{FUN PARTY FOOD} Ideas for the 4th of July

I am sharing a few FUN FOOD ideas to incorporate into your 4th of July festivities this weekend

How about this yummy dessert? Fruit Trifle Dessert

I just used a {big} tub of cool whip, 1 angel food cake, strawberries & blueberries.

I broke up the pieces of angel food cake, dropped them in the trifle bowl then repeated layers of angel food cake, whip cream, strawberries, cake, whip cream, blueberries . . . until I got to the top. Spread another layer of cool whip (to create my 'blank' canvas) made a "star" shape out of the strawberries & then filled in with the blueberries. Simple + delish!

Next up brownie bites! YUM!

Super simple. Go to your local grocery store, buy them & then just jazz them up by putting them in cute cup holders (I think I found these at JoAnns) & decorate them with little mini flags, etc.

If you have some time to 'bake' something yourself, how about rolling out some sugar cookie dough, grabbing a star shaped cookie cutter & making some patriotic star shaped cookies

AND last but not least - my FAVORITE! This is an idea that has been done time & time again - I think it calls for baking the cupcakes IN the cones. Well I decided to try it withOUT baking in the cones. I just ran to the store, picked up some already made cupcakes, a box of cake cones (jumbo size for these), & took them home. Take the cupcake wrapper off the cupcake & pushed them down into the cones. No worries if you mess up the icing - either fix it the best you can or re-ice them. Either way - they are so CUTE, no one will care if they aren't perfect! Oh - btw - I also added some patriotic sprinkles to them to "hide" my fingerprints! heehee

Enjoy your weekend everyone & have a FABULOUS 4th of July!

 
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{DIY PARTY DECOR} On a budget for the 4th of July

hello everyone 

Today I wanted to share with you a couple tips on HOW to make the super EASY & FUN grass table skirt & the grass skirt garland pictured here.

First up . . . the table grass skirt!

Supplies you will need & the "how-to":

1. measure your table to "guess" how many grass skirts to buy to go around the table you will be making this for

2. head on over to The Dollar Tree & pick up that many grass skirts

(for the one pictured here I used 3)

3. take them out of the packages & tie them all together so it looks like 

1 big continuous grass skirt

4. for the banner: I used the LUAU banner that comes in the

Americana Luau collection, printed it out, sliced small holes in it at the top left & right & then took a piece of the 'grass' from the grass skirt tableskirt 

& tied it together

5. that's IT! Simple . . . FESTIVE . . .and only $4 (including printing)

Next up . . . the grass skirt garland!

Now this was one of those ideas that just "hit you" when you're out purchasing supplies for a party & it just comes together  (kinda like 'magic' - lol) 

I don't know, I think it turned out pretty cool - what do you think?

Supplies you will need & the "how-to":

1. head on over to The Dollar Tree & pick up 1 pack of red 'goodie' bags

& 1 pack of blue 'goodie' bags 

(they came 10 in a pack so I figured that would be pleeeeeenty long enough)

2. while you are still at the Dollar Tree pick up an extra grass skirt to use specifically for this garland

3. the 1st thing I did was, using my paper hole punch, punched holes in both sides of the paper bags towards the top . . .say about an inch down

4.get out that glue gun & fire her up! 

5. I printed out the 4" circles from the Americana Luau collection,

cut them out & glued them to only about a third of the bags 

(you decide how many you would like & then print the appropriate amount)

6. I then took the 'extra' grass skirt & a pair of scissors & determined how 'long' I wanted the 'skirt' to be hanging off the bags . . .I believe I did about 12 in. & then just cut that length off the skirt to glue to the bags

7. open up one of the paper bags & turn it upside down, run the hot glue gun all around the edges (on the inside bottom) & adhere the grass skirt pieces until you achieve the 'look' you want

** a couple tips on this - you WILL get your fingers glued. I would advise doing 1 side at a time with the gluing as if you are like me, I had to be particular as to lining up the pieces of the 'skirt' just so! =)

8. continue gluing the 'skirt' to the bottom of all your paper bags until you have done them all

9. I used just a long piece of white curling ribbon to "thread" through all of the garland bags (where you put the hole punches) until they were all hanging on the ribbon

8. that's IT! Again . . .a FUN, festive-looking DIY decor that was $4

Tune in tomorrow for a post about some FUN food ideas!

Are you loving the "eye candy" here? 

 

Then join me over on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Instagram so you never miss out on an exclusive deal or any behind the scenes photos!

