A "JOHN DEERE" Baby Shower

I LOVE to cook, but there is one thing I almost love even more...throwing showers for friends and family!

Yesterday, I helped a friend with a shower for her daughter's childhood friend.

Kecia wanted a "John Deere" tractor themed shower. We stretched it a bit by making it a farm/country style John Deere theme.



First item on the list was the cake. We found a cake we like online, then sent the photo to my favorite cake maker, Dorothy Stone from West Frankfort. She replicated the look, but did an even better job! Half of the main layer was chocolate, the other half was lemon.

Next,we decided on the decor. Green and yellow with country touches. Green table cloths, with yellow runners. Scattered raffia. We used the decorated gifts for the games, as added centerpieces to each table. Plates were green, napkins were yellow and John Deere napkins. Forks were served from a green plastic pail that Gena added Tractor stickers to.




Diana had a great idea--Mason jars tied with raffia and ribbon and filled with assorted old-fashioned candies. Each jar was filled with something different. Guests enjoyed going from table to table filling their plates with their favorites.





Also, I added yellow cupcake liners that were filled with animal crackers.

Instead of punch, we opted for assorted sodas, bottled water and COUNTRY TIME lemonade served from a "farmish" galvanized bucket.



The food was simple. In addition to the cake, Diana made "haystacks" (Rice Krispie treats with a "B" for BRAXTYN, I made white chocolate covered pretzels with yellow and green sugar sprinkles,






assorted fruit/dip, veggies/dip, "It's a Boy" mints and assorted nuts.




When the guests arrived, the signed a "diaper", a keepsake for Kecia to remember the special day. The diaper was surrounded by John Deere Tractors.




Diana created an Adorable "DIAPER CAKE" which was made with PAMPERS and assorted baby accessories.




We played three games. The first was "Animals and their Babies Name game. This was much harder than it sounds. We listed 25 animal names, and guests filled in the baby names accordingly. However, several stumpers...including, OWL and Turtle. Do you have any idea what those babies are called?



Game number two was simple-- guests wrote the name JOHN DEERE vertically, then wrote a baby boy's name next to each letter than began with that letter (J-Joe, O-Oliver, etc.) The winner was the guest that chose the highest number of the same names Kecia chose.









The third game, yellow and green yarn and a pair of scissors were passed around to each guest. They chose a yarn and cut to the length they thought were fit around Kecia's growing belly. The winner was Delta whose yarn length was closest to Kecia's belly diameter (trust me- it wasn't much-- Kecia is due in 2 weeks and from the back you can't even tell she's with child!)



Door Prize was awarded to the guest who had a simple JOHN DEERE TRACTOR sticker on the bottom of her plate.

Kecia's childhood friend Gena, helped write down gifts/giver's so Kecia could thank her guests later on.



Some of the guests...






Now, we're all just waiting for this DEERE Baby's arrival.

*The shower was held in the Sam Mitchell Community Room. A room that a local lawyer has set aside for community members to use AT NO CHARGE! (I LOVE it when people decide to give back to their community!)

*For more Baby shower ideas, click here:
SHE'S ABOUT TO POP! Baby Shower

BABY BOY shower

It's a Baby SHower!

One of my best friends became a Grandma yesterday and I must admit- I can't wait to experience this for myself. A new little bundle of joy entered our world and I am once again just blown away by the handiwork of God. I literally stand in awe at His creation!

I love babies-don't they just give you hope?

I always love giving baby showers and thought I'd share of few photos of the latest shower we gave to welcome this new little guy into the world.

There was no particular theme, but blue and brown were the colors chosen and we carried it out throughout the shower.

As guests arrived, this was the entrance table that held a bottle of Raisinettes for guests to guess the amount of candy pieces in the bottle- to win a prize.




On the card for their estimation was also a place for them to write their name and address so the new Momma could send thank you cards to the generous guests. In addition to the baby balloon bouquet,simple brown gift bags with blue tissue paper added to the decor and also housed a couple of the gifts for the winners. A pair of baby socks and booties was added to the table decor as well.



We created a little clothesline of new Onesies and socks to hang above the gift table.





The dessert table included two chocolate fountains. One was white chocolate that was tinted blue for dipping marshmallows and football shaped pretzels. The other was semi-sweet chocolate for dipping strawberries and pineapple.








The cake was beautifully decorated by a local gal who we all love, and one side of the sheetcake was chocolate, the other was white.



Famous JP cookies (these were DELICIOUS) were also on hand. These are a basic sugar cookie with decorater icing that are the most requested cookie in our parts, made by Jaye Palmer, the cake decorator.



The Mom chose raspberry punch which although delicious, did NOT match the color scheme so it drove me crazy, but only for a moment! ;)




The tables were decorated in plain white tablecloths, with the same brown gift bags with blue tissue paper in them, and some curly wired blue ribbon down the center of the table. (I forgot to get a photo).

While the Mom to be opened her gifts, we played a CD of Lullabies and randomly drew names (from the cards the guests had filled out earlier)for the door prizes. We chose to not play games, and surprisingly, the guests were happy about that!

We also passed around a book for the guests to sign to give this first time Momma some tips and advice on raising the new little boy....who is now here!

