Barbie Doll Cake Tutorials

This week's post is about CAKE (surprise, surprise!)  Not just any type of cake, but Barbie cake.  I remember back to my childhood when my Mom would make this type of cake for my birthday.  I have never made a Barbie cake myself so I went searching for a tutorial.  I would like to share what I found!! 

Each of the pictures below are links to different tutorials, check them out!!   You could use tips from them both to create your own Barbie Doll Cake!   

Picture From:  Kristen Buesing

Picture From:  Butter Hearts Sugar

I will definately be using these tutorials and ideas in the future!  (Don't you think a Barbie doll cake with a bridal gown would be super cute for a bridal shower?)

Have you ever made a Barbie Doll Cake before and have a tutorial to share? 

 Leave your comments and tips below!

DIY Decorative Candy Wrappers

Sometimes as the hostess of a party you don't have a LOT of time to make delicious treats, or perhaps you want to add another element to a dessert table.  One option is to take candy bars, whatever size, shape, flavor, and cover them with paper to create a treat that matches the decor of your party (or perhaps is just a little cuter than the average candy bar sitting in a dish). 

  How To:  Create Decorative Candy Wrappers

Bill of Materials:

Candy

Decorative Paper that matches the party decor

Scissors or Paper Cutter

Ruler or Measuring Tape

Tape

First,  measure the size of your candy.  Both width and "around" length to make sure you cut paper long enough to wrap all the way around. 

Second: cut paper to appropriate length.  

Tip:  If you want to cover the candy with two colors, cut second paper color a bit smaller than the first.

Third, cover the candy by taping one end of the cut piece of paper and wrapping around candy once.  (In my example I had to cut excess paper off because my strips were too long.  

Tip:  If you are using two colors, wrap the candy with one color and then again with the second smaller strip of paper.  


Fourth, tape other end down.  

Done!   Wasn't that super easy?!

How Late is Fashionably Late?

Fashionably Late.

It's something we all have said or done at one time or another, but what exactly is it?  And how does a Hostess see this phenomenon?


What exactly is "Fashionably Late"?

There are many articles and online postings about what "Fashionably Late" is.  Infact Ehow.com has a "How-To" about being fashionably late.  After reading that article you find that being fashionably late is more of an art rather than just not wanting to be the first one at a party.  Also if you are a fan of Yahoo Answers, this question comes up very frequently with many different ideas on what is acceptable and what is just down right rude.  Yahoo Answers averages from about 5 to 10 minutes late, with 20 minutes or more beign rude.  However there are a few Yahoo Answer entries that say with today's technology (cell phones, smart phone, facebook) there isn't a good reason to be "late" at all. 

Why do we participate in being Fashionably Late?

As I said before, we've all been guilty of being "fashionably late" at least once in our lives (and if you haven't I'm sure you've seen or heard about someone doing it).  However, why do we do this?  Sometimes it's because we don't want to be the first person at a party (perhaps because we don't quite know the hostess all THAT well).  Or maybe its because we want to "make an entrance" at the party and be the center of attention for a while.  Or is it that we want to make it seem like we have more going on in our lives compared to everyone else.


From the other side....

I know I have been fashionably late one or two times my self (usualy because I don't know the hostess all THAT well and I don't want to awkwardly stand around by myself) but I also have been a "victim" of the fashionably late guest.  From the other side, (the side of the hostess) guests that are "fashionably late" can be very annoying (especially when EVERYONE wants to be fashionably late).  Perhaps its not as aggrivating when you are having an open house type of party, but at a dinner party or party with some sort of schedule or itinerary, it is hard to deal with a lack of guests who are 5 to 10 minutes late.

How to combat the "fashionably late" guest(s)

As a hostess, there are a few things you can do to combar a guest or guests who are going to be arriving late due to whatever reason. 

First, make sure to put a start time on the invitation and include a schedule if you have one to stick too.  For example if you are having a dinner party with a cocktail hour and dinner put both times on the invitation so that a guest will know when dinner will start and hopefully come in time for at least the sit down part of the party.   

Second, plan ahead if you think guests will show up late.  If you want to plan a dinner, invite people over earlier than you normally would and hope that the stragelers would arrive by the time you would like.

Third, come to terms with the fact that some guests are always going to be fashionably late no matter what and go with the flow!


Have you ever been fashionably late to an event or gathering?  Why were you late?  Have you ever had guests be fashionably late and ruin your party?  Or do you have any good ideas on how to combat those who are fashionably late?  Please share your "Fashionably Late" experiences!!

