "Dog Cookies". Hehe. I could seriously go on and on about my dogs - so in the interest of your readership, I'll get on to the cookie part. 
Over the last several months, I've been baking up a storm. I'd say the obsession began when I was locked up at home after having surgery on my shoulder last summer. One day I said to myself, Self, you are constantly baking for yourself and for others, why do your beloved dogs need to miss out on the goodies? And then the research began... On that day, when I began to research recipes for homemade dog cookies, I didn't have all of the ingredients for any one recipe. So, alas, I made my own - and I'm (especially the dogs!) super happy with the way they turned out! Here is the recipe I used: 

Dog Cookies
Ingredients:
1 C rolled oats (chopped and turned to "flour" in a food processor)
1 C cornmeal 
1/4 C peanut butter
2 bananas
Directions:
In a food process, pulse the oats several times until a fine flour is developed. Add in the remainder ingredients and pulse until a dough is formed. 
Empty the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. (It may be necessary to further "combine" ingredients so they are more cohesive.) Roll out dough using wax paper. Cut out in desired shapes. 
Place cut-out cookies on a silicon baking mat; bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. 
Seriously, my dogs beg for these cookies and they keep very well!
 I found this tiny bone cookie cutter at Hobby Lobby for $.50!

Go ahead and make these today. Your pooch(es) will thank you!

Photo credit (dog photos): Amy Moore Photography

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Royal Icing

For the longest time, I've been petrified of royal icing. It may seem silly to be afraid of powdered sugar and water, but I suppose it's really about the fear of failure for me. Royal icing is so pretty, so detailed - I've always been afraid anything I created with royal icing would be a royal disaster.

Over the past several months, I've become much more confident in the kitchen, especially in the baking arena. When my favorite food blog, Annies Eats posted a tutorial on royal icing, my love for all things pretty took over and it was just the push I needed to take a stab at it. She has an amazing tutorial that walks you through the process step-by-step. Here is the link to the tutorial.

My first project with royal icing was for my husband's 7th grade basketball team's Christmas party. We decided to have the boys over for dinner and video games only a few days before the actual event, and naturally, I had to get into party-plan mode pretty quickly. The first thing I typically do for a party is plan the menu (after, of course, the invitations are sent - but this time the ole hubs took care of that part :-)). I map out my ideas in a fun notebook that I always carry with me and then decide on a finalized plan. However, the first thing I did for this party was decide on the favors - basketball cookies made with royal icing! I always like to have a "favor" of some sort when having a party like this. It just acts as sort of a reminder of the party and almost acts as a "thank you" for coming to our home and celebrating with us and it's a nice "finisher". 

Here is the basic foundation for the cookie. I colored the icing with both orange and brown Wilton food coloring to create the look of a basketball. Next, I stripped the cookies with the lines of a basketball with black icing.
The last step in decorating was to add the school mascot to the cookies in their school color. My favorite part about royal icing is the opportunity to use so much detail! I can't wait to make more sugar cookies with this technique!
It's difficult to see in this photo, but the red paper is embossed with "Happy Holidays" and matted on a white shiny paper. To make the departing gift a bit more personal, I had Coach Ramirez write a little note to each of the players on the reverse side thanking them for their dedication to the team and encouraging them to keep up the hard work. I placed all the cookies in cellophane bags and closed them with the thank you note and jingle bell, attaching them with basketball printed ribbon. The cookies all went in this basketball themed bowl that was placed near the door. (Side note: hilariously enough, I didn't have to tell the boys to take a cookie with them as they went. They somehow knew exactly what to do. They've apparently been to many parties with favors!)

I decided on a taco bar for the meal and I'm really happy with the decision. I'm fairly certain it's common knowledge that teenage boys eat a lot of food. So I was prepared with a lot of food! The only thing I wish I had done differently was have more snacks available. For some reason I forgot that 13 year old kids like JUNK food - not dinner. They ate all of the dessert cookies and hand pies in no time. And every time I brought something random out of my pantry and put it on the dessert plate, it was gone in a flash!

I had an absolute blast with these kids. Everyone I spoke to about the party used adjectives like "crazy" or "nuts" to describe Francis and I in this adventure. (And, I must admit, I was one of the folks calling myself one of the aforementioned adjectives!) However, I had no idea how good these kids were - respectful of me, my husband, our dogs and our home. I can't wait to have them over again! (But with more snacks available, of course.)

Go Carmel Cougars!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Roselyn Bakery Smiley Face Cookies

In my last post, I shared many of the details from my 1st Annual Cookie Party. (Do you like the reference to the "1st" cookie party - is it obvious enough that I plan to do this again??) Today, I'd like to share the cookies I made for the swap, as they are most definitely my favorite cookie of-all-time.