Welcome to the world little guy! We love you already.

Party Caramel Corn

Butterscotch Popcorn


Yesterday I shared about the popcorn themed baby shower my cousin and I threw for a relative pregnant with twins.

I shared the cupcake recipe yesterday, the Miniature Popcorn Balls recipe will be posted tomorrow and today I will share the recipes for a variety of caramel corn flavors that were prepared by my cousin Angie.

This popcorn themed party was a blast, and I think would also lend itself nicely to a Circus themed party as a well as a Movie Night theme.

You don't need a theme, party, or even a good reason to enjoy caramel corn though.

So, here are a few of my cousin's recipes you can make and enjoy anytime.


Butterscotch Caramel Corn

10 C. cooked popcorn
1 C. salted peanuts
10oz pkg. butterscotch chips
3/4 C. lt. corn syrup
2 Tbsp. butter

Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Place popcorn and peanuts in pan. combine chips, syrup and butter in saucepan. Over medium heat, cook until mixture boils; stirring constantly. Pour over popcorn and nuts. stir to coat. Bake 250 for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 or 6 minutes. Remove from oven, stir every 2 minutes until slightly cooled. Dump onto wax paper. Cool completely.


Toffee Almond Crunch

1 C. butter
2 C. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C. lt. corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 quarts popped corn
1 1/2 C. slivered almonds
1 1/2 C. heath bar chips

Place popcorn and almonds in a lg. greased roasting pan. in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add butter, sugar, syrup, and salt. bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. pour over popcorn and nuts, stirring to coat. Bake in a preheated 250 oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for one hour. remove from oven. Pour onto greased cookie sheet or wax paper sprinkle with crushed heath bar chips. Cool completely, break into pieces.

(OOPS! Forgot to add baking soda and extract....still came out great.)

Maple Spice Crunch

1-1/3 C. granulated sugar
1 C. butter
1/4 C. maple syrup
1/4 C. lt. corn syrup
1/4 sp salt
1 tsp maple extract
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
10 C. popped corn
1 1/2 C. chopped pecans

Place popcorn and nuts in a large greased roasting pan. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, bring sugar, butter, maple syrup, corn syrup and salt to a boil; stirring constantly. Boil another 4 minutes. remove from heat, stir in maple extract. pour over popcorn and nuts; stir to coat. Bake 250 degrees for 1-hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Pour onto lightly greased cookie sheet or wax paper. Break into bite-size pieces.

ENJOY!

She's about to pop!

Saturday, my cousin Angie and I hosted a baby shower for a relative, Cheryl, who is pregnant with twins.

We didn't want it to be an ordinary shower, and wanted a clever theme other than NOAH'S ARK for a twins shower.

We found an idea for a theme we liked, and then tweaked it to suit our tastes, and came up with one of the most fun and unique showers either one of us has attended!

Since poor Cheryl still has about a month to go and is already pretty miserable (bless her heart), our theme for the shower was perfect..."SHE'S ABOUT TO POP!"

The entire shower was designed around a POPCORN THEME and was a big hit!

The invitations were designed by Angie on the computer and included a popcorn bucket with a couple of kernels with the babies' names in the kernels, inviting everyone to come and shower these babies because, Mamma's about to POP!

The shower decor consisted of white tablecloths, red plates/cups/napkins with red white and yellow balloon bouquets on each table with a bucket of homemade caramel corn for snacks. Each table had different flavors in their bowls and guests enjoyed swapping out the treats with others from different tables.



A POPCORN BAR was the big hit of the party.



Angie had popped a very large bucket full of plain popcorn. We then set out different "topping" that guests could choose from to make their own popcorn concoctions.



We purchased white paper bags for guests to put their popcorn creations in, or they could use plates.

Different toppings included:
CANDY
Milk Duds, M & Ms and Reece's Pieces.

SEASONINGS:
Ranch
White Cheddar
Cinnamon and Sugar
Garlic Parmesan.

We also had butter flavored oil for the more traditional popcorn lovers.

Angie also made these adorable miniature popcorn balls on a stick, that had been drizzled in caramel and chocolate.




I made the "POPCORN" CUPCAKES.



I thought they turned out really cute and I even had some help decorating from my little cousin Hannah, so this would be a fun treat to make with kids.

I baked two different flavors; Lemon, and chocolate with some help from my good friend Betty (as in Crocker), but of course, you could make your favorite homemade recipe.Then iced them with homemade butter cream frosting, ( or you could use a store bought variety)topped them with miniature marshmallows (it took two bags!) and sprinkled them with yellow sugar sprinkles. They were really cute baked inside the red/white striped liners.

They did resemble little popcorn containers.
I think these would be cute to serve at any child's party or a movie themed party.

Cheryl was a great sport, and of course received many nice gifts for her upcoming arrivals.





Tomorrow, I will share the recipes to the popcorn mixes.

Today was just a teaser for those!

*This is the icing recipe I used on the cupcakes.






BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk


In large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, vanilla and milk until smooth. If necessary add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency. Mix everything well. Spread on cooled cake/cupcakes.

Tune in tomorrow for the delicious caramel corn recipes!