 

Turning Good into Great

I don't want to bore you with a list of my New Year's Resolutions, I'm sure you all have your own to worry about (and hopefully you are still sticking to them!!)  However, there is one that I really want to focus on this year (and continually afterward as well) that you might be interested in.  (If you are interested in my new years resolutions, you can find my Resolutions board on Pinterest to see what else I've been working on!).

Picture from This Heart of Mine 

That resolution is to turn "good" into "GREAT".  I thought about this after I saw this great picture of hot chocolate (I know what you're thinking, how does this relate?)  This picture reminded me that not only is Hot Chocolate delicious but also that if you just take a few extra seconds or get a bit creative you can turn "good" into "GREAT"!  (This LOVELY picture is from the blog This Heart of Mine and features a Nutella Hot Chocolate recipe.)

Yummm!! 

For example, this morning while making my latte (yes, cutting back on buying Starbucks is also part of my 2012 list) I decided to put some left over peppermint white chocolate bark in the bottom of the cup before pouring in the espresso and steamed milk.  And then I topped it off with a decorative candy cane.  I know I could have gone to the store, bought some peppermint mocha creamer and called it a day, but I have decided that I want to turn "good" into "great" and get creative (while not taking up too much extra time!)


Usually I write about party planning, etiquette, or show fun party related "How-To" posts, and although this morning's peppermint white chocolate latte was not for a party, this idea of turning good into great can be used from personal morning lattes to just an extra splash of creativity for any "party" situation.  An extra "splash" of creativity can come from things such as adding cupcake decorators to cupcakes, putting ribbons around pretzel sticks, or decorating cake pops with sprinkles.  


Okay, enough of my ranting, but I hope you all join me in turning 2012 from "Good" to "Great"!

Bake at 350 Feature

This week's Post is featuring probably the most scrumptious blog you can find!  

Bake at 350!

Bridget, the blogger behind this sweet and sugar based blog is a cookie lover that bakes, decorates, eats and blogs about her many cookie creations.  

One visit to her blog and you will understand why I chose to feature Bridget and her amazing  cookie creations.  Not only does she have excellent pictures that showcase her brilliant baking,  (like the one below that shows one of my favorite blog posts:  cookies that look like cake...nom nom nom!)  She also shows you how you can make them yourself by providing detailed step-by-step instructions for each of her tasty treats.  She passes along an unbelievable amount of detailed baking information that she has gathered as she created each of her amazing baked beauties!!!! 

Hey There, Cupcake!

Decorated sugar cookies are a FABULOUS way to add a bit of fun to a theme of a party, and you can use Bridget's tips from Bake at 350 to create gorgeous creations such as these.

Now go on over to Bake at 350 and get baking!!  

And The Knife Ran Away With The Spoon

During the last few weeks, while cruising from store to store, I found the COOLEST stuff EVER!  (Well maybe not coolest - EVER, but perhaps pretty neat!)  The objects that I found were not only useful, but also cheap (score!) 

What is it that I found, you ask?


Well I found plastic plates and utensils (I know, a total let down...) but not just your regular plastic plates and utensils... these look like fancy China and Silverware! 


For those of us still using our hand me down college kitchen supplies that probably won't be replaced until the last one is broken, these are an awesome find!  No longer will I be embarrassed to have a dinner party or a friend over for a meal.  If these plates crack or the fork breaks, heck just throw them away and buy new (THATS HOW CHEAP THEY ARE!)

 Now that I have flatware and "china", I thought I would explore proper table settings.  If you remember, I wrote an article on Forks, their expansive history, and questioned if anyone really cared which fork you use for dinner or salad.  As you might imagine, each type of flatware has its own history (we won't go there right now) and there are a myriad of spoons, knifes, plates, and bowls that each have had their specific function throughout history.


First lets finish the flatware:

Spoons-  
In my (rather short) lifetime, I have only seen one type of spoon inuse at a table for dinner, that spoon would be the "soup spoon".  Of course sometimes there is a dessert spoon present during the dessert course of a meal.


Soup Spoon-  Formally (and I mean VERY FORMAL), there are two types of soup spoons.  They are both the about the same size, but one is for soup with solid food (most people would probably call this a "Table Spoon") and the other is for creamy soup.  Personally I would only worry about a "soup" spoon, which is usually around 6 inches long and is meant to eat, well... soup.  The spoon is normally placed to the right of the dinner knife.


