I can’t believe how quickly this week has flown by and all the events that I have had with work this week. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to get here for a little bit of relaxation. To help get into the Thanksgiving spirit today I found two fun Thanksgiving inspired treats for today’s post. The first treat I have is these M&M Turkey Favors from The Party Animal blog. This does require a little bit of crafting when making them. You can find a great step-by-step tutorial on how to make these by going to their website. Their instructions are very detailed and have great pictures to follow in their tutorial. The second treat is one that I want to make to take for Thanksgiving this year. On Monday I shared with you the apple cider sangria that we had at my girl’s night last week so I can’t wait to try this Sparkling Spiced Apple Cider from Bakingdom. This is like the perfect drink combination for fall! This recipe will make 4 servings. You will need: - 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar - 1/2 cup (125 ml) orange juice - 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice - 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves - 6 ounces chilled vodka - 24 ounces chilled sparkling cider Combine the sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in a small saucepan set over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until the mixture is the consistency of syrup. Allow to cool completely. Use the syrup to rim 4 glasses, then dip the glasses into a sugar mixture (sanding sugar or cinnamon-sugar). Add 1 shot of the syrup to each glass. Stir in 1 shot of vodka, then add 4 shots of sparkling cider per glass. Stir gently and serve. (For a stronger drink, increase the vodka to 2 shots per glass, and reduce the cider to 3 shots.) I just love all these Thanksgiving themed food and drink items! What is your favorite Thanksgiving day treat? You can find these and other great Thanksgiving ideas on my Pinterest page @PreppyPlanner.
Have a great weeken
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season next week and for me it is never too early to start planning how you are going to get to all your favorite holiday events. With Thanksgiving so early this year you have an extra week when it comes to fitting in everything you want to do during the holidays. To help in planning your holiday event schedule, I have put together a list of my 10 favorite holiday season events.
1. Thanksgiving Macy’s Day Parade. I look at this parade as the official kickoff to the holiday season with all the music, dancers, parade balloons, and of course Santa! 2. Turkey Trot. It has become a tradition for my family to go out on Thanksgiving morning to run the local Turkey Trot 10K at University of Richmond with friends before we get together with the family for a Thanksgiving feast. You can find a local one near you through your local running club. 3. Black Friday Shopping. As any girl who loves a good deal this is one of my favorite days. After I have substantially eaten to much (and who doesn’t?!?) on Thanksgiving I love going through all the ads to see what deals I can find the next day. 4. Decorate for Christmas. I love Christmas but one of my biggest pet peeves is people who decorate way too early. Save the decorating and make it into a post-Thanksgiving calorie burner by stringing lights, putting up a tree and decking out the house for the holiday season while dancing to your favorite holiday tunes. 5. Football Playoffs/Bowl Games. ‘Tis the season for post season play, in football anyways. Depending on your team this could mean the start of playoffs or bowl games. Who are you rooting for this year? 6. Holiday Parties. Between the office, friends and your neighbors there are always so many holiday parties that take place during this time. Loving the holidays I always try to go to as many as I can! Stay on the lookout for some great holiday party host gifts!! 7. Brunch with Santa. It has been a family tradition of mine to go to brunch each year and get our family picture with Santa. Always believe! 8. Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. We always have family come and go and get to catch up with friends during these days all while dancing around the house to fun Christmas tunes! 9. Tacky Lights Tour. Depending on where you live the holiday season brings out those who love to decorate. In Richmond they organize and put in the paper a list of where you can go see the best lights. If you are in the city where this might not be an option, take an afternoon to go looking at all the holiday window displays. They are just as magical. 10. New Years Eve. There are so many New Years Eve events whether local or watching on TV. This year grab a few of your friends and count down to 2013! There are just so many things to do during the holiday season. What are you looking forward to doing this holiday season? Have a favorite event or holiday tradition? Let me know in the comments section below!
xoxo
Megan To keep up with everything from The Preppy Planner sign up for my email list and follow me on Twitter @PreppyPlanner. You won’t want to miss anything this holiday season!
