Party Eats on the Cheap!

"If you feed them, they will come..."

Typically, food is one of the most important feature of a party.  Most guests will overlook the decorations if they know they are going to have a tummy full of something yummy.  Today's post is the final element of our daughter's 1st Birthday party that was held last weekend.

We decided to serve 'buffet-style' because of the number of guests and the fact that we would be eating outside.  I want to apologize in advance for not having pictures.  As anyone who has hosted a dinner party knows, once the food is ready to be served it's hard to stop and snap pictures!

Our menu included:

Grilled Beef Tenderloin w/ Creamy Horseradish Garlic Sauce
Summer Potato Salad
Garden Salad (with a Olive Garden-style Dressing)
Rolls with Whipped Butter
Watermelon

My husband grilled the tenderloin (simply seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper).  He grilled them whole and then sliced them for each guest depending on their preferred temperature.  Most of the steak was cooked medium rare/medium with the ends being more medium well.  It was perfectly seasoned and super tender.  Way to go, hubs!

TIP:  We purchased two whole tenderloins from Costco and trimmed them ourselves which saved about $10 a pound.  

I love horseradish.  Love it.  I've been on the hunt for a yummy horseradish sauce and I do believe I've finally found it.  The tenderloin was delicious on it's own and didn't really need a 'sauce' but in my opinion the horseradish just added to its yumminess.  

It's an easy recipe that I found online.  You can find the recipe here.  The only thing that I changed was I put the garlic in my little food processor to avoid big chunks.  This recipe doubles well and if you somehow end up with leftovers it's fantastic on sandwiches.

I wanted something different than the usual (but still delicious) mustard potato salad.  I also found the Summer Potato Salad recipe online and you can find it here.  I did make a few adjustments to the recipe and have listed them for you.

• The recipe doesn't specify but we chose new red potatoes because they are my husband's favorite and I could get a 10lb bag at Costco for around $5.00
• I only used a quarter cup of oil instead of the cup recommended
• I omitted the eggs
• I used fresh dill instead of parsley

The dressing was much lighter and had a nice lemon flavor.  This also doubles well and with AllRecipes easy serving converter I was able to change the servings from 8 to 30 and the recipe automatically adjusted.  I made this in the morning so that the flavors developed by dinnertime.  

I love garden salad, especially in the summer.  We made a giant pan of lettuces (iceberg mix and romaine) then added red onion, garden tomatoes, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, croutons, and grated parmesan cheese.  The dressing was meant to be a Olive Garden copycat--and to be honest, as far as I can remember, I think it was pretty 'right on'.  I'll definitely make this dressing again.  The recipe can be found here.  I made mine in the morning and then poured it in a mason jar with a canning lid and ring.  This made it easy to shake up and then pour on the salad right before serving.  

We purchased the rolls, 32 for under $5.00, at Costco and served them with whipped butter.  Have you ever wondered how to make whipped butter?  You know, the good butter that you get at weddings, banquets, or in the bread basket at some restaurants?  Well, let me tell you...it's super easy to make!  I thawed a few sticks of real (unsalted) butter to room temperature.  Then I put them in my KitchenAid mixer and turned it on.  I poured in milk a little at a time and let it whip for awhile.  Just add the milk slowly so that the butter can absorb it.  I also added some course salt for flavor while the mixer was running.  Your butter will expand giving you much more than you started with.  I let my mixer run for awhile and then put the whipped butter in an air tight container on the counter until the party.

Dinner turned out pretty well and we received lots of compliments on the dishes.  Our major splurge was the tenderloin, but we made up for it with the extremely inexpensive sides.  

What would a birthday party be without cake and ice cream?  Elia's Olivia cake was made by the talented Carey Iennaccaro of Sprinkled With Sugar.  Check her out on Facebook for pictures of her ahh-mazing cakes!

Tip:  If you need to serve a crowd of both adults and children buy two cakes.  One fun one for the kids to enjoy and then serve the adults sheet cake.  Most adults would rather avoid the brightly colored frosting anyway.  We served a plain white sheet cake from Costco (they are the best!) and asked them not to do any writing or design.  It's a win/win, the kids have fun with their  'fancy' cake and the adults get to enjoy a yummy cake too!  

Bonus Tip:  Costco (and Sams) cakes are huge and serve a big crowd and are only about $18.00.    AND, if you for some reason have leftovers they stay moist and delicious for days.  Believe me, I've had dessert every day since the party and may or may not be eating a piece of cake as I type this.  

Okay, raise your hand if you have ever been delegated the task of scooping ice cream for a crowd.  The ice cream is hard, the line is forming and you are using muscles that you forgot existed.  Yes?  Well, consider that the LAST time you ever have to do THAT again.

Thanks to Real Simple's GENIUS idea I pre-scooped the ice cream and when it was cake time it was easy-peasy to pull the scoops from the freezer, pull off the liners and put alongside the cake.  I'll pause for the applause.  I just wish this was MY idea!

