Juliet's Lingerie Shower + White Sangria Recipe / April 2017

Hello friends! I hope that you had a great weekend! Ours was packed with social activities, and it ended up being so fun. We had a bit of downtime on Sunday which was also nice!

The biggest part of my weekend was hosting (one of my best friends), Juliet's lingerie shower! She's getting married at the end of May, and since she lives in Taiwan... she can't have normal bridal showers (where would she put the stuff?!). Lingerie however, is traditionally very packable. ;) 

We had such a fun time, it was a small group of us, about half of her bridal party, and it was a great sized group!

Decor:

Tassels - DIY here. I got a HUGE package of tissue paper at TJMaxx for $2.99.
Balloons - Target Dollar Spot, y'all! ($5 each)
Milk Glass Vases + Flowering Culinary Sage - you can get milk glass at thrift stores and I keep this collection on the mantle in our new space! Culinary sage were the most wild looking flowers I could find in town, super pretty! Adding the flowers made my everyday vases look more festive!

Food:

Drinks - Strawberry Mint Margaritas, Gin/Blueberry Drink (SO STRONG! I recommend adding a bit more cranberry!), and White Sangria (recipe below).
Food - appetizers, crudite, and pretzels.
Desserts - spice cupcakes, blueberry pavlova (I changed the blueberry jam a bit), and Birthday Cake Popcorn.

White Wine Peach Sangria

1 bottle of white wine
1/2 cup peach vodka (any peach liquor will do)
2 peaches sliced (or 1 small bag of frozen sliced peaches)
1 orange, sliced
1 1/4 cups of orange juice
1/4 cup sugar (to taste, very optional!)
ginger ale/club soda to taste (1/2 liter)

1) Mix all ingredients aside from ginger ale/club soda. Let chill for at least one hour (I made it the night before).
2) Add ginger ale/club soda immediately before serving.

Games:

The Panty Game - each guest is instructed to bring a pair of panties, they should be unwrapped and put into a bag/box as guests arrive. Then, hang each pair of panties up, and have the bride guess which pair is from which guest. There are several versions to this game, in one nothing happens if you guess incorrectly, this time we played that you have to try on the pair that you guessed incorrectly and model for your guests (over your clothing ;). Would you guys like the PDF of the sign I made for the bag?

Marriage Advice Madlib - KC and I made a madlib (I didn't like any existing ones!) that was around the topic of marriage advice. I designed a PDF and printed them for the guests. Reading them was a blast, and they definitely got a little naughty. We all laughed so hard. Would you guys like this PDF?! 

Disney Love Song Guessing Game, get that printable, here. Some of them were pretty tough, and it got us all singing Disney songs. hehe :) 

Extras:

Our baking store went out of business last summer, so Jessica and I (figuring we'd be hosting something... ;) gathered up some cute party crown/hats, and matching cupcake liners with toothpick tassels. They were cute and fun little touches.

I always like to use white serving platters if I can. Ours are packed right now, but I think they really help! 

I used these carafes for our drinks. They are so handy, simple, cheap, and cute.

Lastly, we gave nail polish favors. I like to get Essie because they're nicer polish. I get mine at TJMaxx, because they're $3-4 cheaper each. :) I put a little tag on each that said, "to a lifetime of getting nailed!" - thanks, Pinterest!

Have you guys ever thrown a bridal shower or lingerie shower?

What is your go-to food to make for a crowd?

XO,

Alexandra

Berry Delicious Game Night {recipes #63, 64 & 65}

A while ago, we had a game night with our good friends Emy and Matthew.

It was the first time we had really had people over to our apartment and we wanted to do something fun. We decided to play several games including Ticket to Ride (above). 

We also wanted to have some yummy food and drink available. This was over the summer so we decided to utilize a LOT of fresh berries. 

So here are recipes 64, 65 & 66:

Berry Sangria {+ simple syrup} & Mini Berry Trifles {whipped cream}

Berry Sangria

{Borrowed Adapated and Enjoyed from 101 Sangrias and Pitcher Drinks by Kim Haasarud}

Ingredients:

 3/4 cup of 3 of the following berries {strawberries (hulled and sliced), blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries

3/4 cup simple syrup 

1 bottle of red wine

1/2 cup of triple sec

1/2 cup berry flavored vodka

1 cup orange juice

1) In a saucepan, combine all of your chosen berries {we used blueberries, strawberries and raspberries} with the simple syrup {recipe below} over low heat. Stir constantly until berries just begin to soften and discolor.

2) Combine the remaining ingredients in a large ceramic or glass container. Add the berry mixture {berries and liquid} and stir well. 

3) Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 

Serve in Pretty Glasses and Enjoy!

Simple Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup hot water

1) In a bowl, glass or empty wine bottle mix the sugar and hot water. Stir or shake until completely dissolved. Let cool  completely before using. {this sangria recipe you cook the simple syrup with the berries, so it doesn't really require cooling!}

Mini Berry Trifles

This recipe really isn't that new to most people, its just store-bought pound cake, sugared berries and whipped cream. What makes it count as one of my recipes is just that I made the whipped cream from scratch, which I had never done! But it was VERY worth it!

Ingredients:

Pound Cake 

Sugared Berries of your choice {cleaned, sliced and hulled if necessary}

1 pint of heavy cream

1 T. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Mix the berries with sugar to taste and set aside.

2) Slice, Tear or crumble the pound cake into small pieces.

3) Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract with a hand mixer until fluffy.

4) Set up the ingredients buffet style and let your guests build their own mini trifles by layering the ingredients to their liking!

 

Enjoy!

What is your favorite way to use berries?

All for now,

Alexandra