Winter Wonderland!

No one ever tires of the beauty and sparkle of winter.  If you’re planning a gathering, a Holiday Winter Wonderland offers all the joys of the season.  There are as many party possibilities for a Winter Wonderland as there are snowflakes!

Invitations:  For an easy DIY invite, cut out snowflakes, decorate with silver and blue glitter pens, and write the party details on the back.  Add a little sparkle to the invitation by throwing in a pinch of iridescent snow into the envelope.  Ask guests to bring the invitation back to the party and have a special place to hang all your invites as partygoers arrive. Voila! Now you have instant decorations as well.

Another creative way to make your own invitation is to take a picture of your family doing something in the snow (making a snowman, creating snow angels, catching snowflakes on their tongue) and attach a copy of the picture to a piece of heavy cardstock.  Decorate and write out the party details on the back.

Décor:  There are so many vast choices for decorations and party supplies that the hard part is picking the right ones for your Winter Wonderland.  Snowy whites, sparkling silvers, and breezy blues are the perfect color combo for this party, so use them for all of your decorations and party supplies.  Cover tables with blue plastic tablecloths and sprinkle snowflake confetti across the top.   Make a bouquet of balloons and use small snow globes or weighted mittens as balloon weights!  Or link blue, silver, and white balloons together to make a wonderful arch for your entrance or for over the buffet!

Ambience:  Hang a few strings of blinking, twinkling, white lights around the party space and dim the overhead lights a bit to give the room a winter glow.  Use decorative paper lanterns and snowflakes in winter hues hanging at various intervals to give the feeling that it is snowing inside.  Set up an area where everyone can take a fun holiday photo! You can set up a backdrop with winter scene setters and give everyone hats, scarves and mittens to wear in the pictures.

Menu:  Think warm comfort food as your main dish and sides to match the Winter Wonderland theme.  Here are a few ideas for your main menu: Fettuccine Alfredo, white pizza, white chili, or potato soup.  For dessert, keep the scintillating colors going by serving blueberries with white dipping yogurt or cupcakes with white icing and blue or silver sprinkles.  Another option is anything made with shaved coconut for that fresh, just-snowed look.  Serve hot buttered run with whipped cream as your drink.

For extra presentation, add these penguin appetizers as a fun display for your winter wonderland.  You can also make silverware bundles by wrapping silverware in napkins and then tying them off with blue, silver, or white ribbon.  

 

Favors:  Your guests will be thrilled to leave your party with their own presents.  A few ideas are popcorn balls, chapstick, mini snowflake yo yo’s, glittery candles, butter mints, or snowflake photo frame kits.  Tie a tag on the favor that says "Thanks for coming to frolic in our Winter Wonderland!"

This party color scheme is easily adaptable for other winter holidays such as Hanukkah as well.  Of course, a menorah and a Star of David are great traditional choices to add for a festive party of lights.  Set out a snowflake doily and a dreidel on top as each guest’s place setting at dinner.

  Have a wonderful time frolicking in your Winter Wonderland, and Happy Holidays!

In Quest of the Perfect Christmas

By: Poppie

There was a time when I wanted the perfect Christmas.  All the decorations would match, all the tree ornaments would glitter in a golden theme, and everything would look like it just came out of a magazine spread.  I would be the hostess that invited guests over on a moment’s notice because the atmosphere was a wonderland of  golden gorgeousness ready to show off to the world.

  I tried to implement my plan last year.  “Let’s just put up the gold ornaments,” I said to my children and husband as we started our decorating duties.  They all looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  “But mommy, what about this Popsicle star I made you in preschool?” asked my 4 year old.  “And what about my snowman marshmallow ornament I made you last year?” asked my 10 year old.  “We have to put up my red Husker ornaments,” piped up my husband.   “And it would look weird not to add the colored ornaments as well,” he added.  Begrudgingly, I let them add their favorite ornaments and watched as my wonderful golden forest was lost in a sea of homemade items and unmatched colors.  

 Then my 4 year old decided that we must have all the ornaments in family groups.  She rearranged the tree to put a bigger colored ornament by a medium and smaller ornament. She looked at me and said, “Now the daddy, mommy, and baby can all be together,” smiling and satisfied with her work.  There they were; groups of three in various colored clumps around the tree.  Later I tried to rearrange them back, but to no avail, as she noticed one of the family members had gone astray and promptly put it back.

So my Christmas was ruined.  Or so I thought.  Then, on Christmas Eve, as I (I mean Santa) put presents carefully around the tree, I really looked at my twinkling tree and smiled.  This really was the strangest tree we’ve put up to date, yet its beauty beckoned to me and I felt warm and fuzzy because of how hard my family had worked to make this tree fit into our family, well…perfectly. 

This year my children and husband looked expectantly at me wondering if I would be a Grinch in our decorating.  I smiled and immediately got out all the ornaments, not just the gold, and had the girls go to town decorating the tree.  Sure, it has bare spots with no ornaments and other spots with so many ornaments on the same branch that the limb is starting to sag.  And yes, there are homemade paper antlers at the top instead of a star, but as I stood back and watched them work, I thought, what a gorgeous tree made with such dedicated, decorative love.

