Luau in January

I can't think of a better time to have a Luau birthday party than in the dead middle of winter! Haha, actually I can think of many better times, but my daughter always picks the most convenient themes for her January birthday party, so January luau it was! Luckily, its such a popular item in the winter (catching my sarcasm?), at least most of it was on sale! When it was all up, I loved having all the bright colors and tropical themes all throughout my house, while it was cold and gray outside.

I may say lets have a January luau every year!!!

Out in the front of the house we had 4 torches burning to set the scene. I had purchased a hot coals runner that I had planned on lining the sidewalk up to the house with, but it didn't arrive in time. Once the guests entered the house they were greeted with our tiki bar table and waterfall that I had created running down our entryway staircase lined with twinkling fairy lights. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it, it looked really great against all the bright colors.

You can kind of see the side of it in this pic.

 The guests were given a party bag with a little beach ball, coconut cup with an umbrella straw, tattoos and flowers for the girls hair

then they were able to pick out a grass skirt and flower lei to wear during the party.I worried about the skirts fitting all the different sizes of kids because they were just children's, but with the elastic waistband and velcro it fit everyone up to the 11 year olds!

those were all for the kids, but every guest at the party was given a lei, you have to set the scene for it to feel like your really at a luau, right?

 They then got to catch a wave in front of our giant wave background while we took their picture to later put in their frame, which was the craft project. We also had photo props for the photos. They included this Ukulele, shark fin and surf board

 Each child got to pick out a fun paper border and glue it to their wood frame, adding stickers, drawings and wooden dolphins or crab embellishments to go with their picture!

The food is the best part at a luau, right? I made sure that color was the main ingredient on the dessert table, incorporating all different bright colors to be highlighted against the turquoise tablecloth

 Sea shells on the sand chocolate covered oreos

 flip flop nutter butters

 candy sea glass

 raspberry macaroons with lime and candied ginger filling

 chocolate covered flip flop oreos- I didn't want to double up treats, but these always go so fast and I loved the color combination!

 Must have pina coladas at any tropical suarez- Pina colada cupcakes

 Roasting "gummy" Pigs on a skewers

 Beach ball cake pops

 Marshmallow cut plumeria flowers

 Now onto the real food (unless your me, the real food is dessert- who are we kidding!) I just loved the ability to have macadamia nuts and pretty wood serving platters so I pulled out all the dishes from my travels and visited my local Hawaiian Hut!

 Dole whip Luau Punch- almost as good as Disneyland's. Recipe below

 One of the favorites- Bacon wrapped pineapple skewers. We tried to do almost everything in finger style portions so it was more like a luau buffet so people could snack on a little of everything. 

 super yummy fruit dip served in a hallowed out pineapple

 loads and loads of tropical fruits sprinkled with fresh orchids

and the pulled Kahlua pork..... oh the pork! it had an amazing sauce on it from the Hawaiian Hut, custom made made the Polynesian family that owns it, Throw it all in the slow cooker for 9 hours then shred the life out of it! Mmmmmm

 While the kids played, we had tattoo stations for them to visit as well

I usually try to make cakes my own design, but my daughter was in love and had to have this exact cake, so I copied it from a beautiful one she found on pinterest.

 Birthday girl and her bright pink hibiscus cake!

If you haven't had a luau party, I highly recommend one! Especially in the dead of winter! 

Dole Luau Juice

Ingredients: (this makes 2 big batches of punch)

2- 12 ounce cans orange juice concentrate (thawed a bit)

1- 12 ounce can lemonade concentrate (thawed a bit)

1- 46 ounce can Dole pineapple juice

6 cups water

2 cups sugar

6 ripe bananas  

2- 2 liter bottles of 7 up (add when ready to serve)

New Years Celebration Party

New Years this year was a little scaled down due to our entire family being sick over Christmas. Despite an ER visit on the 26th, I thought I just had a bit of a bug and proceeded on through New Years. Had I known I had Pneumonia, I may have resigned to the couch for our new years celebrations! Thank goodness I had saved my decor from last year, so set up was minimal! It's still a super cute way to celebrate the new year!