Happy Monday! This past week I got to enjoy another fun girl’s night themed dinner. I had to miss last month because of work (so sad) so I could not wait for this one. In picking out this month’s theme we wanted to pick somewhere in Asia so we picked Vietnam. Growing up in Richmond there was a great Vietnamese restaurant right near me that I would love getting takeout from, so I could not wait to try my hand at making something. Since my friend chose to make the traditional soup, Pho, I decided to try my hand at making some traditional Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls. I found a great recipe for Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls from droolfactor.wordpress.com (I think the website’s name gave it away that these would be good). You can get the step-by-step directions that I used by clicking on the link for the Rice Paper Rolls and by following my pictures that I took below. I found all the ingredients for this recipe at my local. I did cheat a little when it came to the sauce for the spring rolls. I just bought a premade spring roll dipping sauce at the store instead of making it myself. Along with the rice paper rolls we also had a delicious soup called Pho, an appetizer of Chao Tom and a non-related themed drink of apple cider sangria. Everything was so delicious!! I love getting together with the girl's for a night of fun, and designating a fun theme for the evening makes it even better! What kind of fun theme nights have you participated in with your friends? Any suggestions for what country we should do our next theme night dinner? Have a fabulous Monday:) xoxo Megan You might also like… Weekend Recap: Monthly Theme Dinner-Brazil Fall Party Mix
Happy Friday! Even though everything is already decorated for Christmas, stores have started playing Christmas music and there is Christmas everywhere you turn I am still just sticking to one holiday at a time. Don’t get me wrong I am a huge fan of Christmas and can’t wait to play my Christmas music, but I really don’t like how people skip over Thanksgiving.
So, to fully appreciate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday I have some great posts planned for the next 2 weeks. Today’s Friday Foodie post was inspired from the traditional Thanksgiving cornucopia, or horn of plenty. The cornucopia is a traditional symbol during Thanksgiving as it can usually be found filled with items from a fall harvest. I found some amazing ideas on how you can make your own cornucopias this year for Thanksgiving.
Cornucopia Sandwiches
To make these cornucopia sandwich rolls you will need bread dough, foil, non-stick spray, an item to mold your foil around (cups, more foil, cardboard, etc.), egg wash and a baking pan. To make your mold you can follow the step-by-step directions I found from Diamonds for Dessert below. Depending on the size cornucopia you want to make just adjust your mold accordingly. Once the mold is done you will want to spray the foil and then wrap the dough around the mold in strips. Once the mold is covered brush a light egg wash onto the outside, place on the baking sheet and put it in the oven according to the bread’s cooking instructions. This cornucopia shaped bread can be made into any size so you can use it to make sandwiches, centerpieces or food displays like the one I found on AllRecipes.com.
Cornucopia Treats These are a little simpler to make and can be filled with any delicious fall treats like the Fall Party Mix I made a few weeks ago. To make these you will need waffle cones, water, a bowl, a microwave, and a pencil. Take the waffle cone and dip the end of the cone into a bowl of water for about 20 seconds. Next place the cone into the microwave for 20 seconds (until softened). Once softened, remove from the microwave and wrap the end around a pencil, to form the curl, and let dry. To finished, fill with your own fall goodies.
When it comes to fun ways to transform your food to match the event theme I am all for it. And these cornucopia treats are perfect for a Thanksgiving celebration! What other ideas can you think of for some Thanksgiving themed foods?
Don’t forget this Sunday is Veteran’s Day. Remember to thank those that you know or run into that day for their service to this country! Have a great weekend!!
xoxo
Megan You might also like… Give Thanks Fall Party Mix Fall Party Centerpiece
November is a time when a lot of us remember to give thanks for everything and everyone that is a part of our life. Starting on November 1st I saw quite a number of my friends start listing a daily “I am thankful for…” statement on their Facebook profile. Today I have found some great ideas on how you can show what you are thankful for. Give Thanks Calendar. A fun family activity that you can create yourself is this give thanks calendar. Each day you can write down what you are thankful for and then at the end of the month pull them all out and read them. Save all your cards for the following year and you can continue adding new thanks each year. You can make your own by following these step-by-step instructions from Jellybean Junkyard. A Thankful Tree. Create or buy a tree that you can hang small tags all over like this one from Simply Vintage Girl. Any one that comes to your house, office or classroom can see the tree and write what they are thankful for and hang it on the tree. Once filled with “thanks” the tree makes a great room decoration. Give Thanks Cookies. Making a small treat and giving it away to those that you are thankful for is an easy way to show your thanks this month. You don’t have to get as creative as these cookies from Annie’s Eats as anything that you take time out to put together will be appreciated by all who receive them. What are you thankful for? Do you have a fun way to share what you are thankful for? Share your ideas below! Don’t forget Thanksgiving is just 2 short weeks away!!!
xoxo
Megan
With November already 1 week in I have finally come to admit to myself that fall is here. However, there is one thing about fall that I love: the colorful leaves. Living in the Shenandoah area you get to see all the trees change to beautiful reds, yellows and oranges during this time. For all fall occasion this can make for a wonderful outdoor backdrop and can provide some great décor inspiration.