In the end, I realized that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I will never have a magazine spread Christmas, but I will have many amazing Christmas memories created with my family and friends.  As long as my family is happy, healthy, and together, I have found the ideal Christmas after all.  My quest for perfection has ended because it was right in front of me all along.

Have fun with all your family traditions and treasure the memories.  And to all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Animal Christmas Recipes

What could be merrier than cute Christmas critters for you holiday fiestas?  Our theme for the holidays is cherry, merry, and delicious animal treats.  All are so easy the kids can help as well.  Try one or try them all but be warned, these goodies are so cute, your guests may not want to eat them!

Cream Cheese Penguins

Ingredients

·         Jumbo black olives, pitted

·         1 package cream cheese, softened

·         Small black olives

·         1 carrot

·         Toothpicks

·         Pimentos (optional)

Directions

1.    Cut a slit from top to bottom, lengthwise, into the side of each jumbo olive.  Carefully insert about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese into each olive and pat down.

2.    Slice the carrot into 1/4 inch thick rounds; cut a small notch out of each carrot slice to form feet.  Save the cut out piece and press into center of small olive to form the beak.  If necessary cut a small slit into each olive before inserting the beak.

3.    Set a big olive, large hole side down, onto a carrot slice. Then, set a small olive onto the large olive, adjusting so that the beak, cream cheese chest and notch in the carrot slice line up. Secure with a toothpick.

4.    Add pimento scarf around neck of the penguin (optional).

Christmas Mice

Ingredients

·         Double-stuffed Oreo cookies

·         1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

·         2 teaspoons vegetable oil

·         Red maraschino cherries with stems, well drained

·         Milk chocolate kisses

·         Sliced almonds

·         1 small tube green decorative icing gel

·         1 small tube red decorative icing gel

Directions

1. Carefully twist cookies apart; set aside the halves with cream filling.  Store and use the plain halves another time.
2. Unwrap chocolate kisses and have them ready to use.
3. On stovetop, melt chocolate chips and oil on very low heat; stir until smooth. Holding each cherry by the stem, dip in melted chocolate, then press onto the bottom of a chocolate kiss. Place on the cream filling of cookie, with cherry stem extending beyond cookie edge.
4. For ears, place slivered almonds between the cherry and kiss. Refrigerate until set.
5. With green gel, pipe holly leaves on the cream. With red gel, pipe holly berries between leaves and pipe eyes on each chocolate kiss. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Reindeer Cupcakes

Ingredients:

·         Twisted Pretzels

·         Cupcake Mix

·         Vanilla Wafers

·         Chocolate Frosting

·         Red Candy (M & M’s or Red Hots work well)

·         Candy Eyes

·         Cupcake liners

Directions:

1.    Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.  Make cupcake mix according to the box directions. Let cool.

2.    Frost cupcakes with brown frosting. Add vanilla wafer to one side of each cupcake.

3.    Add pretzels as antlers and candy eyes.  Add Red nose to wafer with a bit of frosting to make it stick.

Candy Cane Christmas

Bring the sparkle and freshness of winter indoors with a Christmas Candy Cane Party. Everyone will love this peppermint paradise theme for a holiday party.

Invitations:  Your guests’ sweet tooth will be tingling the minute they open the invitation to your party if you attach a mini candy cane to the invitation.  This reindeer invite is easily adaptable for your candy cane soirée and fun for the kids to help with.

Décor:  Your guest will know something special awaits them as soon as they see the candy canes lining your front walk.  These candy canes provide a warm welcome.  Put up dazzling bouquets of red and white balloons with a minty Mylar balloon at the top.  Use candy canes as balloon weights.  Add red bows to the walls.  Use a mix of red and white tableware and sprinkle crushed mints as confetti for extra color and fun.

Ambience:  The whole room will feel like a peppermint forest with some strategically placed small Christmas trees decorated with lots of candy canes and peppermints.  Add a mix of red and white tree lights and ornaments and set out some presents wrapped in a minty mix around the base of the tree.  Hang mistletoe with red and white ribbon in a key traffic area as an ice breaker and to tie into the theme.

Menu:  Dinner can be red, white and easy too. How about pasta with a choice of red marinara or white Alfredo sauce? Chili is another great option for a main meal or served in small dishes as an appetizer.  Add delicious bread and a green salad and your meal has all the colors of the holidays.

Candy cane shaped sugar cookies, or peppermint sundaes - use vanilla ice cream sprinkled with candy cane pieces - are the perfect ending to a delicious meal.  And remember, if it’s cold; serve peppermint hot cocoa or coffee with a squirt of peppermint syrup.

Favors:  Have your guest leave the party with wonderful memories and a special treat!  Give the guests their mini stockings filled with candy canes with their name on it and a thank you message for a delicious way to send guests on their way and later remember the fun they had while munching on their delectable goodies.

If you want to have a candy cane theme but want to add a bit of color, don’t be shy.  Candy canes come in all sorts of colorful assortments so have your Candy Cane Christmas with some festive holiday color as well.