Source: realsimple.com via TeamIbrahim on Pinterest

TIP:  I didn't use muffin pans as I wouldn't have had enough.  I just put the scoops in the liners and lined them up on a large cookie sheet.  I filled two cookie sheets and stacked them with a layer of parchment paper in between.  Worked like a charm!


So, all in all, I believe the party food was a success.  But, I can't stop there.  What kind of momma would I be if I didn't post the obligatory 'messy cake-baby' pictures?  So, here you go!

Thank you to everyone who came and helped make Elia's 1st birthday such a special event!  

Party Deco on a Dime

Okay, maybe two dimes.  Last night we hosted our daughter's 1st birthday party at our home.  We had such a great time celebrating with friends and family.  I thought I would share some of my party decoration tips hoping that there may be one or two that may be new to you!

Our baby girl is a big fan of Olivia so we decided that would be our theme.  We also decided that Olivia's colors (red, black and white) aligned nicely with the look we wanted to take our deck and outdoor decorations.

Tip:  When hosting a party or event choose a theme that coordinates with your current decor so that you can reuse your items.  Single use decorations are costly and are exactly that...single use. 

We added these two large vases to our deck to add a pop of red and the greenery adds to the coziness.  These used to live in front of my parents home and were glazed blue.  I did a couple quick coats of red spray paint and added a tropical plant ($4.99 each at Home Depot).  They sit on each side of the gazebo when you walk onto the deck.

Recognize the red 'rosette ball'?  Well, we made three more--two black and white ones, using black and white polka dot crepe paper and a white one.  I attached a bow and hung them from the center of the gazebo.  Each ball was made for about $2.50 and I still have crepe paper leftover.  The little red and white fans were purchased at Party City.

I found this black and white polka dot frame at Hobby Lobby on sale for 50% off.

Tip:  I noticed that the frame had a few scratches so I asked if they could take any more off (it never hurts to ask!)  and I ended up getting another 15% off!  The scratches were an easy fix with my trusty Sharpies.

When I'm planning a party I love the small details.  I decided to wrap the silverware for a couple of reasons -- it would make it easier for guests to grab their utensils and a napkin while fixing their plates and they were over-the-top cute.  We rolled a knife and a fork in a red paper napkin and then secured them with a paper napkin ring.  The napkin ring was a simple rectangle cut from white cardstock with a Olivia image glued to the end on a black square.  The black silverware caddy was marked way down at Hobby Lobby--I just added the ribbon.  

Tip:  If you decide to create these napkin rings, glue dots are the way to go.  They can be found in the scrapbooking section of Target, Walmart, or Hobby Lobby.

We had lots of fun stuff for the kids--sidewalk chalk, a bouncy house that we borrowed, nerf balls, bouncy balls, and bubbles.  We made these cups for the bubble solution.  They made it easier for little ones to dip their bubble wands.

Caution:  As with most children's activities supervision is necessary to make sure that the little ones don't drink the bubble solution!  Oopsie!

These were made from clearanced chargers at Hobby Lobby.  I believe I paid $.60 a piece.  I decoupaged the letters to spell ONE and glued on the ribbons.

My sweet and talented niece, Kaley, helped with almost all of the decorations but took on a couple all by herself.  She used a projector to enlarge an Olivia image and made a sign for our front yard (above) and this cute Olivia cutout!  Instead of coloring with markers she cut out pieces of scrapbook paper.  It turned out fantastic!  Thank you, Kaley!  The kids had fun taking their picture with Olivia!

We had guests sign a copy of the book version of Olivia as a keepsake.

Some inexpensive red votive holders from Ikea lined the table. 

I added some red and white polka dot ribbon to two candle holders that I already had for the outdoor coffee table.

 Our serving cart held straws, cups, lids, beverages, fruit, and mixers.  

We had fun stuff for the kids...and the big kids!  The hubs organized a washers tournament which was fun to watch!  Everyone who wanted to 'play' put their name in the hat and random teams were picked.  Lots of fun competition and yelling and cheering (or so I noticed as I was running around like mad!).  The first place team (Mike and Darren) won gold medals that we made from washers we spray painted gold and put on a ribbon.  The second place winners (my husband and Grandmother) took second place and their medals were teeny little washers (hee hee).

The party was lots of fun and more importantly, it was fun to see everyone!  After it was all over we both flopped into bed exhausted and I said, "Well, we only have 364 days to plan the next one" to which my loving husband replied with a heavy sigh and rolled over.

Click here for a post on our party eats!


So excited to have this post FEATURED on Embracing Change!

 

Let's Party!

Our blog is a week old and we have been plugging away at our daily Pinterest projects.  We are having a great time and hope you are enjoying it too. This next week, week two, will be a bit different than the rest.  

I love to plan parties, and LOVE to decorate for them.  So, this week's projects will be centered around decorations for our daughter's 'Olivia' themed 1st birthday party.  AND, they will be easy to make and budget friendly!  I'll be completing a project every day and doing the write up but will hold off on publishing them until after the party.  We'd like to keep a few elements of surprise for our guests!

I'll still be working and writing, so don't go anywhere--Sunday the 15th is going to be full of budget-friendly party planning tips and projects!  

Have a great week!