Last weekend some of Big Sis's friends came home for a late birthday celebration. And by late I mean months late. I wasn't sure if I was equipped to handle a bunch of tweens in my home and so was putting this thing off and trying to scout outside locations, which isn't as easy as it sounds when fifteen twelve year old girls are the focus group.
I knew quiet a few of the friends who were supposed to come and they are all excellent girls but I didn't have confidence in myself. I mean, you see I am vertically challenged and most of these seventh graders are taller than me, and I think that if a situation turns to chaos no one might listen to me! Yeah, I am weird like that.
However BS assured me that it would be fine at home and so finally a Saturday evening was blocked off for them. I asked around for suggestions in a Mom's group and came up with some neat craft ideas. Seriously pretty neat.
One of which both Big Sis and I loved was
chalkboard decorations. So off we went to the craft stores and got chalkboard for each girl. We also got colored chalk, decorating tapes, jewels and stickers to decorate the chalkboards.
Given that Big Sis loves
nail paint, a bunch of nail polish and nail art pens were also bought for a session of nail art. Not to be left behind, Little Sis shared party games from her class parties and created a Hot Potato kind of game for her sister's friends.
We also decided on a
brownie decorating competition with two teams and in preparation baked two exactly same chocolate brownies on Friday night.
By Saturday morning, I was all pumped up. More than Big Sis in fact. The husband-man didn't want to play any part in this whole thing except ordering and picking up pizza. The only other person as excited as me was LS! She and Big Sis set up the activity area and the games while I concentrated on the food.
Big Sis had suggested that we serve more of appetizers and keep the main as Pizza and pasta which everyone likes. Since some of her friends don't eat meat, the appetizers were to be vegetarian only. We whittled down the appetizer list to
Mozzarella Sticks -- store bought,
Nachos -- with black beans, corn, cheese, salsa and sour cream,
Papri chaat,
Mini Cupcakes,
Pretzels with Hershey kisses
Popcorn(if needed)
The girls had a great time from the look of it. The chalkboards were super amazing and the brownie decoration literally took the cake. One team did the YouTube logo while the other the Instagram logo. The teams put their heart into it and with the limited supplies I had offered, pulled off really cool stuff. I would love to host them again soon as I found it is easy to make these kids happy. It involves minimal work on my part and I can even spend time watching television in my own room while they do their own thing. Yeah, that is a big motivation indeed!
The
pretzels with Hershey kisses are literally two-minute affair made by Big Sis and were a big party hit. All you do is this:
Buy
a bag of mini pretzels, the twisted kind or the square ones
Buy
a bag of Hershey Milk chocolate kisses
Buy
a bag of colorful M&M
Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet. Unwrap a Hershey kiss and place at the center of each pretzel.
Preheat oven to
350F.
Put the pretzel tray in the oven. within
1-2 minutes the kisses will soften. If you keep it any longer the chocolate hardens. Yep, I have learned it the hard way.
Take out within 2 minutes. Gently place a M&M on the tip of the Hershey kiss and press down softly.
Chill in refrigerator. Serve when it hardens,
While prepping for the party and asking around for appetizers, I had a brainwave. Zap! Okay nothing great but just that I searched up my own blog and dug up
five snacks that are easy to make and make great appetizers for any party. With Super Bowl on Sunday, pick any of these and have a blast watching the ads.
1.
Stuffed Mushroom
2.
Vegetable Tikkis
3.
Tartlets
These are great to make for parties. You can try various different fillings for these Tartlets.
4.
Keema Balls
You can do these balls with less spices as in
this recipe or for a meatballs with more kick try
this one.
5.
Nachos
Now I do not have a picture of this but we make it often and it is a huge favorite
. No wonder I don't have a picture of it.
I cook the ground chicken like this recipe from my blog and then I follow
Pioneer Woman's Loaded Nachos recipe very closely for the rest of the steps.
And we use Trader Joe's Taco seasoning. This one is a ROCKSTAR.
6.
Cajun Spiced Shrimp
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