Christmas Under $25!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and yet, everyone these days is feeling the financial crunch and cutting back on extras.  In today’s day and age, spending frugally has quickly become the trend.  This concept is making it harder and harder for people to budget for the holidays.  However, you don’t have to sacrifice the family budget to be able to enjoy the Holiday Season.

This week, if you haven’t already, sit down with a cup of coffee and jot down what you think your holiday season will cost.  It can be done a number of ways, but here are a few of the most common holiday items:

Tree and Lights
Misc. Decor (ornaments, candles, wreath, etc.)   
Craft Supplies
Cookie or Dessert Ingredients & Accessories
Christmas Day Dishes
Tableware (cups, plates, napkins, etc)
Stamps, cards, and envelopes
Photography
Gifts (spouse, kids, parents, siblings, coworkers, etc)
Stocking Stuffers
Misc Gift Supplies (wrapping paper, tape, gift tags, etc)
Giving ( church, charities)

After you make your list, which is going to be different for each family, start your search at Nobbies where you can find most of your decorating items, stocking stuffers, holiday cooking utensils, wrapping supplies, and tableware.  In fact, we’ve done some of the work for you and came up with a few different baskets of holiday items for $25 or less!

Christmas Party Basket

This basket includes everything you need to create a Christmas dinner with festive displays of red and green, including decorations and a centerpiece! (M & M’s not included)

·         Poinsettia Breeze Dinner Plates – 3.99

·         Red or Green Value Luncheon Napkins – 1.50

·         Curling Ribbon – Assorted Colors – 1.57

·         Festive Table Cover – 1.97

·         Value 9oz Red Paper Cups – 1.50

·         Cello Christmas Loot Bags – 2.99

·         Candy Cane Striped Straws – 1.79

·         Glittered Foam Snowflakes – 1.79

·         Tray W/ handle or Bowl W/ Pedestal – 1.99

·         Green Centerpiece Spray – 2.79

·         Heavy Duty Apple Red Cutlery – 2.49

Total:  $24.37!

Stocking Stuffers Basket

Stuff your stockings full with this basket of fun toys galore!

·         Reindeer Game – 12pk – 3.49

·         Mini Christmas Yo Yo’s – 12pk – 1.99

·         Assorted Holiday Playing Cards - .57

·         Holiday Pencils – 12pk – 2.49

·         Snowflake Bookmarks – 12pk - .99

·         Holiday Pop Up Stickers – 1.99

·         Penguin Tattoos – 36pk – 1.99

·         Christmas Paddle Ball - .79

·         Christmas Rings – 48pk – 1.99

·         Holiday Stamps – 6pk – 1.99

·         Christmas Crayons – 4pk - .20

·         Holiday Erasers – 30pk – 1.99

·         Santa or Elf Headband – 1.99

·         Bag of Coal Joke Kit – 1.49

·         Christmas Rubber Ducky - .59

Total:  $24.54!

Be a smart shopper this Holiday Season and make your dollar stretch by purchasing all your holiday party supplies at Nobbies.  Come into one of our stores to make your own party basket for whatever your holiday budget may be. 

Party Planning 101 - Stuffed Santa Suit Game

Stuffed Santa Suit Game

No matter what age, you’ll believe in the hilarity of the holiday with this fun filled game!

How to play:

Divide guest into two teams green and red. Then provide 1 sweat suit or oversized shirt and sweatpants and an equal number of balloons to each team. If possible, color coordinate the sweat suit and balloons so they are all green and all red.

Each team picks one person to get into the "Santa suit" (sweat suit) and when the time starts, they try to stuff as many balloons into the sweat suit as possible within the time limit.
The team that has the most balloons at the end of 3 minutes is the winner. The Stuffed Santa is quite a sight, so have your camera ready!

…If you’re feeling up to the spirit, use actual Santa suits!

Party Recipes - Reindeer Droppings

Also known as Oreo Balls, these bite-size treats are sure to sweeten any holiday dessert spread.

Ingredients

• 8 oz softened cream cheese or whipped cream cheese
• 18 oz package of Oreo cookies, crushed
• 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

Directions

Mix cream cheese with electric mixer until fluffy. Add the crushed Oreos and beat on high until well mixed. Chill for at least 2 hours in the freezer. Then roll Oreo cookie mix into one inch Oreo Balls.

Next, melt the chocolate chips and shortening with a double boiler or in the microwave.

Dip the Oreo balls completely into the melted chocolate using tongs or a toothpick.

Put on wax paper. After the Oreo Balls harden, keep them in the refrigerator.

Makes about 3 or 4 dozen Oreo Balls, depending on the size.

Tips and Variations

- Use melted almond bark or white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips to dip the Oreo Balls.

- Try different versions of sandwich cookies to make Oreo Balls – Oreo mint cookies, peanut butter sandwich cookies, or vanilla sandwich cookies are some delicious choices.

- Don’t use double stuffed Oreos for Oreo Balls. Be sure to use regular Oreo cookies.

- To make the Oreo Balls a little less unhealthy, substitute low-fat Oreo cookies and low-fat cream cheese.

- Don’t skip the shortening. It makes the chocolate slightly thinner and smoother. It is MUCH easier to use with the added shortening.