At-Home Tailgate Ideas

While at this time of year tailgating is still sunny and enjoyable, we're fastly approaching the season of crisp air, rain, and even snow. This is when at-home tailgates work better. Below you will find all the components you'll need for throwing a successful at-home tailgate.


//1// Food

Chicken Parm Sliders // 7 Layer Drip // Crockpot BBQ Wings

//2// Booze

Game Day Yellowhammer // Local Beers //Blue Moon Orange Jellow Shots

//3// Outdoor Activites

Fire Pit // Cornhole // Backyard Touch Football

//4// Team Colors

//5// Decor

Football Party Mason Jars // DIY Astroturf Banner // DIY Food Labels

How to Have the Most Awesome At-Home Tailgate

As many of you have read I spent last weekend in the cold and rain tailgating at an MSU game. Not being a big football person, I was pretty miserable. This weekend marks the big Michigan State v. Michigan game - the biggest game of the year! Below you will find all the components you'll need for throwing a successful at-home tailgate.

Food.

 

Crock Pot Bourbon Glazed Kielbasa // Baked Ham and Cheese Party Sandwich // Seven Layer Dip

Booze.

Apple Cider Punch // Local Beers // Blue Moon Orange Jello Shots

Outdoor Activities. 



Team Colors.

Don't forget your friends, family, and a TV for viewing!

Galentine's Day Brunch - Gifts

Less than a week until Galentine's Day! It's time to finish up our brunch preperation with the purchasing of gifts! There is still time for you to pull together a brunch. Take this weekend and helpful tips from Parts I (Invites and Favors), II (Decor), and III (The Menu) to do so!



1. Gilligan and O'Malley pajama sets from Target. Not only does Gilligan and O'Malley offer affordable and comfy pajamas, they sell bras, panties, and lounge wear.

2. Weekender duffle bags for girls getaways! These are easy to find at any department store, Etsy, or Thirty One!

3. Diamond Candles... burn it down for a special suprise. Each candle includes a ring valued between $10 and $5,000.

4. Create your own glam bag. Glam bags are majorly popular right now! Pick out a makeup bag for each friend and stuff if full of their favorite products or share your favorite products.

5. Handmade jewelery. Handmade heart jewelery can commemorate your Galentine's Brunch. Esty has large array of affordable pieces to suit each of your friends.

I hope you have a very happy Galentine's Day and don't forget...

Galentine's Day Brunch - The Menu

Welcome to Part III of my Galentine's Day Brunch Series. You've figured out the invites, favors, and decor, so now it's time to decide on your food!

It's all about the sweet and savory for brunch. Personalize your menu by having your friends' favorite breakfast foods.

Mini Rainbow Pancakes

A great combination of pancakes, yogurt, and fresh fruit.

Heart Bacon 

Make your meat festive!

Mini Frittatas

Mini sized and easy to bite!

French Toast 

Serve French Toast triangles with a serving a syrup.

Yogurt Parfaits

Layer yogurt, fruit, and granola. Add to the Galetine's theme with cut out hearts on toothpicks.

Mimosa Bar 

A little something to wake everyone up!

Tea

Personalize tea bags with cut out hearts.

Red Velvet Oreos

Festive and homemade.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge

You can't go wrong with chocolate!

Join me for the fourth and final installment in the series, Galentine's Day Brunch - GIFTS, later this week!



Galentine's Day Brunch - Decor

When dealing with our husbands, family, and work our girlfriends can often be put on the back burner. Use February 13 as a special day just for them! Leave your men at home! Galentine's Day is a great way to celebrate with married, single, dating, engaged and divorced gal pals. It's all about love between friends!

Thank you for joining me for Part II of my four part Galentine's Day Brunch series. I have already covered favors and invitations, so today we will be talking about décor.

The décor sets the theme and tone of any party. There is so much you can convey to your guests just by the way the room is decorated and the way the food is presented. Will it be a casual or more formal get together? The key to décor at  a Galentine's Day Brunch is make the party seem warm, inviting, and intimate. There are so many different ways to decorate to keep with the Galentine's theme!

This table is very feminine and easy to put together. All you will need is a plain, white tablecloth, paper doilies from the craft store, mix and match dishes, votive candle holders, and your favorite vases.

Add fresh flowers to the vases from your super market. If you have a bigger budget, support your local florist by picking flowers from his or her shop.

Sheet music makes a unique and very feminine place setting. Are you a traveler? Use maps. You can also use book pages or create your own with your favorite love quotes. It's easy to make paper look old by simply dabbing it with a tea bag and let it dry.

