Easter Lunch

Well, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and enjoying the Chocolate!! Apologies to any of you on diets who are managing to be good (a big well done to you as well!!).

I organised a little last minute Easter lunch and treasure hunt for my two youngest and their friend who stayed for a sleepover last night. Luckily I had a few bits and pieces left over from last year - cups, plates and napkins but most of it was designed, printed cut and assembled this morning!!

First up, and idea I've been waiting to show you for a couple of weeks now! A few weeks back I posted about my new mini milk bottles. Now these are really cute and I love them but at about £12 for 6 they're not cheap and being glass there is always a risk that one or more will get broken at some point. So one day as I was washing out jars for recycling an idea struck me that the right sized jar would make lovely little bottle glasses for parties. The jars I've used are sandwich paste jars (luckily Theo has an obsession with sandwich paste at the moment so I've got quite a few!!). These jars are only slightly smaller than the milk bottles and the kids thought they were the milk bottles so an excellent result there!

I tied circle tags onto the necks of the jars using green and yellow curling ribbon (from Hobbycraft's Easter range) and popped in a green straw with a straw flag on. 

Next up, I made up some popcorn boxes and emptied a packet of crisps into each.

These little boxes have now been secreted away to the den in the wardrobe where things are just a little too quiet!!

I simply added a sandwich pick (circle tag taped to a cocktail stick) to a plate of sandwiches and added some tomatoes and cucumber at the side. Very easy but effective.

And to finish off, some cupcakes with toppers. These are shop bought cakes which I had in (99p from Home Bargains and great for lunch boxes too!). 

So a lovely little lunch and very easy to do. I'll be completing some more items in this kit for a more substantial and better planned party and they will available from the website in time for next year. 

I hope this post has given you more ideas for planning parties or even just special lunches and teas for when the kids have friends round! With this in mind, I think I'll design some mini tea party kits in a few different themes that can be used any time of the year. 

So for now, it's a goodbye from me and I hope you enjoy the rest of the Easter weekend.

Hugs, Suz x

Red Nose Day Fundraising Set

I had a little idea yesterday afternoon of making a party set for anyone who is planning a Red Nose Day Party and donating the proceeds to Comic Relief. I set to work straight away and designed a set with some party basics in it.
I wanted to get some photos of the set in action so Theo and I spent the day baking, cutting and glueing to create a yummy dinner for the family! I'm afraid the photos are not that brilliant as I have quite low lighting in the living room and it gets dark pretty early at this time of year up in the frozen North!!

Above you can see the full spread of goodies!

We made two sizes of cupcakes. The larger ones were decorated with butter cream and half a strawberry (see they are healthy!) and the smaller ones with a circle of red icing (to look a bit like a red nose) and then topped with a mini tag on a cocktail stick. Theo wanted something to take into school on Monday so there are lots of little ones!
I taped a mini tag onto soufflé pots to serve ketchup and mayonnaise and the food trays from the set were filled with crisps and homemade jam donuts!! Oh, and they taste so yummy!! You can find the recipe we used here.

I used my mini milk bottles to serve juice and water. They look great with a mini tag tied on with red ribbon and the straw flags on black straws. This was a very last minute idea and so I made do with what I had in - you could obviously use red straws, plates, napkins etc but I hope this shows you that you can make your party great without spending a fortune!

As a main savoury dish I made homemade popcorn chicken and popped them into the popcorn boxes!

I must say I had lots of fun and the hubby said the donuts tasted like they were from a bakery!! The kids were over the moon and Theo is looking forward to taking some cakes into school.

So.... want to help raise some money for Comic Relief and have a fantastic party at the same time? Maybe you help with Guides, Brownies, Cubs, youth club or school? This set is really easy to use so you can get the kids involved and don't need to be an experienced crafter.
You can download the set for £3 from here, by contacting me on my Facebook page here or email me at sales@ardacards.com. All except the paypal fees (20p) will go to Comic Relief and for every 10 sets sold I will donate an extra £1.
Oh, please do share any photos of your parties and fundraising with us!
Hugs Suz x

After School Milk And Cookies!

My party printables don't have to be just for parties! I really wanted to try out the mini milk bottles I ordered so decided to make the kids a special snack for when they got home from school!
I tied a mini tag round each of the bottles with green ribbon. Spruced up a plain old green plastic straw with a straw flag and put some chocolate cookies in one of the food trays.

And here are my two dollops of cuteness enjoying their snack!

Pop over to my Facebook page here, to see more photos of my special after school snack. 

Hugs Suz x

Getting Started & A Sandwich Idea

Well, good morning.
I'm planning a showcase party to show you my first bespoke party set and I thought it would be a really good idea to post my progress as I plan this party to give some ideas of what you'll need to do when planning your own party.
So, firstly we need to decide on a theme. My showcase party theme is going to be Mint Chocolate! Obviously food is a very important part of the party and worth thinking about early on so you can plan what you need on your tags and labels. I have decided that lots of chocolatey things are going to feature in my party! Here's a quick list of what I have planned so far - Chocolate milk. Milk, Maltesers, Marshmallows, Chocolate buttons, Popcorn, Fruit salad, Crisps, Chocolate spread sandwiches, jam sandwiches, ham sandwiches and water.
I have designed a kit based on this theme and have started to personalise it with the food labels I'm going to need.

I have also ordered a few little bits to help pull the party together. I ordered these little milk bottles from Amazon and I think they will look really sweet with milk and chocolate milk in them and tied with a tag and a ribbon.

I've been thinking of novel ways to serve the sandwiches and below is a photo of my idea. This is really simple and fairly cheap way to serve sandwiches at your party. You will need some greaseproof or backing paper, scissors, tags with type of sandwich from the printable kit and some ribbon, string or twine. I've used some green jute string on mine. Once you have made up the sandwich, wrap it in the greaseproof paper as you would wrap a present. You find it easier to secure with a piece of tape on the back or get someone to help you hold the flaps down. Now you need to tie the package like a parcel and tie gently at the front. Punch a hole in your tag and thread onto string, then secure with a bow. For added colour you could wrap a napkin around the greaseproof paper parcel before securing it.

Children will love opening up these little parcels to get to their sandwich!
I will be posting more little ideas for serving food in interesting ways so keep your eyes peeled!
In the next post I will looking at entertainment for the little darlings.
Hugs Suz x