St. Patrick’s Day Party Ideas

Hello! With St. Patrick’s Day only 13 days away, we better start planning! This day is celebrated annually on March 17th which is the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this say as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years because it falls during the Christian season of Lent. St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated on March 17th, 1762 in the United States. You can find a lot of interesting facts about the holiday here.

Americans really enjoy celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! Some of the ways Americans celebrate include: eating Irish foods, drinking Irish drinks, listening to Irish music, have many parades around the U.S., dye rivers green, throw St. Patrick’s Day parties, wear the color green, and many other ways to celebrate. There are a lot of great sites online that help guide you to how to get ready for St. Patrick’s day, here is a website I found helpful to get you started!

If you’re throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party and need ideas, you came to the right place! The first step in planning your party: make sure a leprechaun would approve! This means either centering your theme around the color green or rainbow … or both!

Food

There are so many foods that can be served at a party that are green:

• Broccoli
• Snap peas
• Asparagus
• Green peppers
• Cucumbers
• Green beans
• Spinach dip
• Guacamole
• Green jell-o

The best part of food is you can always dye something green with food dye!

• Frosting
• Cakes
• Cookies
• Drinks
• Popcorn
• Pudding
• Pasta

If you’re going for a rainbow theme, the options are endless! My favorite idea that I have ever seen is a rainbow fruit plate!

Photo credit: sweets4ever

Doesn’t that rainbow plate just look so delicious?! You can make a rainbow out of many different food categories:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Cupcakes
• Cookies
• Candy
• Cereal
• Jell-O shots (for parties over 21 of course and my absolute favorite party food/drink)

Drinks!

For parties with guests under 21, there are a lot of options of what to serve them to drink! Like mentioned earlier, you can dye almost anything green… this makes it easy to dye punch, milk, hot chocolate, water … almost any think you can think of with the exception of soda because that might not pick up color as easy as the other liquids, but if you try it and it works please let me know!

For parties with guest 21 and older, you can never go wrong with an Irish beer or an Irish Cream liqueur. You can mix the liqueur with hot chocolate, coffee, and even milk! The most popular and easiest Irish beer to find is probably going to be Guinness. Guinness is a thicker and darker beer, so it is always a good idea to have other alcoholic drinks because Guinness is not for everyone! You can always serve green cocktails that everyone will love! There are endless drink recipes that can be made green.

Photo Credit: Marya

Decorations!

A party is not complete with out the final touch of decorations! For St. Patrick’s Day decorations, it needs to look like a leprechaun threw up everywhere! Green table clothes, gold place settings, a rainbow made of balloons (see below), paper clovers scattered everywhere, pots of gold coins on tables (the candy ones work great because then guests can eat them), rainbow decorations, literally anything green and/or rainbow!

I LOVE these decoration ideas! Photo Credit: CatchMyParty

Well, we’ve covered food, drinks, and decorations … the three key things for a perfect party! If you would like more specific food or drink ideas please send me an email at samanthalynn@gmail.com. If you throw a party or attend a fun party, comment some ideas that I may have missed! I will be in Australia this St. Patrick’s Day … if you would like to know how Australians celebrate and party on St. Patrick’s Day, send me an email and I will fill you in on all the details when I return!

Talk to you later!
Samantha

Spring Break in The Biggest Little City

Hey there! With Spring Break approaching, I wanted to give a little bit of insight on events and activities to check out in the Reno, Nevada area! Whether you are traveling to the Biggest Little City or you are having a stay-cation here, I want to help you come up with the perfect activities for an eventful Spring Break! Outdoors, indoors, or night life .. there are plenty of things to do in Reno and the surrounding areas to have a Spring Break to tell all of your friends and family about.

Outdoors

Reno is located less than an hour away from Lake Tahoe .. a destination on many people’s bucket list. Between Reno and Lake Tahoe, there are countless activities outdoors including trails and hikes with amazing views. Let’s take a look:

• University of Nevada, Reno Wolfpack Baseball game
• Aces Baseball game
• Hunter Creek Waterfall Trail (5.7 mile trail located in Reno, dogs and horses welcome, moderate trail with waterfall)
• Upper Thomas Creek Trail (14.7 mile hiking trail in Reno, dog and horse welcome, mountain biking)
• Tom Cooke Trail (3.7 mile loop trail in Reno, dogs welcome)
• Mount Tallac Trail (10.2 mile trail in South Lake Tahoe, rated difficult)
• Eagle Lake Trail (1.8 mile trail in South Lake Tahoe, moderate difficulty, dogs on leash welcome)
• Rubicon Peak Trail (3.5 mile trail near Lake Tahoe, primarily used for hiking and running, dogs welcome)
• Pope Beach (located in South Lake Tahoe, sandy beach with picnic tables and trees for shade)
• Lakeside Beach (located in South Lake Tahoe, renting stations for paddle boards/kayaks/umbrellas/chairs)
• Sand Harbor Beach (located in Lake Tahoe, picnic tables and trees, beach and cove dedicated to scuba divers)
• Kings Beach (located in North Lake Tahoe, gets a lot of winter sun, parasailing/kayaking/paddle boarding)

Top of Tom Cooke’s Trail with my beautiful friend, Alyssa!