Dessert Spoon-  A dessert spoon is approximately 7 inches long and is used during the dessert course of a meal (duh!)  It is normally placed above the plate with the dessert fork (facing the opposite way)



Knife- 
Similar to the spoon, I have only ever seen two knifes in a table setting, even including dinners at fancy restaurants however when looking into different types of knifes there are plenty to choose from (Dinner, Luncheon, Fish, Steak, Fruit, Dessert (wait who uses a knife for dessert?)  The two types of Knifes that you would really want to know about are:

Steak Knife-  A steak knife is not normally sold as part of a flatware set, but usually sold in sets that come with one of those wooden storage blocks (I need to get one of those!).  Usually they are around 9 inches in length and have a serrated edge to aid in cutting of thick or tough meats during meals.  This knife would usually be set to the left (or inside) or the Dinner knife and closest to the plate.  The serrated edge should face the plate.  Fun Fact:  long ago, it was customary that the serrated edge would face outward in times of war and inward during times of peace.  (So, unless you are at war with your family and friends over your dinner table, lets just keep it inward for now.)


"Dinner" Knife-  The dinner knife is normally the longest knife of the flatware set (usually around 9 .5 inches long!)  This knife as you can imagine is used at dinner to cut food (weird huh?)  The placement of this knife is closest to the plate's right side, and is also facing the plate (unless of course a steak knife is needed).


Now on to the table setting:

Plate-
Usually the number of plates you use depends on the number of courses or "side" dishes (ie. fish, fruit, bread) you have in your meal (and then meal type of meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert pates are all different as well, except I won't tell if you use the same plates for each!)  In my observation the main plates used today are the salad plate, dinner plate, and dessert plate.


Salad Plate:  A salad plate is usually placed on top of a dinner plate and is used during the first course of a meal (normally salad!), and then is removed once the main course arrives.  This type of plate can come in different shapes and sizes but is usually found to be a bit smaller than the dinner plate.

Dinner Plate:  I would describe a dinner plate as your regular "plate".  In a table setting, it sits under the salad plate and is used after the first course has been taken away from the table.  This plate also can come in different shapes and sizes but, again, it's most often is larger than the salad plate.


Dessert Plate:  This plate is my favorite!  (I bet you can't image why..)   The dessert plate is usually not placed on the table until after the main dinner courses are finished and cleared.  This plate would most likely resemble that of a salad plate, but can also come in all shapes and sizes.  


Bowls-  I have NEVER seen more than one bowl in a table setting, and honestly the only practical difference between the different kinds of bowls are what type of soup you put in them.  My opinion... a bowl is a bowl.  Only use it in your table setting if you are going to serve soup, otherwise keep it in the cabinet and save you or your dishwasher the extra work!


(We'll keep stemware for another post!)

10 Reasons to Celebrate

Sometimes its hard to think of a reason to party other than a holiday, birthday, promotion, etc.  

This Friday I wanted to help you realize that you can have a party to celebrate ANYTHING!  

But, to get your creative juices flowing, I am sharing some awesome reasons to celebrate that aren't your normal everyday reasons to party!  

   1.  Too many baked goods in the house

   2.  In-Laws just left from visiting for the week/weekend

   3.  Found an awesome new recipe to try

   4.  "I Hate Valentine's Day"  

   5.  Too much beer in the fridge

   6.  A new video game was just released 

   7.  Book/Clothes Swap

  

   8.  Celebrate ___ days until Christmas (or other holiday/birthday)

   9.  Try a out a fun craft from Pinterest

   10. Celebrate this year's Pantone Color of the year:  Tangerine Tango!

No matter what reason, or lack of one, its a perfect time for a party!

What are some of the reasons you have had a party for?  Do you like coming up with random themes and reasons to party?  Have you ever had a party "just because"?  Please share!

Happy New Year!! Cheers to 2012!!

Happy New Year Classy Event Organizers!

With a New Year comes a few new updates:

I have updated the site's background!  Previously the background was plain pink, but now it has a classy background (created by yours truly!)  

Then, I created two new buttons for you to add to your blogs.  Grab the top one if you just ADORE Classy Event Organizer and want to tell all of your readers.  Grab the second one if I have featured you on the blog (in a Fabulous Friday Featurette or other article)








The "Articles" page is now more user friendly! 
You can access previous posts by month or by category.  









A "Popular Posts" area has been added so you can see what other readers are interested in!

As always, if you want to contact me, email me at Jessica@ClassyEventOrganizer.com or tweet me on Twitter (@ClassyEventO).

Cheers to 2012!