The black and white striped table runner makes this table décor a little more modern. This setting still has feminine touches with the pink table cloth and fresh flowers. Try using mason jars with a single lace ribbon wrapped around them. Again, add fresh flowers from your grocery store, farmer's market, or florist.

This table offers a fun and flirty style with a mix of patterns. Try mixing stripes and polka dots! Pink rock candy makes for great centerpieces and take homes, and layering smaller paper plates on top of a larger paper plates makes using paper wear more elegant.


Tips:

• Ask your neighbors, family, and co workers for help. If you want to use china, but don't have any see what your gang can come up with. Some may uncover antiques and heirlooms that they are willing to let you use.
• It's not about how much you spend, but the effort you put into it. If you can only have the budget for paper plates and a paper tablecloth, then go with the paper wear! The main idea of the brunch is about being with friends! 
• Keep in mind that DIY and mix and match are very trendy right now!

Make sure to come back for Parts III and IV - food and gifts!

Galentine's Day Brunch - Invites and Favors

Mark February 13 on your calendar as a day to celebrate your lady friends with a Galentine's Day Brunch.

Today we are starting at the beginning and end with invitations and favors.

A Galentine's Day celebration is meant to be intimate with your closest friends. Keeping it small will allow you to take the time to make everything very special - starting with homemade invitations and ending with well thought out favors.

This invitation is very simple to make with a just a few supplies from your craft store. The main focus of this invitation is the white doily which are super easy to find this time of year! Feel free to use brown card stock or make it more vibrant by using card stock in a hue of red, pink, or puple. However, I think the simplicity of the brown is very pretty and feminine. Type your message on a complimentary color card stock, glue everything together, and tie it off with your material (yarn, twine, string, etc.)

All you need to do for this invitation is to round up some supplies from your local craft store and a favorite picture of you and the invitee. Pick a favorite picture that includes both you and your friend to really personalize this invitation. Create a book like fold with your main piece of card stock and use your favorite colors for layering inside.

I think favors are must for any gathering you are hosting. It's just good etiquette. I see favors as a way of saying, "thank you for making time to come." We all know time is a hot commodity. Everyone has very little of it! Think about giving a favor that is useful.

Every girl loves a mani/pedi. Pick out nail polishes in reds and pinks to keep with the Galentine's Day theme. Sinful Colors is a great brand because it only costs $1.99 per bottle. Tie a white ribbon around the neck of the bottle. Add a personalized thank you tag if you are feeling extra crafty!

"Sundaes" are a cute, useful favor. You'll need bath salts, disposable razors, bath puffs, wine glasses, and miniture candy bars for garnish. You can do whatever color combination you want with these, but again I like the pink and white because it's simple. Again, I'm all about the useful. Not only can you guests use the contents, but they will have  a nice wine glass to use as well! I would wrap this in cellophane for a finished look and to secure the contents.

Bookmarks are great favors for your studious and bookworm friends. Being a book worm myself I would love to get this homemade favor. For this you need ribbon, a heart hole punch which can be found in the scrapbooking section of any craft store, and paint cards from Home Depot or Lowes. Pick out your "paint chips" in Galentine's Day colors. The gradient looks so cool! For a more sturdy bookmark, see if your office has a laminator and laminate each paint card before punching holes in them. Punch a hole for the ribbon, tie it on, and your done!

Stay tuned as the series continues with gifts, decor, and food!

Galentine's Day: Celebrating Your Gal Pals

I've never been huge into Valentine's Day. Prior to my husband, I had one Valentine's date ever. When I was little my dad would get me a card and a new CD or candy or something small like that. Nick and I got married two weeks after Valentine's Day (March 1) and because of that and the fact that we're not really romantic people we usually just skip it.

However, there is a great thing called Galentine's Day that I can totally get behind.

When dealing with our husbands, family, and work our girlfriends can often be put on the back burner. Use February 13 as a special day just for them! Leave your men at home! Galentine's Day is a great way to celebrate with married, single, dating, engaged and divorced gal pals. It's all about love between friends!

The key to making a Galentine's get together amazing is to personalize it for you friends and make each one feel special. Your time and effort will most definitely be appreciated by your girls. Throw a tea party (perferably Downton Abbey themed), Girls Night In, Girls Night Out, host a brunch, or do a spa day.

This year I'll be focusing on sharing how to throw the perfect Galentine's Day Brunch complete with favors, decor, invitations, gifts, and food! So look for my upcoming Galentine's Day Brunch installments that will get your ready just in time for the big day!