When I think of exchanging cookies with 20 or so other women, aside from drooling in anticipation, I immediately think about what I can bring to the table (pun most definitely intended). It's no secret that I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I eat chocolate every single day and almost never turn down a cookie. I'm the type of person who loves to try new recipes, especially sweet ones, but when it came to this party, I wanted to go with something I knew could never fail me. And that my friends is...


Roselyn Bakery's Smiley Face Cookies! These cookies are hands down my favorite cookie of all time and one of the reasons I obsess about them is the history I have with the cookie. 

From what I learned from Mr. Internet, Roselyn Bakery first opened its doors in 1943 in Indianapolis, Indiana and over the course of several decades, opened several additional bakeries in the Indianapolis area. (The bakery subsequently shut down in the 1990s due to rat feces found in the main baking facility...)
(Note on photo: since the bakeries closed prior to the digital age, I'm afraid there are very few images available of the old bakeries. Such a shame! I've yet to find a picture of the Smiley Face cookies or even an image of their infamous pink boxes!)

One of the warmest memories of my childhood would have to be Roselyn's Smiley Face cookies. They were HUGE (probably 5" wide) ovals, colored yellow, with a chocolate buttercream smiley face piped on. The bakery I frequented was in downtown Franklin, IN where I grew up. We lived just outside of town, close enough for me to ride my bike to snatch a $.99 cookie in the early 1990s. I can remember so vividly scraping up enough change to buy a cookie (or two) and to this day I remember the absolute joy in eating the cookie. I barely made it home without half the cookie gone, but I do remember trying to muster enough constraint to save at least half the cookie for "later". (Do you know how difficult it is for an 8 year old to savor anything?) Of course my mom (from whom I acquired such a lethal sweet tooth!) would often purchase a Smiley Face cookies for me - but there's just something about being a kid and being able to satisfy a craving of this magnitude on your own dime!

When I say, "favorite cookie of all time", I truly mean it. I couldn't tell you what I enjoy more - the childhood memories or the actual taste of the cookie. I'm fairly certain the taste is enhanced by the memories, but I'm sure I'd still love the cookies even without them. There is nothing else out there like it - and believe me, I've looked (and looked, and looked, and looked). The cookie is buttery and dense like a shortbread cookie - but with much more flavor. It's rich and melts in your mouth. It's even good enough to stand on its own. That said... it's actually the icing that makes this cookie so spectacular.

Just after sending the e-vite for the Cookie Swap, I promptly RSVP'd with my cookie of choice... my favorite childhood cookie... the Rosalyn Bakery Smiley Face cookie. (However, since the theme of the party was "snow" I shaped my cookies into snowflakes.)
Here is my messy kitchen while attempting to ice my snowflake cookies. The icing for this recipe is quite finicky and rather high maintenance (hence, the reason I typically only make this cookie once or twice per year). This icing is comprised of three varieties of sugar - granulated, powdered, and syrup. (And if you count sugar that has been boiled, then there are four varieties.) The idea is to "spoon" the icing over the cookies and allow gravity to pull the icing around every edge.The ooey, gooey-ness of the icing spills over all sides of the delectable cookies (and if you're lucky, some will magically appear on the bottom of the cookie as well). However... the icing becomes very thick very quickly and it's actually quite difficult to tell how much powdered sugar is actually adequate. (Or maybe that's just my excuse?) I'm also fairly certain the amount of time you are supposed to boil the sugar has an impact on the harden period, but the recipe is so vague it will take some time for me to figure that out. Anyway, with a bit of finagling, I had my cookies iced. For the small snowflakes, I scooped the icing into a pastry bag and whisked it back and forth over the cookies to create the stripped look. 
  Seriously, I've never experienced icing like this before.


Side-note-to-self: don't leave pastry bag with ooey-gooey icing near the edge of the counter, as your mini-baker will be standing by to lick up your mess! And he won't stop just because that sticky icing is dripping all over his face - he'll stand there any way and the require a bath in the middle of your cookie icing experience and therefore threaten the outcome of your cookie party contribution! Whew. I said it.


Anyway... Several years ago, I decided to scour the internet for the recipe for my beloved Smiley Face cookies after a major let down from a local grocery store that carries "Roselyn" recipe items. As luck would have it, I found a recipe that is so dangerously close to the original (as my memory would serve, any way) that I can make these cookies and immediately be taken back to my childhood.


And here you have it...



HAPPY FACE COOKIES
ROSELYN BAKERY



1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups Crisco shortening
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
4 egg yolks
5 1/4 cup all purpose flour
Dipping Icing (recipe follows)


Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix only until smooth. Add egg white and egg yolks. Blend into butter mixture. Add flour. Mix until dough is stiff and waxy. Refrigerate dough until firm.