Check out my designs, artwork & decor in my Etsy shop! 

  Looking forward to seeing you again! :)

{WINNER} of the 3 Little Birds Boutique prize - was it YOU?

 

 THANK YOU all so much for participating in this giveaway & for extending some love to my friend Kristen from 3 Little Birds Boutique. 

It was so much FUN doing this giveaway with her & I am sure she will be a vendor again here in the future on other giveaways! We look forward to that!

THANK YOU Kristen for allowing me to feature you here on my blog!

It was fun! xoxo

 

OK - who wants to know who WON??!!

it was . . .  .

 

melissa newell

 

the winning comment was . . . 

 

" I LOVE their Mama bird necklace too!"

 

melissa
mnewell0293@gmail.com 

 

 

Please make sure & email me at laura@eyecandyeventdetails.com

within 48 hours to claim your prize Melissa!

 

 

THANK YOU all again ~ enjoy your day!

 

{3 Little Birds Boutique} my friend, my review, a 2-DAY GIVEAWAY!

** this giveaway is now CLOSED **

(6-28-11 11pm EST)

hey everyone

Do I have some 'eye candy' to share with you today!

I want to share with you . . . my friend, MY review + a GIVEAWAY with you!

 

I so want to introduce you to one of the sweetest women I have had the pleasure of knowing - Kristen.

Kristen is the owner, founder, and uber talented force behind 

3 Little Birds Boutique She creates boutique quality custom hand stamped sterling silver jewelry. They are GOR-GEOUSSSSSS!

Kristen & I started chatting online before the Martha Stewart's "Dreamers into Doers" event held in January of this year in NYC & when we got to finally meet, we bonded & our friendship has grown & I am so thankful to have met her & very proud to call her my friend. =)

I have ordered a few pieces from her collection & with each piece I order, I desire to order another . . .and another . . 

so this LAST time I ordered a beautiful piece called the Landen - as I wanted a piece that had my daughter's name on it. Look how beautiful!

We had also discussed me getting some additional pieces from her latest collection & I couldn't make up my mind which pieces to get, so what did I do?  . . got a few pieces! =)

RINGS! BIG flower RINGS! I love me some rings . . .I have a somewhat 

{large} collection but I neeeeeeded these! LOVE both of them - I have gotten sooooo many compliments! 

And what about the necklace to match?

And do you LOVE how my nail polish coordinates with this ring?

{ I promise I did NOT plan that - lol}

I also got this hot pick vintage band with a smaller black flower ring . . .ooooo  I LOVE pink! lol

and it doesn't stop there . . . 

matching earrings & a larger flower on a silver vintage ring base? LOVE!

and my FAVORITE piece ever! This one is special to me because it has so many pieces on it that mean something and/ or important to me.

This is truly a masterpiece & it came out PERFECT!

And this is one of my FAVORITE parts about getting packages from Kristen - LOOK at this packaging? I loooooooove her packaging & all the little details - so well thought out . . . Told ya! - just makes you want to order MORE! =) 

So what do you think? Are you all in LOVE with her AMAZING creations?

So now that you know how much I LOVE Kristen's FUN shop - 3 Little Birds Boutique . . . here's to hoping you LOVE her as much!

You will have your choice of these 

3 options if you WIN:

option #1 - 'The Landen' - personalized & choice of stone

option #2 - 'the BEACH' - personalized how you choose

option #3 - 'Summer in Bloom' set - ANY color flower necklace, 

ring & coordinating earrings from Etsy

 photo courtesy of Courtney:  http://smallbeginningsphoto.blogspot.com/

Are you ready for the GIVEAWAY details?

To enter:

you MUST be a fan of 3 Little Birds Boutique on Facebook

AND

Eye Candy Event Details on Facebook 

BEFORE entering!

** ** ** **

entry #1:

Visit 3 Little Birds Boutique's website, 

take a look around & come back here & leave a comment telling me your favorite item from 3LBB!

*extra entries *

entry #2:

Follow 3 Little Birds Boutique's blog  & come back here & 

leave a comment telling me you are!

entry #3:

Follow 3 Little Birds Boutique's on Twitter & leave a comment letting me know.

entry #4:

Share this giveaway on your FB page by copying & pasting 

THIS comment: 

"Check out the 2-day ONLY giveaway with @3 little birds boutique over on @eye candy event details page! WINNER gets their choice of new items!"

