4th of July – a whole day to celebrate

Now that Memorial Day is behind us, the next holiday on all calendars is Independence Day. At IBY we are already having people order their party invites for July 4th and several have chosen one of our brand new patriotic cards.

This year the holiday is a Friday, which means another 3 day weekend – woo whoo! 4th of a July is another good time for family gatherings, summer activities, and, of course, fireworks. I prefer the professional fireworks. A couple years ago, I got to watch them while listening to a concert, which was great fun! Though probably the most memorable was watching them with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

When our kids were young, the town where we lived put on a 4th of July parade. Kids could participate by dressing up in any holiday related theme. Once our girls marched as cowgirl and Indian partners. The other years we were merely spectators, but that was fun, too.

One year I made a rectangular chocolate cake, used whipped cream for the icing, then decorated it into a flag using blueberries for the blue section, and strawberries for the red stripes. Looked and tasted good!

Thought you might be interested in some ideas to make your day even more fun, especially if you don’t have a parade to attend.

from FamilyFun

4th of July Parties, Printables & Games

Party ideas from 123greetings

Want something a little more unique? Check out these articles:

How to Go Green for the Fourth of July from ehow

How to Plan a Spectacular 4th of July Menu! from ehow

Fourth of July Recipes and Menus – includes a Red, White and Blue Menu – from Busy Cooks Click here to read more!

Spa party food

When planning food for a spa party, first you need to decide whether you want healthy or indulgent foods. When I think of healthy spa foods, I’m reminded of two movies where the main character ate the cucumbers off of her eyes (“Last Holiday” and “The Day in the Life of Miss Pettigrew”). I’d rather have mine off a plate, thanks very much.

But if you’re going for healthy, finger foods, such as veggies, obviously come to mind. Whole grain crackers or breads, low fat cheeses and dips can be a nice addition. When choosing foods, keep in mind ones that don’t become sticky if hands are damp.

If indulgent, my vote would be for anything chocolate, petit fours, mini-cheese cakes. If you don’t want all sweets, bite-sized appetizers and fruit make a nice addition. Appetizers can be warm or cold depending on your situation.

Note for either style: if you’re doing manicures, choose fork friendly foods, that don’t require cutting.

I’d suggest offering teas and coffees, especially for the indulgent menu. You may also want to make a punch. Here’s an easy and pretty punch recipe.
1-2 frozen cans of lemonade
1-2 frozen cans of cranberry juice*
Carbonated water to reconstitute the juices.
Mix well.
Float some lemon or orange slices on top to make it look pretty.
And/or freeze juice as ice cubes to keep your punch cold.

*Use whatever fruit juice combination you like.

We have some fun spa invitations in the Girl Time section at IBY. This one is my favorite:

Elegant Pool

Click here to read more!

Graduation Party Time

When you have a high school or college graduate—or you yourself are a graduate—it’s often nice to have an “open house.” With this style of party your invitations give a span of time when people can drop in. Family, friends and neighbors of all ages can come, visit with the graduate and others, enjoy refreshments, and leave when they are ready to go. Sunday afternoons are often a good time for an open house.

Make your food easy to replenish and self serve. I’ve been to parties where the offerings are appetizers and finger foods, others with sandwich platters or plates with sandwich makings to “build your own,” desserts or a large sheet cake, or combinations of these. Beverages have ranged from punch or sodas to tea and coffee. Whatever food items you choose, you don’t want to have to spend a lot of time during the party with food preparation. Instead enjoy visiting with your guests.

Decorations can be as simple or as elaborate as you desire. Balloons are always festive. It’s nice to set out some graduation pictures, if the party is after graduation. Or how about the high school yearbook for those high school graduates with pages bookmarked where their photos are found. I’ve also seen baby books or photo albums on display. They make fun conversation starters.

I’ve not seen games at these type of parties, though I have seen a room set up for the younger set with toys and videos playing.

We’re featuring some of our graduation invitations on the front page of our website. For more click here.

And if you’d like to read about Graduation Announcement Etiquette, check out this article. Click here to read more!

Easter

Easter is so early this year that I’m sitting here and suddenly realize, oh, my gosh that’s THIS Sunday. Today is “Good Friday.” You’d think it would have connected in my brain. Last Sunday at church they announced the service times for Easter, but I still didn’t think about an entry for my blog. So it’s way too late for me to give you Easter party ideas. Maybe next year.

At our house Easter is family time. When my kids were little we always decorated eggs ahead of time. It’s fun to do Easter egg hunts with the kids. Maybe have some Easter baskets with chocolate. My children were taught though that Easter is more than bunnies and Easter baskets. Someone shared the Resurrection cookie recipe with me a few years ago—I would have loved to have done these with my children.

I can’t find the original source, but here is a very readable site with the recipe for Resurrection Cookies.

Have a Happy Easter Click here to read more!

The Festival of Lights

Chanukah or Hanukkah – there’s no exact English representation of the Jewish pronunciation – you’ll find other spellings as well.

Chanukah Basics – this comprehensive site not only has the basics, but also has history, videos, how to, and more.

The Food Network site has a brief history.

Happy Hanukkah – find out more about it from Family Fun.

Celebrating Hanukkah is an article by Donna Pilato.

Planning Resources

Hanukkah Party Decorating Ideas, an article by Gail Leino

Plans and Activities for Hanukkah

How To Throw a Hanukkah Party

How to Throw a Hanukkah Party for Preschoolers

Hanukkah games
From familycrafts.about.com and party411.com

Fun Hanukkah Party Games, Toys and Music - Kids Party Ideas for Chanukah

Chanukah Games and Crafts

Food

Hanukkah Party Menu Ideas for a Traditional Celebration

Hanukkah Recipes

Another article by Gail Leino, Chanukah Menu Ideas for a Happy Chanukah Celebration

Invitations

Favorites from iby.com
Menorah
Shooting Star

And one final resource. Wondering what’s permissible in public schools, regarding Chanukah or Christmas, etc. ? This site has links for a variety of categories.

Click here to read more!

Halloween Treats

When I was a kid we had this one friend who made homemade maple bars that she gave us on Halloween. I remember my mother making popcorn balls. In both cases, they were not given to strangers. Of course, it was a big deal about not taking anything but store-wrapped candy from strangers. There were warnings about having your parents check what you got. Rumors of razor blades in apples, contaminated candy, etc. Is it true or not?

Unfortunately, yes, there is some risk regarding sharp items. Read this write-up for more info.
Poison, not so much; read this one. For further info you can check out a book called Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath. And the FDA has advice here.

But enough yucky stuff. Let’s talk about yummy stuff. I’ve pulled together some sources for recipes to make your Halloween party fun and tasty.

My favorite at Halloweentreats.com was the Crunchy Eyeballs (under cookies)—quite impressive looking. Other categories include drinks, snacks, candy and cakes, although at the moment only one punch and one snack is listed in those categories.

This site is a motherlode of recipes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have pictures, but there are more than 70 different recipes that include sweets, snacks and beverages.

Wow, the Vampire Kiss Martini is something else. This site says it has “frighteningly good” recipes and has good pictures of the results.

Forgot to mention that the previous site had some breakfast items. So, too does Rancid Recipes. They also include the following categories: Sickly Soups & Salads, Atrocious Appetizers, Delightful Dinners, Ghoulish Goodies, and Potion Sickness. Don’t know how tasty they’d be, but I sure like their titles! No pictures, but their descriptions make the results pretty clear.

Allrecipes.com has an Eerie Entertaining section. Some have pictures. I’ve used recipes from this website before with good results.

Signing off before I get more hungry! Click here to read more!