Santa's Kitchen- Christmas Baking Party

Curling up by the fire in an cozy rustic cabin sounds divine right now. I fell in love with this SANTA'S KITCHEN- CHRISTMAS BAKING PARTY submitted by Karen Ayars. I wish I had a cabin to host a fun Christmas party in! Karen did a fabulous job. I love how she used cupcake tins & pans as party trays & stands.

From Karen- "I hosted this party in our family cabin, something very rustic, simple and small. I used things we had in our own kitchen to decorate the table. The main focus was the kids making some Christmas goodies for Santa."

Vendors:


Party Styling: Karen Ayars
Photography: Jeff Tureaud
Printables: 9 to 5 Mom
Gingerbread and Stocking Cookies: Baked Perfection
Coal Cake Pops: Cera's Sweet Shop
Santa Claus Hat Cupcake Toppers: Krazy Kool Cake Designs

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Have you decorated some Gingerbread Houses this Holiday season? How cute is this GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING PARTY submitted by Nicole Wills of Tradewind Tiaras, Inc. A Christmas party doesn't get much better than this. Who doesn't love getting together with family & friends to decorate gingerbread houses? So fun, and YUMMY.

My favorite part of the party- The clever "MIXIE STICKS" {like pixie sticks- paper straws filled with flavor add-ins for your cocoa}! 

Here is what Nicole said about the party- "My family has made thousands of gingerbread houses over the past 36 years. Yes, thousands. We have this thing down to a science, and it just wouldn't feel like Christmas without the amazing scent of gingerbread filling the house and a city of sweet little houses covering every available surface. This past weekend we hosted the first of four gingerbread house decorating parties we'll be throwing this year.

Now, at these parties, we have a truly obscene amount of candy. And as much of the icing gets squirted directly into little mouths as makes it on the houses. No real need for a dessert table, and we mostly focus on serving savory foods as an antidote to the sugar overload. But I came up with a really fun idea this year--no dessert table, true, but the backdrops to the food and beverage tables WERE a dessert display!

I've always had a soft spot for folk art paintings, and decided that I wanted my table backdrops to be reminiscent of a winter country scene in that style of art. I created layered, somewhat 3-dimensional hills out of Styrofoam sheets, and created all of my buildings and trees out of sugar cookies on sticks. All the buildings, trees, sleighs, snowmen, and Santas you see are cookies pops! I hung red curtains (from our living room--I love recycling elements in new ways) on either side of the backdrop both to cover raw edges and make it look like we were gazing on a wintery country scene outside a window (much more festive and seasonal than the view of our 70 degree Phoenix backyard).

The beverage station was a ton of fun. I made homemade hot cocoa and mulled cider, and had Styrofoam hot beverage cups (with lids! Lots of kids!) with custom homemade cup cozies that matched the party decor (a take-home favor). The beverage table also held my favorite part of the party. I came up with the idea of what I call "Mixie Sticks." They look like that old candy favorite, Pixie Stix, but they're actually flavor add-ins to mix in your cocoa. I made cinnamon, mint, and espresso mix-ins for the cocoa. Kids and adults alike had so much fun customizing their cocoa flavors, and one little girl reported that the cinnamon was excellent in the mulled cider, too!

As each family left the party, they made a stop at the photo booth near the door. Nobody could leave without me getting a photo of the magnificent gingerbread creations and their artists!"

Vendors:

Party Styling- Tradewind Tiaras

Snowflake Shirt- Modern Frills

Paper Printables- Frog Prince Paperie

Cocoa & S'mores Penguin Holiday Party

And up next, an adorable COCOA & S'MORES PENGUIN HOLIDAY PARTY submitted by Jennifer Rogers of Cio Prints. Oh, I just want to squeal at the look of this. So, so, so cute. How fun is a S'mores & Hot Cocoa Bar?! LOVE the dipped spoons.

Here is what Jennifer said about the party- "This party was a perfect fit for a little girl with a love of all things penguin. It was a small get together for a few friends before the winter break. We did something small that would entertain and include some traditional holiday fun with a twist. The choice was obvious, a hot cocoa bar and s’mores yum.

A few of the activities included letters to Santa, pin the nose of rudolph, face painting, and penguin bowling. We ended the day by making a visit to the hot cocoa bar where kids got the chance to choose from a number of wonderful topping: whipped cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, sprinkles, peppermint crumble, and chocolate chips. Instead of cookies or cake we chose to do s’mores. With a parents help everyone toasted their marshmallows and chose from chocolate, cinnamon, or honey graham crackers. To top things off they got to choose from cookies and cream or milk chocolate candy bars. Other items on the tables were peppermint pretzel sticks, s’more marshmallows, chocolate dipped spoons.

For favors there were take home s’mores kits, cocoa kits with mini marshmallows, chocolate Santa mustache pops, letters to Santa, personalized crayons with childs name on them, penguin cups and cuddly stuffed penguins. Since it was a Christmas party we thought it would be fun for all the kids to be Secret Santa's for each other. We took photos of everyone saying shhh then printed them on tags that said, "Ho Ho Ho I'm your secret Santa.

This party was inspired by the new "Happy Feet" movie and a little girls love of penguins.

The kitchen and den were decked out in red, white and black with cuddly penguins everywhere. We wanted to give everything a winter wonderland look, kind of like the arctic environment where penguins live. We chose things that were holiday classics or simply nostalgic in the idea of what childhood is. That is why we chose a cocoa and s’mores."

Penguin mugs, trays, and sleigh: Target
Penguin shaped cups: Walmart
Reindeer antlers: Michael's
Printables: http://www.cioprints.etsy.com

Gingerbread Themed Christmas Party

And up next, a darling GINGERBREAD THEMED CHRISTMAS PARTY submitted by Kim Stoegbauer- Party Stylist/Editor of The TomKat Studio. Oh my goodness, how sweet is this? LOVE the modern black design/backdrop behind the main party table. And the lollipops & crushed peppermint candy...such an easy way to spice up a store bought cake! I am always so impressed with Kim. She is so talented, and has a true eye for gorgeous detail.

Here is what Kim said about the party- "I am so excited to share this adorable holiday shoot we recently worked on for HGTV! I designed a new full printable collection which is available for FREE download on the HGTV feature. The collection includes a blank invitiation, fill-in invitation, two sets of party circles, favor tags, blank fancy labels, a pennant banner and a gingerbread man recipe card! I hope you will be able to use these fun printables at your holiday gathering this year, whether it is a Gingerbread House Making Party or any Christmas themed event!

Vicki (the photographer) and I had a great time with this shoot which we did at her house. Decorating gingerbread houses is such a fun holiday tradition and our own kids had so much fun making them during the shoot!"

Vendors:

styling/printable designs :: the tomkat studio
photography :: vicki lynn photography
dresses :: faithworks
hair accessories :: whippy cake
gingerbread houses for decorating :: decadent delights
gingerbread man cake pops :: inspired occasions {inspired by the cake poppery}
gingerbread house pops :: inspired occasions {inspired by the decorated cookie}
gingerbread man recipe :: food network