(making sure to use the @symbol in front of 3LBB & ECED when posting to tag us both)

entry #5:

Visit 3 Little Birds Boutique's on Etsy & come back here & leave a comment telling me your favorite item in her shop!

entry #6:

Follow Eye Candy Event Details blog & come back here & leave a comment telling me you are!

This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with facebook. Participants are providing information to Eye Candy Event Details & not Facebook. 

Winner will be chosen Tuesday June 28th 2011 at 11pm (EST) using random.org. Winner will be announced on the blog Wednesday morning June 29th 2011. 

This giveaway is open to both U.S. residents & international.
U.S. residents will get FREE shipping, International friends will just be
required to cover the cost of shipping.

Thanks for letting me share with you today & good luck to you all!

{American Luau} Real party celebrating good American FUN!

Hope you are READY for LOTS of 'eye candy"!
I am sharing will all of you my pics from the "Americana Luau" party that I designed & styled for our Memorial Day bash! This collection could easily be used for a 4th of July party as well. The whole point in designing this collection was so it could be used for a variety of "american holidays" as well as a military party or homecoming. 

 

Who doesn't just LOVE a good 'ol American summer bash or a great luau party?? So this one gives you BOTH - plenty of red, white & blue, great food, water balloons & yummy drinks! Who's ready to check out more pics?

 

With this party, I wanted to try & throw a FABULOUS party on a  . . . BUDGET! 

So I shopped at places like The Dollar Tree & the dollar bin at Target to see what I could create! With the food, I choose store bought on some of the items to prove that you can throw a fun party & still make budget . . trying fun little ideas, like the cupcake cones & brownie bites on skewers. Here's what I came up with:

The result of all the planning . . . a FUN, budget-friendly party for any "American" themed celebration - from Memorial Day to the 4th of July to a military party!

I found a lot of the fun patriotic trays, the grass skirt, the red, white & blue leis & all the supplies for the grass skirt garland at The Dollar Tree. I promise I will work on a blog post on HOW to make these & how affordable they were. Grass skirt garland cost about $4 & the grass table skirt cost about $3.

I used store bought food for the most part to save time. I got brownie bites & dressed them up by putting them in decorative cups & then created 2 brownie bite décor displays by putting them on skewers in a patriotic pot I found in the dollar bin at Target - I think it worked out perfectly for some added fun to the table.

and here's the brownie "pots" using the brownie bites, putting them on skewers & then inserting them into pots found in the dollar section at Target. (used a styrofoam form in the bottom & covered w/ leftover "grass" from the skirts).

For the cupcakes, I bought those, already iced, took off the cupcake wrappers & put them into the ice cream cones & dressed them up, with some of the toppers from the collection. The platter they are sitting on is one I found at The Dollar Tree & I found this cute little red beach chair at The Christmas Tree Shops. Adding the umbrellas (that come in the collection) to the ones in the beach chair really gave it a luau 'vibe'.

I picked up candy - Tootsie Rolls & Tootsie Roll Pops at the Dollar Tree & decided to make a candy tree using both of them & then inserting a skewer with curling ribbon on the top for added décor. Cost effective & simple! 

The only thing I made ahead of time was the star cookies & the patriotic trifle dessert. The cookies were just a box sugar cookie recipe & then I decorated them myself. 

 

The trifle dessert was angel food cake, whip cream, sliced strawberries & blueberries layered.  I created a star design on top out of the strawberries & blueberries.  

The pina colada was the drink of choice for the day as it just exudes SUMMER! We decided to hollow out pineapples, mix it up & drink them straight out of the pineapples - so delish!

The guests had a blast having a water balloon toss that turned into a full blown water balloon fight in the afternoon! We also had red, white & blue leis (found at The Dollar Tree) for everyone to wear & get in the mood for the "Americana Luau". All in all, we had a blast & it was a FUN theme to have for a party!

If you want to throw your own "Americana Luau" 4h of July party or a summer luau or military homecoming party, you can find the printable collection here in my Etsy shop.

So what do you all think? I would LOVE for you to leave me a comment as I so love hearing from you guys. If you have a specific question about anything in this post you can ask here or simply email me at laura@eyecandycs.com

Are you loving the "eye candy" here? 

Then join me over on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Instagram so you never miss out on an exclusive deal or any behind the scenes photos!

Check out my designs, artwork & decor in my Etsy shop! 

Looking forward to seeing you again! :)