Young‘uns Love a Barnyard Bash

While a farm party theme is adaptable to folks of all ages, there’s no party for young children quite like the Barnyard Bash with its rich palette of primary colors and cast of party animals.

The Barnyard Bash Kit-N-Kaboodle is a great start for planning a special party for the youngest of young’uns. This party kit for 8 features bright red barn-shaped plates with friendly farm animals and cups dotted like spotted cows. Coordinating table cover, cutlery, balloons, curling ribbon and thank-you notes complete the basic set. Upgrade to the deluxe Kit-N-Kaboodle to add streamers, an Attach N’ Go Banner, mylar balloon and Candy Stripe white birthday candles.

ShindigZ offers a wagonload of decorative accessories and accents, too.

Take a gander at our Personalized Farm Yard Sign as a cute and colorful way to show guests they’ve reached the right barnyard.

Make hay with the Tractor Farm Photo Prop or the Personalized 3D Barn decoration for memorable pictures of the day.

Set a theme-perfect Farm Birthday Table in gingham and red paisley bandannas and “garnish” with farm animals and mini straw bales.

A Barnyard Bash is a time for dress-up and for classic, active games such as Horse, Duck-Duck-Goose, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey (or cow or pig).

Greet each guest with a straw hat and/or bandanna.

The Pull String Cow Piñata is a natural for this theme.

Line a child’s wagon with a blanket and some straw, and pull one or two riders at a time around the “barnyard.”

Stir up a batch of batch of dough for kids to create Pretzel Farm Animals (see recipe below).

Farm Animal Pretzel Dough Recipe

1 package yeast
4 cups flour
1½ cups warm water
1 egg
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt.

In a large bowl mix yeast, water, sugar and salt. Stir in flour. Knead on table until dough is smooth. After the kids have washed their hands, give each child a ball of dough to work with into animal shapes. Brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with salt. The kids move on to the next adventure while the pretzels bake in a 425°F oven for 15 minutes or until browned. Cool to room temperature and enjoy!

Sure as spotted cows say, “Moo,” ShindigZ surely can help you plan a bodacious Barnyard Bash or other Farm Birthday Party!

Crowd-Pleasing Dips for a Graduation Bash

As you plan the menu for a graduation party, take into account what type of party you are having and the time of day you are having it. For example, if you are having an open house in the middle of the afternoon, it’s perfectly appropriate to stick with very light refreshments such as cake and punch or a small dessert or “nibbles” table, especially if you are aware that groups of graduates will be “making the rounds” of several open houses on the same day.

What you don’t want to do is to leave all the food prep for the day of the party, and the cooking you do on that day should be as simple as possible so you can actually enjoy the party you’ve planned! With these rules in mind, we offer recipes for dips we’ve found to be great crowd-pleasers yet very easy to make – and they look great on a buffet or snack table to boot!

Keep prepared cold dips and sauces in the fridge up to the last possible moment before serving. Warm dips can be kept warm in a crock pot, warmer, or 200°F oven until serving time.

Cream Cheese Dip: Purchase cream cheese in block form, and top the block with any type of salsa, cocktail sauce and crabmeat, green pepper jelly, or jam (any flavor works, but apricot is delicious!). If you are feeling adventurous, combine a couple of packages, and mold them into the shape of a graduation cap. Serve with a variety of crackers. Triscuit™ thins are perfect with this dip.

Baked Brie: Hollow out a big round or oval loaf of Italian or sourdough bread, cutting the bread so that you have a “lid”. Fill the hole with Brie cheese, and put the lid back on. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Serve with small chunks of bread, or crackers. If Brie is not to your taste, fill the bread with another type of dip. Creamy spinach dip would be a great alternative (in that case, don’t bake it).

Artichoke Dip: Mix 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 cup mayonnaise (“light” is OK, but we don’t recommend fat-free for this) and one 24 oz. can of artichoke hearts chopped into small pieces. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes, and serve with crackers. This dip can be served warm or at room temperature.

Cocktail Sauce: Use this in the cream cheese dip above, or in the classic way with chilled shrimp. Combine 1 cup of ketchup or chili sauce, 1-1/2 tablespoons of horseradish, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, a clove of finely minced garlic (optional), ½ teaspoon Worcester sauce and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Adjust ingredients and seasonings as desired, to taste. Serve on ice along with your seafood.

Easy Cheesy Dip: Add one large block of Velveeta Cheese, one 16 oz. can of chili without beans, and one 16 oz. jar of salsa to a crock pot. Stir occasionally. The dip is ready when the cheese is completely melted. Serve with bite-sized tortilla chips.

We hope these recipes are helpful to add to your repertoire as party planner extraordinaire. Find more party planning ideas at ShindigZ Graduation Party headquarters!