Today’s Wedding Wednesday post is entirely inspired by these fall leaves. From the décor accents to the wedding cake the simplicity of the leaf can be the perfect fall accent.
The perfect way to incorporate the fall leaves is through the outdoor décor. Find a great indoor/outdoor venue site with trees that will offer a fabulous fall setting. Even though it may be cold arrange with your photographer to get a few pictures taken outdoors.
Moving onto your tables you can keep the décor simple with fall leaves as they add lots of color variation. You can create your place cards from leaves or leaf cutouts as an easy DIY project and it adds great color to your table setting. Also incorporating leaves into your centerpiece with or without flowers adds the perfect fall touch.
When it comes to a fun wedding keepsake you can’t go wrong with the thumbprint tree that your guests can create and sign. I love creative ideas like this instead of the traditional guest book. You can download your own wedding tree at Style Unveiled.
If you haven’t been watching TV, listening to the radio, reading the newspaper, or going out into society you may have missed that today is Election Day. Want to have a little fun waiting to find out who is going to be the next president? Invite your friends over tonight for a fun Election Day party. Here are some great ideas that you can easily pull together.
An easy start to creating the perfect Election Day party is to stock up on some festive red and blue table ware. Party City has enough items to choose from for a dueling Election Day party.
Kick your party off with some yummy red, white and blue treats. These Election Day cupcakes are delicious no matter the party affiliation. Serve Election Day shooters. You can even turn it into a game as the results come in tonight. (rules are yours to create) Find out how to make these shooters from She Knows Food and Recipes blog. Create a game for your guests by handing out state maps and red and blue markers when they arrive. Ask each guest to fill out their predictions and then have a big state map to fill in as results come in. See who can get the most correct states.
Happy Happy Monday to you all! I hope everyone had a good weekend and have rested up from all of last week’s Halloween fun. I know it was Halloween, but instead of attending Halloween festivities on Wednesday I celebrated one of my friend’s birthdays (he is a Halloween baby).
His girlfriend wanted to get all his friends together to celebrate and asked for some help with getting everything planned and put together. The birthday boy went to USC which gave us the event’s colors and the food selection was all his favorites. This included red velvet cupcakes (USC colors of course!), pizza rolls, peanut M&M’s, chicken nuggets, cheese puffs, and a few other finger foods.
The best creation was the beer cake using the birthday boy’s favorite beers and custom made koozies that were made just for the occasion by etsy store owner BarraKoozie. The birthday boy is never without a koozie so he loved every part of the cake! To add some humor to the décor, his girlfriend thought it was be hysterical to blow up pictures of the birthday boy to create fun birthday posters. You can get posters like these made the same day at Kinko’s on basic printing paper without spending a lot.
As with any successful surprise party the best part was that the birthday boy had no idea about the party! Everyone had a great time celebrating their friend’s birthday and it made for a perfect event evening! Have you had a surprise party planned for you before? What would be your must-haves when planning a surprise party?
xoxo
Megan
As this event comes around only once every four years there should be no better excuse than to throw a party for the election this upcoming Tuesday, November 6th. An easy election day treat to make are these Election Day Cupcakes from none other than Martha Stewart. To make these “party” treats you will need: - 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, preferably European-style, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 (24-ounce) package fondant
- Red or blue paste food coloring
- Silver edible glitter
- Red, white, and blue nonpareils
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners; set aside. Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, add milk and vanilla extract; stir to combine and set aside. Step 3: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low, add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk mixture; beat until just combined. Add cocoa powder and beat until just combined. Step 4: Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in pans for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Step 5: Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large 5/8-inch round tip (such as Ateco No. 808). Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and set aside. Step 6: Meanwhile, press your thumb into the center of the fondant to make a well. Place a small amount of food coloring (red for Republican, blue for Democrat) in the well and knead fondant until color is well blended. Continue to add more food coloring to fondant until desired color is achieved. Roll out into a 1/16-inch-thick sheet. 7: To make Republican elephants, cut out 12 elephant shapes using 2-inch elephant cutters. Sprinkle with edible glitter. To make Democrat donkeys, cut out 12 bear shapes using a 2-inch bear cutter. Using a 2-inch daisy cutter, cut out enough daisy shapes so that you have 36 petals; sprinkle bear shaped and daisy petal fondant with edible glitter. Top each cupcake with a fondant elephant or bear, using two daisy petals to make donkey ears on each bear and one petal to make the tail. Sprinkle cupcakes with nonpareils and serve. Are you going to the polls on Tuesday to vote? Have a great weekend!! xoxo Megan
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