Engagement Parties and Bridal Shower Ideas: Throw a Breakfast at Tiffany's Party

Today was the Breakfast at Bromberg's wedding planning event in Birmingham. What a fun party! Bromberg's is to the South what Tiffany & Company is to New York; generations of area brides have trusted Bromberg's for their wedding rings and bridal registries. Since I am Bromberg's wedding expert, I was on hand to participate in all of the festivities. 

The party was a spin on the classic film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Brides-to-be enjoyed a yummy breakfast buffet among the diamonds and dishes as they met with area wedding professionals to get wedding planning ideas and information. Attendees dressed like the legendary Audrey Hepburn character Holly Golightly had a chance to win a strand of cultured pearls and all of the brides got gifts and won prizes, too. It was tons of girlie dress-up fun for everyone and a unique party theme for an engagement party, bridal shower or your next girl's night party. Have guests dress up in their favorite little black dress and strands of pearls as you watch the movie, drink champagne or martinis and blow off all of your wedding planning stress. Check out the fun in the photo gallery and get ideas for your own Breakfast at Tiffany's party! 

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Update on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 8:18PM by Martie Duncan

So many people have asked for more ideas for a Breakfast at Tiffany shower! Here are a few other suggestions: Serve mini cakes for each guest in Tiffany blue with the signature white bow. (Cake by The Cake Girls Chicago) Send Tiffany blue box invitations from Fine Stationery to let your guests know what the party is all about. Be sure to give instructions if guests are to dress like a character from the movie, like we did for our party. Here are more party pics:    

Holiday Decorations for the Kids

Once again my precious niece Kaitlin has put together some adorable decorations for our family's holiday gathering. She used apples, peanuts, almonds, some googly craft eyes and a paper napkin folded as the big bird's tail feathers. Aren't they great? Keep these apple turkey centerpieces in mind for next year, or add a wide black, some cotton and you've got a cute Santa. We'll have photos of those soon for your kid's holiday party decorations. And there's no waste because you can peel and eat these later! Thanks Katie! You're the best!

Easy Entertaining: Endive Leaves with Herbed Goat Cheese

Need an idea for an easy appetizer for Thanksgiving or your holiday parties? Try this one--- it is so simple to make and everyone always asks for the recipe. You can use this base recipe of goat cheese and cream cheese for so many things. You can use your favorite herbs or flavors along wtih chicken, shrimp or salmon for example. You can omit the herbs and make it sweet by adding chocolate. There are just so many variations and possibilities with this recipe, you will want to put it in your go-to file any time guests pop over.

ENDIVE LEAVES WITH HERBED GOAT CHEESE SPREAD

Endive is a leaf vegetable in the lettuce family. If you can’t find it, you can substitute another lettuce or almost any other vegetable. The goat cheese spread can be spread on toasted bread or served with crackers. It is an easy, go-to appetizer recipe for almost any occasion and looks really festive on the endive leaves.

Two or three heads endive

6 ounces (3/4 cup) goat cheese, softened

2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together (except the endive) with a fork, stirring until fluffy. Spread on the base of the endive leaves, crackers, celery or almost anything else. Yum.

Last Minute Halloween Decorating

It seems to me as if we've been celebrating Halloween for quite a while now since we've been talking about it for so long. Well, the big day is finally here and we're getting everything ready to greet the kids stopping by my fabulous friend and photographer Arden's house.

We've pulled together a quickie Halloween party table complete with easy decorations, creeeeepy chocolate gummy worm cupcakes, eyeball punch, and lots of treats for the kiddies. If you still have to decorate for tonight--- here's the easiest solution for a centerpiece or front porch decoration. It's a plastic version of our Pumpkin People that so many of you commented on but there's no carving and no mess. Simply take three of the plastic Halloween pumpkins you buy for trick or treating. They have them everywhere. I got these at Walgreen's for only 29 cents each! Before you stack them, pop in a flameless votive, mini flashlight, or a tiny round LED like I used. They will light up the centerpiece from inside. The pumpkins have a rim on the bottom so they stack easily, but I secured them with a little double stick tape. Now simply dress or accesorize your people with a hat, scarf of spider webs, or anything else you might have around. This centerpiece cost less than $4 and all of the kids love it! I took all of these pictures with my iPhone as we went along so we could rush them to the blog in time for you to have them today for your party tonight! Happy Halloween!

SECOND HELPING: Easy to Make Pumpkin People

After so many requests, here are the pumpkin people again. Cool weather, football games, leaves just beginning to change--- it's finally fall. Fall is my favorite time of the year and I am working on decorating and party ideas for everything we've got going on.  

How to Make Pumpkin People

Look at these adorable pumpkin people my brother Jeff carved! That's my niece Sarah in the picture. These are so easy to make and are so much fun for the kiddies. You'll need three pumpkins in graduated sizes and a dowel, broomstick, stake, or piece of pipe or PVC for each pumpklin person plus "accessories" to dress them up. First, carve your favorite pumpkin face. Next, stack up your pumpkins to see how they fit together naturally. Next, drill a hole in the top of the bottom pumpkin and insert the dowel until it hits the bottom. Drill a hole in the top and bottom of the middle pumpkin and thread it onto the dowel. Last, drill a hole in the bottom of your carved pumpkin (the face) and place it on the top. Decorate with buttons, flowers, a hat, etc. FYI- I just made some of these and cheated a little and used carpet tape to stick the pumpkins together since I didn't have a drill handy and it worked great.  For more unique pumpkin carving ideas, check out MSN's article with all kinds of decorating ideas. Some don't even require carving.

Special thanks to my brother Jeff for sharing with us.

Party on, ya'll.