Golden Harvest Table: Mark on Better TV
When planning your next Thanksgiving dinner with friends or family, it might be nice to incorporate a theme. This year I decided to come up with The Golden Harvest Table, featuring golden decor, signature fall cocktails, and harvest inspired foods. All these tips have been featured on my Thanksgiving segment on Better TV that aired on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011.
The Golden Harvest Table is also a great theme for any party, you can use it for a gathering of friends, an anniversary dinner, or just to spruce up a family dinner at home.
Click the links below for recipes, step by step instructions and images of the tips featured on Better TV!
Decor:
Harvest Candles
Gold Gilded Plates
Gold Gilded Fruit Decor
Food:
Gilded Chocolate Truffles
Fall Leaves Tuiles Cookies
Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Stilton Cheese Balls
Mini Bird Pies
Drinks:
Stewed Cranberry Punch
Baked Apple Pie
Pumpkin Spice Martini
Champagne Cranberry Cocktail
Pomegranate Hibiscus Fizz
DIY Children’s Birthday on a Budget: Mark on The Rachael Ray Show!
Have you ever wanted to throw your child an amazing birthday party but you were on a tight budget and didn’t think you could pull it all together with limited resources? I was asked to design a DIY children’s birthday party for Gretta Monahan’s son Kai’s first birthday to be featured on The Rachael Ray Show. I have come up with some creative and fun low budget ideas you can use for any party.
Click the links below for more information regarding the tips that were featured during the show.
Invitation
Making your own invitations is a fun way to make your party announcements unique and on theme, they are something your guests will keep and even wear to the party, such as sheriff badges for a cowboy theme, crowns for a princess theme or masks for a super hero theme.
Capes
A Super Hero is not complete without his attire. By repurposing plastic tablecloths, you can create capes for each child to decorate and wear during the party. They also double as a party favor! You can incorpaorate this into any theme party from Super Hero to Pretty Princess.
Centerpieces
Repurposing old vases you have collected over the years, you can create colorful and fun centerpieces using candy and Super Hero exclamations.
Photo Booth – Action Shots/Gotham box city
A MYO photo booth is a great way to engage your guest during the party and send them home with a reminder of how much fun they had during the party. Using craft paper or poster boards make your own backdrop and wrap used boxes to great your own Gotham City.
Clothes Line Photo Décor
To highlight the past year(s) of your child’s life, make a clothes line of pictures of your child with colorful clothes pins.
MYO ball pit
Bring Discovery Zone to your home! Repurposing a kiddie pool and using balloons or balls, you can create and fun and inexpensive activity for the children a ball pit!
Table Settings
Use inexpensive party supplies in multiple colors to set a festive tone to your table setting.
Candy Bags
Using small colored candy bags, decorate them according to your theme.
This is a great way to invite the children to take home the candy from the centerpieces.
Super Treats
A great way to entertain the children during the party is to have them create their own Super Treats.
The children will be able to MYO party mix using your favorite dried food items and a creative MYO cupcake station!
Downloadables
All of the templates for all our fun and creative tips are available here!!
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MYO Tablecloth Super Hero Cape
Using the same plastic tablecloths as the table setting cut them into four triangles by folding them in half (cut in two) and fold the halves into triangles (cut in two). You can use either rectangular or circle tablecloths and you should get at least four capes from each tablecloth. Attach self-adhesive Velcro attach it to the top of the triangle to make a closure. Using the foam remnants from the invitation project, cut fun shapes and allow the children to decorate the capes and masks with quick dry glue sticks, washable markers, etc.
To download the Super Hero Cape Shields, click here!
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MYO Clothes Line Photo Decorations
Using a long section of twine or yarn, make a clothespin picture line to display pictures of the birthday boy/girl. Paint old (or new) clothespins in the color palate of your party then allow them to dry thoroughly. Hang pictures of your baby, one for each of the 12 months with the clothespins on the twine over the food buffet or gift table where guests can see them. You can also create fun tags to adhere to the clothespin with the ages of your child to show guests the stages of growth. This can be done for someone at any age!
To make the small tags to adhere to the clothes pin, click here!