WHEN READY TO BAKE:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper. Cut into rounds. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. 
Bake at 350 for 13 minutes. Let cool and place on wire rack to cool completely. 
Spoon dipping icing over each cookie. Decorate as desired.


Makes 4 dozen cookies


DIPPING ICING


1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
6 - 7 cups powdered sugar, divided use
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
yellow food coloring


Combine granulated sugar, water, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar to saucepan. Bring to rolling boil. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool.


Place vegetable oil and corn syrup in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cooled mixture. Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until all lumps are gone. Add vanilla while mixing. Mix together well. Stir in yellow food coloring as needed for a smiley face color. Pipe chocolate buttercream icing on (or not) as you wish.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

1st Annual Cookie Exchange

For what seems like several years, I've been dreaming of attending a cookie exchange party. It seemed like such a perfect idea - make several dozen of one kind of cookie, attend a party with just the girls, and leave with a gazillion different kinds of cookies to share with family or enough loot to take to another holiday party. I don't remember where I first learned of such a thing, but I do remember trying to convince my sister Sherry to host one. She never took me up on the idea, so I finally decided to have one myself. The time seemed right - we purchased a home last year and finally seem to have friends here in Indy. :-)

I began the planning process with tips from www.cookie-exchange.com. This site is full of great ideas and lessons learned from cookie exchanges of Christmas Past. Some of the tips I found the most valuable were the "Guidelines" to provide to the group of ladies. Those guidelines can be found here. See the end of this post for my guidelines.

I used Punch Bowl to create and manage the e-vites. Typically I am paper-only-kind-of-gal when it comes to invitations, but I found this format to be extremely useful for this event. I was able to provide a pretty invitation (it even comes "delivered" as an envelope to be opened by your guests) that provided all the necessary details for the event. Not to mention, this e-vite site offers many options to manage your event and guests. I loved the features and I'd consider Punch Bowl far superior to the super-out-dated www.evite.com that we are so familiar with. The feature I loved the most was the "Potluck" option. Guests could log-in and post what type of cookie they would be bringing. This was essential since one of the main rules of the exchange was that there were to be no cookie repeats. (More on the cookies I chose later.)

Due to my camera's unfortunate hiatus (as mentioned in a previous post), I did not have the opportunity to take my own pictures of the event. Here are some, collected from Sherry and Courtney's cameras.


My small group girls, minus Bethany (who was truly missed at this event!)  Lauren (second from the left) was the winner of "Best Jammies" for her adorable snowflake themed flock.


Cookie Table #1. 
The theme was "Snow" - so you see snowflake and snowman themed cookies and decorations. Guests were encouraged (and rewarded!) for participating in the theme. The categories I awarded were "Best Taste", "Best Display", "Best Theme", and "Best Jammies".



All together there were about 20 different types of cookies. Our husbands were surely elated with joy!


Cookie Table #2. 
Because yes, we had that many cookies. :-)


Here are some of us sampling cookies in our Christmas jammies. Each person brought an extra dozen of cookies to be sampled so that we could vote on "Best Taste".


These are my cookies. I'll talk about them more in another post. :-)

Overall, the Cookies Party was a TON of fun and huge success. I cannot wait until next year... in fact, I've already determined my theme and have my cookie type picked out.

Cheers!
Kristen

As I mentioned above, the guidelines found on the Cookie Exchange website were invaluable. However, I felt the need to change the wording up a bit to not sounds so rigid. :-) Here were my "rules":



1.       Each person should provide 4 dozen of the same cookie (3 dozen to share, 1 to taste at the party). If you’d like to provide more than one cookie, fine with me! The more the merrier. Please RSVP with the type of cookie you’ll be making so there are no repeats.
2.       All cookies should be homemade and baked (if you do not have time to bake or say, burn your cookies, please visit a bakery and pick up some yummy cookies).
3.       Plain chocolate chip cookies are fine, but RSVP fast! (And please avoid premade cookie dough if at all possible.)
4.       I’m a sucker for a theme, and this year the theme will be Snow – as in snowflakes and/or snowmen. However, make any themed cookie you would like.
5.       Arrange cookies in a basket or platter for display and be creative!
6.       A large container will be provided for you to carry away your cookies. Feel free to bring an extra in case there is an abundance of cookies!
7.       Email me a copy of your recipe before the party, preferably 1 week or so in advance (or bring recipe to the party if this isn’t possible).
8.       Christmas pajamas are encouraged as attire for the party!
9.       RSVP as soon as you can and let me know what type of cookies you are planning on baking, no duplicate recipes are allowed.
10.   There will be prizes for Best Display, Best Taste, Best Snow Theme and Best Christmas Jammies!