 We always go out to dinner with the adults then come back after to the kids. With all the extra excitement, I like to put together bags of activities for each hour for the sitter to do with the kids. At least the sitters wont go crazy! They are little games or activities that can be completed in the hour. I've toyed with having over next year and would do activities for the kids and all their cousins. I think its fun to have the anticipation for the next hours activities!

 Each bag this year also had a handful of "watches" made with chocolate coins and watch faces, since my daughter was learning to read a watch it was a fun way of incorporating the learning into each hour bag, not to mention- yummy!

 I purchased my bag printables and new years activities a while back from the dating divas, i absolutely love them! The whole kit is so much fun and comes with everything (except the watches) as well as a game which we played and is also very fun. I love the little kids new years resolution page. My daughter had a blast drawing it up and I thought it was so sweet to read through! It was a good way to introduce new years resolutions to the young kids!

What midnight celebration is complete without the midnight toast? I loved loved loved this drink and was able to find the perfect plastic martini glasses to make it worry proof and easy clean up! It could be made spiked or non like we did. It is basically martinelli's cider with a shot of mango nectar and peach nectar. throw in a few pomegranate seeds and a sprig of rosemary to cut the sweetness! It was wonderful! For the adult version, add peach schnapps's instead of nectar!

North Pole Elf Breatfast

Some people do a fun breakfast to welcome their elf on the shelf to their home for the Christmas season, we have always decided to do a North Pole Elf Breakfast on Christmas Eve morning to send him back home on a good night, and basically to suck up to him Christmas Eve :)  We've always had lots of fun with it, but this year we added to the fun when my daughter asked me to sew "buddy the elf style" hats for everyone. I have to admit, she was right, it made it much more fun and the hats were actually quite easily sewn! I highly recommend adding hats to all your future elf events!

I always love using these awsome little vintage milk bottles! They are the perfect size and look wonderful in any theme with a colored straw and any beverage!

 Upon arrival, everyone was required to find out what their elf names were from our chart, don their elf hat and start off with a nice mug of hot cocoa! Some of my favorite names were: Bubbles sugar-socks and cookie monkey-buns! Such a fun way to get in the elf spirit!

 Hmmm, had to make sure all the major elf food groups were represented. Sadly, despite four stores, I could not find candy corns in December. Next year I'll have to save some halloween candy!

Candy Cane Pancakes

Happy Christmas Eve from our Elf Family to yours! ( and Clarisse the reindeer)

Christmas Party Treat Table

Every year to kick off the Christmas season we host an Angel Tree party. In our area, the Salvation Army collects names of families that need help providing children with Christmas gifts and clothing. We usually select 2 children to start with and are usually able to add more children, depending on the turn out of our get together. We send out the childrens names and info, and guests are welcome but not obligated to bring a gift if they like, or they can just come to the party and help wrap gifts. This year we were able to sponsor 4 children, which made my heart so happy!

 I love this party because I love seeing the charity of others especially at the holiday season, and I love baking for the party while listening to my Christmas music! I figure, if I'm asking people to give gifts, the least I can do is feed them well! :) It is one of my favorite parties. and this year gave me the extra time to try some new recipes that I will share!

 Pomegranite Macarons (white) and Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons (left) Loved the colors!

 Christmas Pavlova- was so much fun to make, and beautiful to see- not to mention tasty!

 Christmas Fudge- Microwave-super-easy-but-tasty Style

 who doesn't love sugared cranberries

 This was one of the best. I love peanut brittle, but seldom make it due to the time. I wanted to make it but alas, my candy thermometer was broken that day. So I pulled out this awesome microwave recipe I've had for a while but haven't tried and it was amazing! Better even then the slow version! Recipe included below- make it..... love it!

 I always have requests for my snowman and girl sugar cookies

What a  beautiful site, and night! Happy holidays!!

Super Easy 10 Minute Microwave Peanut Brittle

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 pinch salt (optional)

Directions

1. Grease a baking sheet, and set aside. In a glass bowl, combine peanuts, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Cook in microwave for 6 to 7 minutes on High (700 W); mixture should be bubbly and peanuts browned. Stir in butter and vanilla; cook 2 to 3 minutes longer.
2. Quickly stir in baking soda, just until mixture is foamy. Pour immediately onto greased baking sheet. Let cool 15 minutes, or until set. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

 Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com