New Years Eve DIY: How to sugar your champagne flute rims

So as I alluded to in my post earlier this week, people went crazy for this pic of sugar rimmed champ flutes:

I mean, they were knocking down my door and calling me non-stop to figure out how I make those glasses sparkle! Okay, I'm totes exaggerating but I really did get a LOT of inquiries via all forms of Social Media. A tutorial was definitely in order. I wish it was complicated and hard and you could be impressed with my amazing skills, but the truth is it couldn't be simpler. Let's just keep that our little secret, okay? Without further ado and just in the nick of time before we sing Auld Lang Syne, we're off:

Here's all you need:

Champagne flutes (btw, these are stemless from World Market and I'm obsessed. I got them last NYE.)

Water 

Sugar sprinkles

Bubbles - Champ or if you prefer (like I do) Prosecco

Hold on to your hats for this seriously hard and in-depth tutorial:

Spread out your golden sugar in a heap on a flat plate. I'm talking a heap, don't be shy.

Dip the rim of your flute in a bowl of water or get crazy and run it under the faucet for a quick sec.

Immediately put the wet rim in the heap of sugar. 

I like to swirl mine around to make sure the rim is evenly covered.

And there you have it - it's a miracle! Sugared rim that stays on! I have to say that this is really sturdy, it stays on like glue even after you drink out of the glass. If you get a little sparkle on your lips who cares, it will only make your NYE kiss even better, right? 

Side note - how adorbs is this LaMarca Prosecco mini bottle (although lets be serious, we'd need a whole bottle thank you very much)? This is my favorite type of Prosecco in case you're wondering.

Cheers and Best Wishes to a 2015 filled with sugared rims and more! Oh, and I'll get to that pesky old announcement in a week or so...here's a hint...it's not a baby. Sorry mom! 

Dips and Parties and More!

And just like that Christmas is over for another year. It's always a little sad, but at least for us in the Fo house we've got another week of relaxation before we get back to the grind. As much of a grind as we have because let's face it, our jobs are pretty sweet. Selling beer and planning parties. Sometimes "faux" parties. It's not too bad. 

Speaking of something that's not too bad, how about this amazeballs Pesto Goat Cheese Dip I blogged about over at Bon Bon Rose Girls? If you want a 3 ingredient dip that's amazing and involves literally zero cooking, you will LOVE this. But you'll have to head over to the post to get the full deets and ingredients!

In other news, I threw an adorable holiday tea and cookie decorating party over at Momtrends the weekend before Christmas. This part was complimented by decor from Ikea and cookie decorating materials from Betty Crocker. Here's a few preview pics, but for all the tea and cookie cuteness you'll have to head over to Momtrends to see the full party complete with adorable tablescapes and cute kiddos! You won't be sorry :)

 

I've got one more post before New Years Eve. Remember when I posted this picture from the Gold and Glitter Cookie Party?

Everyone was obsessed about the sugared rim champ flutes! So I'll be posting the super easy DIY so you can make your glasses sparkle for New Years Eve! 

Hope your vacay is continuing right along with ours!

Christmas Popcorn

It's currently December 21st and I cannot believe how the time has flown! I feel like it was just summertime and now we're breaking out the "Merry Christmas" and entertaining guests for the holidays. If you're among the many entertaining for Christmas, you need something fast and tasty you can whip up for guests. You're in luck - my caramel chocolate popcorn is just that!

Remember those big holiday popcorn tins that had 3 different popcorn varieties? Those were the best. To make my caramel chocolate popcorn, I've used Cosmos Creations which has a huge variety of flavors from salty to sweet and best of all is gluten free, non-GMO and no trans fat. So you can snack guilt free! Until you add the chocolate...

I used Cosmos Salted Caramel popcorn as the popcorn base because it's perfectly sweet and a little salty to boot! I then added festive red and green M and Ms. 

The final touch was drizzling melted chocolate over the popcorn. The more the better I say! Let it cool a bit and you're ready to put out a big bowl for your hungry holiday guests. 

Enjoy the chocolately crunch and good luck with your last minute holiday shopping...I know you're doing it!!! 

I received free samples in order to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.

Gold and Glitter: Sixth Annual Cookie Party

This time of year you can usually find me covered in glitter. Mostly because I like sparkly wrapping paper, what can I say? But this year I've been extra glittery because this years cookie party theme waaaaaaaas.......

......wait for it......

GOLD AND GLITTER! 

Ensue the squeals of delight. And also the house covered in glitter. And my face covered in glitter.  But it was our 6th annual cookie party, so I think glitter was due. You can check out  last years theme of (Winter Wonderland) here: Winter Wonderland

I have to say that might have been my favorite theme ever. Our guests seemed to agree :)

Here's how you achieve the best gold and glitter party eva - literally clear out your entire town's inventory of gold and glitter. Gold candlesticks, vases, ornaments, glittery sleighs, glittery reindeer - you name it - we had it. Drew (my sister in law duh) and I were like addicts, we needed more gold and glitter and we needed it NOW. For a straight week our entire texts conversations consisted of the words #goldandglitter. 

I think we're back to normal now.  Although I swear I will never get the glitter out of my hair. Or car. Or house.

Luckily my moms house (where we hold the party) is always beautifully decorated for Christmas, including garland with gold ribbon lining the stairs.

We decorated the mantel with golden packages, gold trees and obviously had some glittery reindeer grazing in the snow. I loved the way the mantel turned out. The glittery reindeer were a last minute impulse by from HomeGoods the morning of the party. Yes, we were scrambling for glitter hours before the party, what can I say. ADDICTED. 

We had a signature cocktail which was really just Prosecco with rims of golden sugar. Prosecco is such a big hit, serve it at your next party or holiday dinner and people will love it. People like feeling fancy ("I'm so fancy...."). 

When thinking about how I wanted to serve the Prosecco, I was kind of stumped. I didn't have a gold tray big enough and I didn't just want to put it on a table. I spied a gold framed mirror on my wall and decided to just pull it right off the wall and use it! It turned out great, although it will forever have glitter and gold sugar on it. Memories.....

Here I am pouring prosecco in a semi staged photo. But whatevs. Note that I am wearing a gold sequin dress in the middle of the day. I found it on the sale rack for $20 at a random store the day before. There wasn't an option to NOT got it. Gold sequins are a must for a gold and glitter party.

The cookie table was a labor of love as we searched far and wide for the perfect gold items for our centerpiece. We settled on a gold sleigh filled with ornaments, gold mercury candlesticks and gold trees.

I ordered this gold, glitter and cookies banner  from etsy. What can't you order from etsy? The answer is nothing.

Now for the stars of the show, the cookies! We had a great variety this year and some serious contenders of the winners. I don't think I actually got any photos of the winners because they were eaten so quickly! But here's a few for your virtual sugar high!

I hand stenciled the chevron pattern on the cookie identifier cards with a  gold paint pen. You might have seen the how-to on my last post. 

People got serious about their cookie voting. Are these girls talking about foreign policy? No. Debating about cookies. 

The cookies were piled on high for tasting and voting. 

Drew and I decided we wanted pretty pencils for our voting sheets so she spray painted pencils gold. As if there was any other way. I heart her.

Guys. Did you LOVE the #goldandglitter as much as we did? I hope so! It was such a glittery and fun party to plan. 

If you guys are hosting your own cookie party, you can get all of my tips at my latest article I wrote for Homes.com. 

I hope your holidays are going well and I can't WAIT for my big reveal of my fun news in early January. Have a merry merry happy happy day!