The beautiful view of Reno, Nevada from the top of Tom Cooke’s Trail

Indoors

Reno is known for its very sporadic weather, especially in the Spring. So having a back up plan to stay in doors for Spring Break in Reno is a great idea. Also, depending what month your Spring Break is, it might be too chilly to attend one of the beaches in Tahoe mentioned above. There are plenty of fun indoor activities in Reno that can fill the time of those chilly Spring Break days!

• Nevada Discovery Museum (fun for all ages)
• Nevada Art Museum
• National Automobile Museum
• Puzzle Room Reno (an escape room)
• Local breweries (Great Basin, Lead Dog Brewing, The Depot, Silver Peak, Revision, etc.)
• Spa day at the Atlantis or Peppermill Hotel
• Need 2 Speed (premier indoor kart racing at high speeds)
• Coconut Bowl (32 bowling lanes and arcade)
• Mini Golf and Go-karts at Wild Island
• Cabela’s and Scheels (great shopping spots)
• Three malls: Meadowood Mall (indoor), Summit Mall (outdoor), and Legends Mall (outdoor)
• Circus Circus Midway (indoor carnival games and arcade games for all ages)
• Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park or Fly High Trampoline Park (fun for all ages)

Night Life

So, you’ve done your activities for the day, either indoors or outdoors, and now you want to see what nightlife looks like in Reno! Reno has it all: outdoor bars, dancing bars, breweries, fancy bars, clubs, and any other type of bar you can think of. A majority of the action is either located in downtown Reno where a majority of the casinos are located or in “Midtown” which is located a few miles south of downtown. Here are some bars I find most people like in Reno:

Downtown

• The Eddy (outdoor bar with lots of outdoor games – family environment during the day and adult environment when it gets dark)
• The Stick (bar with good food and good music)
• Sierra Tap House (both indoor and outdoor seating, lots of board games)
• Ole Bridge Pub (both indoor and outdoor seating)
• Brew Brothers (in the casino, often has live music, DJ, dancing)
• Novi (in the casinos, DJ, lots of country music and line dancing)
• Louis Basque Corner (a restaurant during the day, upstairs bar at night)
• West Second St. Bar (indoor bar with karaoke)
• The Depot (brewery, but get there early because they close by 10pm)
• Reno Axe & Bar (throw some axes and get a beer all in the same place!)

Midtown

• Z Bar (indoor and outdoor seating)
• Pubic House (indoor and outdoor seating)
• The Emerson (new to Reno, more of a fancier bar .. they even have a drink served in a mini bathtub!)
• Chapel Tavern (indoor and outdoor seating)
• The Loving Cup (indoor and outdoor seating, DJ)
• Rum Sugar Lime (indoor bar, slightly fancier than other bars)
• The Brasserie (indoor and outdoor, serve food late, slightly fancier than other bars)
• The Saint (indoor bar, DJ and some dancing)

The bathtub drink at the Emerson in Midtown.

Other Bars and Night Life

• Lex (nightclub located in the GSR Hotel and Casino)
• Zeppelin (bar located in South Reno, more fancy than other bars)
• Great Basin Brewery (located in Sparks on Victorian Square near a lot of other small indoor/outdoor bars)
• EDGE Nightclub (located in the Peppermill Hotel and Casino)

As you can tell, Reno really is the biggest little city! There are so many activities and events to participate in around this time of the year. Don’t let this nice weather fool you, it could be snowing tomorrow … so pack your snowboard just to be on the safe side!

Now that you have a few ideas to fill your Spring Break in The Biggest Little City, start planning your trip or stay-cation! If you have any further questions about anything going on in the Reno area, leave me a comment!

Talk to you later!

Samantha

Bridal Shower Planning 101

Let’s talk about throwing a bridal shower! So, who throws the bridal shower for the upcoming bride? It is really up to the bride herself, but typically it is either the bridesmaids or the mother of the bride or groom – it can also be a combination of the three. So, let’s start planning!