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MYO Ball Pit
Sourcing supplies:
Wading pool – 3 foot pool for $6
Play pit balls – 250 balls for $22
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MYO Candy Bags
Using small candy bags, (yellow, kiwi, red, blue,) decorate the bags with colorful markers “Kai’s 1st Masked Super Hero Birthday Bash!”. At the end of the party, place small scoopers into the vases and allow the children to select the candies of their choice to bring home to enjoy.
To download the Make Your Own Candy Bag Shield, click here!
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DIY Super Hero Children’s Birthday Party Downloadables
Click on the images below for Super Hero Party Downloadables!!
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Super Treats: MYO Party Mix and MYO Cupcake Station
When planning your next children’s party, think of fun and creative activities that the kids can do to occupy their time while at the event. I have created two great activities that can be incorporated into any party for children and adults of all ages: an MYO Party Mix Station and an MYO Cupcake Station.
MYO Party Mix Station
Gather your favorite dried food items and place them into separate bowls with small scoopers in each. Using the same exclamation bursts that we used for the table centerpieces, you can make double sided labels to show your guests what is in each bowl. Using a marshmallow and a wooden skewer, attach the burst to the stick with glue or double sided tape and stick the skewer into the marshmallow. Place the marshmallow with the skewer attached into the bowl and fill with the appropriate food item.
The food items I used were:
- Cheerios
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Dried Fruit – strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, cranberries, etc
- White Chocolate and Milk Chocolate covered pretzels
- Yogurt Raisins and Golden Raisins
- Nuts – peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pecans
- Plain and Peanut M&M’s
MYO Cupcake Station
Another great food activity is a MYO Cupcake Station. This allows each guest to customize their own delicious dessert. You can purchase cupcakes from your local bakery that have been iced (make sure that they are not already decorated with sprinkles, gel, etc) or you can make them using your favorite cake mix. Display the cupcakes on a separate table with the toppings in small separate bowls and use pastry bags with colored frosting or gels.
The toppings I used were:
- Chocolate and Colored Sprinkles
- Peanut Butter Cups
- Snickers
- Colored Icing Gels
- Cookie Pieces
- Chocolate Crunchies
Children and Adults of ALL ages will love this activity! Even more so, they will love to eat their art project!
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Movie, TV, and Broadway Musical Inspired Halloween Party – The Addams Family
While envisioning your next Halloween party, a great way to create a unique theme would be to get inspiration from your favorite films, TV shows, books and even Broadway musicals. Drawing inspiration from plot, theme and characters can create a clever party from food, drinks and decorations that will really give your guests something to talk about!
Create a signature drink inspired by your favorite character or for each of the characters with a fun name and special ingredients that relate to the character’s traits, appearance and likes/dislikes.
When trying to plan the menu, think of items that will pair nicely with the selected character signature cocktail and name it something specific to the character or show.
Base decorations on the environments/locations in the film, book or show. Pick one location that you can really blow out for a highly theatrical party atmosphere.
This year I am inspired by The Addams Family. As a child, I loved to sit in front of the television and watch reruns of The Addams Family TV show. The Addams Family resonates with so many generations from the original cartoons of the 40’s and 50’s, the TV show in the 60’s and 70’s, the movies in the 90’s and the recent Broadway Show of today.
I don’t know anyone who can recall the iconic theme song…
You don’t have be a good singer, just have to be able to snap!
Having recently seen the Broadway musical, I was inspired to bring the characters to life, imagining what would be their favorite cocktail to serve at one of EVENTSTYLE’s Halloween parties.
Click below for links to food and drink parings inspired by the character from The Addams Family – The Musical Comedy.
Gomez Addams
Morticia Addams
Pugsley Addams
Wednesday Addams
Uncle Fester
Lurch
Watch Better TV for Mark’s Halloween Segment featuring The Addams Family Cocktails!
Based on the iconic characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, The Addams Family is the smash hit Broadway musical now staring film, tv and stage star Brooke Shields as Morticia and Tony Award® winner Roger Rees as Gomez. THE ADDAMS FAMILY features an original story. It’s every parent’s nightmare. Your little girl has suddenly become a young woman, and what’s worse, has fallen deliriously in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. Yes, Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has a “normal” boyfriend, and for parents Gomez and Morticia, it’s a shocking development that turns the Addams house upside down when they are forced to host a dinner for the young man and his parents.
For more information on The Addams Family Musical visit their website.
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