Host a Tea Party for Mother’s Day

Instead of brunch, how about hosting a Mother’s Day tea party this year? This is something that can be appreciated by moms, moms-in-law, grandmothers, aunts and other ladies in your life for whom you’d like to do something special.

Our Mother’s Day Cookies Banner is perfect for kicking off this get-together. Set a table in rose-red or Candy Pink Tableware, and bring on the flowers!

Tea parties were made for conversation. Try history – or, rather, herstory — activities with the guest(s) of honor:

Ask everyone to wear vintage hats or another fun dress-up item.

Generate a list of questions that elicit anecdotes about the family’s history. If appropriate for your group, assign one of the younger guests the task of recording the stories.

Ask guests in advance to write down their favorite memories to read, and to bring old photos to share.

Our contribution is a recipe for tea cakes, below.

Tea Cakes

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
powdered sugar with a tiny pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon salt per ¾ cup sugar) for dusting

Preheat oven to 325° F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour, salt, and ground nuts; stir together until well combined. Chill dough for 1 hour. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets in rounded teaspoons. (Alternatively, you can roll the dough into balls, but return the dough to chill again if you do this. The dough must be chilled when you put it in the oven or it will spread too much.) Bake for 25 minutes or until bottoms are barely beginning to brown and tops look dry. Allow to cool for 10 minutes; roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely on a wire rack, and roll them in powdered sugar once more.

See our Mothers Day party pages for more ideas. We hope you enjoy your Mother’s Day!

Reasons to Celebrate in October

There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this October other than Halloween. Here are some great reasons to celebrate this month and be sure to check out our Party Calendar for reasons to party every month.

October is National Chili Month. Celebrate with a chili potluck dinner. Each guest can bring their own favorite chili recipe. You could even turn it into a competition! A chili party makes a great family get-together, block party or church event.

Decorate for your chili party with our awesome fiesta decorations. A chili pepper garland will look awesome around your tables or the edge of the party room. Add chili pepper mylar balloons to red and green balloon bouquets for a really festive look. An inflatable chili pepper makes a fun accent too. Top off your tables with chili pepper confetti.

Sturdy crockery is a great option for serving the food at this type of party, but for appetizers and other snacks we have a cool Fiesta Tableware Ensemble, perfect for matching your chili theme.

We have great favors for a chili party too! Pass out blinking chili pepper pins, chili pepper bracelets or chili pepper beads to guests!

Here’s our favorite chili recipe. It’s great served over Frito’s corn chips!

Ingredients:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef
½ lb Whole Hog Sausage
2 cans Tomato Sauce
1 small can Tomato Paste
1 large Onion
1 large Green Bell Pepper
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 cans Red Kidney Beans

Brown meats in skillet until well done. Drain grease. Mince onions and peppers (may use food processor).

Mix all ingredients and cook. Mixture will cook fast (about 15 minutes) or you can cook in a crock-pot in 4-12 hours.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: If milder chili is preferred, cut chili powder and black pepper in half.

All during October, people enjoy hosting their own spin-offs of the original Oktoberfest in Germany. Check out our Oktoberfest Tips for tons of ideas to host your Oktoberfest party. If you have German heritage, this is an especially great idea!

A personalized Oktoberfest standee makes a great entrance piece to any Oktoberfest celebration. Add some beer stein cutouts and Oktoberfest whirls to the walls and ceiling for a 3D effect.

Beer mug candles make great favors!

October 20, 22007 is Sweetest Day, a day to celebrate anyone in your life who is sweet! Sweetest Day is celebrated similarly to Valentine’s Day but without the romantic overtones. Take the day as an opportunity to thank and pamper someone special in your life or host a party to celebrate your best friends, family or coworkers!

Surprise your sweet with a bouquet of flowers, Valentine’s balloons or candy hearts candles. Decorate for a party with lots of die-cut hearts, silk rose petals and a great personalized banner letting everyone know just how much you care.

There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this October! Let us know why you’re hosting parties!

More reasons to celebrate:
National Roller Skating Month * Columbus Day *1- World Vegetarian Day * 2- Ghandi’s Birthday * 4- National Golf Day * 4- National Taco Day * 6- German-American Day (Oktoberfest!) * 6- Mad Hatter Day * 8- Native Americans’ Day * 8- Great Chicago Fire Day * 11- It’s My Party Day * 13- Take your Teddy Bear to Work Day * 14- National Dessert Day * 16- National Boss Day * 20- Sweetest Day * 21- Sunday School Appreciation Day * 22- United Nations Day * 23- National Nut Day * 29- Bring your Jack-o-Lantern to Work Day * 30- National Candy Corn Day * 31- Halloween * 31- National Magic Day *