First things first … pick a theme. Not all bridal showers have themes, but that is what distinguishes your bridal shower from the rest this season! Here are a list of theme ideas for a bridal shower:

• Beachy
• Tropical
• Vintage
• Spa Night In
• “Friends” the TV show
• Tea Party (this is the theme I will be using for all my examples in this post)

It’s never a bad idea to have a catch phase or pun as your theme:

• “She found her main squeeze” (lemonade theme)
• “Brunch and Bubbly” (champagne and brunch party)
• “Stop and Smell the Rosé” (rosé and rose gold theme)
• “Love is a sweet adventure” (travel themed party)
• “Donut mind if I do” (donut bar and themed party)
• “Nacho average bridal shower” (party with a nacho bar for lunch)
• “Traveling from Miss to Mrs.” (travel themed)
• “Let love grow” (plant/flower themed)

After you figure out the theme or color combination of the bridal shower, you can pick invitations and figure out how many people the bride would like to invite … this is an important step to do at the beginning to figure out how much food, tables and chairs, and games are needed to satisfy each guest! I would plan to send out the bridal shower invite about 6 weeks in advance to give guests enough time to plan ahead. I would ask the guests to RSVP no later than two weeks in advance. I would also tell the guests the theme and the attire for the party (ex: tea party dress, pajamas for a spa day, beach clothes for beach or tropical theme, casual).

Next, food … every great and memorable bridal shower has food. You can base your food off of your theme, but you can also keep it as simple as serving salads and sandwiches. Let’s look at the Tea Party theme for example: hot tea served in tea cups, bite size sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, macaroons, pastries, and miscellaneous bite sized sweets for dessert. I would also suggest wine or other types of alcohol for bridal showers depending on the bride’s wishes.

Decorations! This part can be as simple as getting table covers, balloons, and streamers set up. If you want to go all out, I suggest starting a few weeks in advance. Let’s look at some decorations for a Tea Party themed bridal shower:

• Tea Party hats for guests to take pictures in (I would go to the dollar store and purchase oversized hats and ribbon to make these)
• Pearls to scatter around all of the tables
• Tea cups spread around (you can find inexpensive ones at a local thrift store)
• “Let’s Par-tea” banner or letter balloons
• Tea sets for the food tables
• White table clothes with flower napkins for the food tables
• A welcome sign that says “It’s tea time with the bride-to-be”
• Banner that says “Love is brewing”
• A sign with a countdown to the wedding
• Flowers scattered and placed in every area of the room

Games and activities … it would not be a bridal shower without games for the guest to complete in for prizes!

• Don’t Say “Bride” or “Wedding” – everyone guest gets a clothespin and whoever says the forbidden words gets their necklace taken away. Whoever has the most pins by the end of the shower wins a prize!
• Ring Hunt – before guests arrive, place toy rings all around the party area. Whoever is wearing the most by the end of the party wins a prize!
• How old was the bride-to-be – place pictures of the bride at random ages in her life, have guests fill out a paper with the ages they think she was at the time of the picture. Whoever guesses the most right wins!
• Kitchen Items – the point of this game is to have the most answers similar to the bride’s answers. You have to fill out kitchen items for the letters “B,R,I,D,E & G,R,O,O,M”. You go around finding out what everyone wrote down, the guest with the most answers similar to the bride wins!
• Say Yes To The Dress – you pair people up and give them a roll of toilet paper to make a dress on each other … the bride chooses the most creative dress and they win!
• Bridal Scattergories – have the bride choose a letter and each answer has to start with that letter. The guest should answer wedding questions (see picture below). Whoever has the most unique answers from the group wins!
• Would She Rather – Would the bride rather have a Honeymoon in Hawaii or Alaska … you choose about 20 of these “would she rather” statements and whoever has the most answers right with the bride wins!
• How many kisses for the soon-to-be Mrs. – fill a jar with kisses and ask the guest to guess how many are in the jar .. whoever guesses right gets to keep the jar of kisses!
• Advice for the Bride – have guest fill out these cards (see below) and then you can give them to the bride afterwards.
• Recipes for the bride – give everyone a recipe card for them to fill out and share with the bride.
• Anniversary cards – give everyone a card with a year to fill out for the new couple to open on that year’s anniversary. (I usually fill out the cards to year 10). This is fun because the couple will always have at least one card to open together for the first few years.

Take a pin and don’t say “bride” or “wedding” game!

Example of the Kitchen Items game

Examples of questions for Bridal Scattergories

Advice for the bride cards

Prizes! My favorite part! I like to make these prizes bridal shower themed and something the guest will want instead of regifting. They can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want to make them. Let me give you a few examples:

• “Nailed It” – manicure items like nail polish, polish remover, file, a to-go nail kit with nail clippers, etc.
• “From _____’s Shower to Yours!” – loofah, body wash, facemasks, bath bomb, bath salts, etc.
• For the kitchen game mentioned above – an oven mitt, cute dish towels, brownie mix, cute measuring cups, wooden spoon, cook book, etc.
• “Espresso-ly for you” – bag of coffee, coffee cup, chocolate, Starbucks gift card, etc.
• “Tea-riffic!” – tea cup, box of tea, honey, graham crackers, small kettle, etc.

Tip: Write the bride’s last name on the front of the prize bags for an additional decoration to the party!

Last, but not least … party favors! It is always nice to give the guest of the bridal shower a parting gift for taking time to be at the party you put on for the bride! It can be something simple, and even better if it goes with the theme:

• Tea bag with the saying “Thanks for having tea with the bride-to-be”
• A small plant with the saying “Thank you for helping our love grow”
• A goodie bag with the bride and groom’s favorite candies
• Bar of handmade soap or a small bottle of body wash with the saying “From (bride’s name)’s shower to yours”
• Mini shot bottles with the saying “Take a shot, (bride’s name) is tying the knot”
• A bag of kisses with the saying “Kiss the Miss goodbye”
• Nail polish and a nail file with the saying “Mani thanks for coming”

Honestly, any kind of favor to show your appreciation for the guests is going to leave an impression!

A bridal shower can be a lot of work, but the bride will really appreciate all your hard work in the end! I suggest that you split up the tasks of the bridal shower between the people throwing it because this will cut down on cost and will let each individual give 100% of their attention to their tasks.

Please leave me any questions or comments regarding bridal showers! Now, go start planning that bridal shower!

Talk to you later!

Samantha

Guide to Gift Baskets

Have you ever wanted/needed to give someone a gift, but you just didn’t know what to get them? Well next time, make them a gift basket! A gift basket is a gift that is personal, but also won’t take a lot of time to put together. The best part about gift baskets is that there does not have to be a specific reason to give them!

Here are some examples of great times to give gift baskets that not a lot of people think about:

• Congratulating someone on a new job
• Get well basket
• Thinking of you basket
• First day of school basket (college kids love these)
• High school graduation
• House warming basket
• Teacher appreciation basket
• Grief basket
• Birthdays

Now you have some ideas of when to give a gift basket, let’s talk about what to put in those gift baskets! I usually do a mix of practical items and fun items – depending on the recipient of the basket. This is the best part about gift baskets – you can completely customize them based on who is receiving the basket.

Let’s look at what a “First Day of School” basket could look like:

• Pens
• Pencils
• Notebooks
• Sticky notes
• Flashcards
• Flashdrive
• Hand Sanitizer
• Travel coffee mug
• Granola bars & snacks
• Chapstick
• Lotion
• Backpack

So for this gift basket, I would make the backpack the “basket”. There is no rule saying you have to use a basket to hold all of the gift basket items! For this example, I used mostly practical items and a couple fun items.

Let’s talk about gift basket themes! If you are giving someone a gift basket on their birthday or doing a “Just Because” basket, you can spice your basket up by giving it a theme! Here are a few theme ideas with some ideas of items to include in the basket:

• Coffee Themed – coffee, coffee mug, cookies that go well with coffee, stir stick or spoon, sugar cubes, creamer, Starbucks gift card
• Baking Theme – cupcake mix, cookie mix, frosting, sprinkles, cupcake tins, cookie cutters, cute oven mitts, a cookbook, decorating tools (for this basket, I would use a mixing bowl as the “basket”)
• Color Theme – (pick the recipient’s favorite color and add items that are mainly that color – let’s use yellow as an example) Peanut M&M’s, Butterfinger, Lemonheads, Juicy Fruit gum, Lay’s Classic, yellow candle, yellow chapstick, yellow water bottle, yellow coffee mug, yellow Gatorade, lemonade, yellow socks, yellow face mask … I think you get the idea!
• Movie Theme – a couple classic movies, blanket, popcorn, popcorn flavoring, candy, sodas (for this basket, I would try to find a popcorn bowl as the “basket”)
• All Things Man Theme – case of beer, a new tape measure, beef jerky, shaving cream, beard oil, new manly slippers, new grill accessories, car accessories, new wallet
• Spa Theme – facemask, foot scrub, body scrub, nail files, nail polish remover, nail polish, hand lotion, bath bombs, soaps, candle, loofah, hand towel, bath salts, relaxing book, herbal tea

Now, let’s put together a gift basket! (I used items I would give a friend for a spa themed basket.)

First, gather all of your items for your gift basket.

Next, I fill the bottom of my “basket” with tissue paper to improve the presentation of the items.

I then add all of the items to the “basket” and rearrange them into the perfect position to be able to see as many items as possible. Notice how the tissue paper made all of the items sit higher and are able to be seen because of it.

I purchase a gift basket supply kit from my local craft supply store or Walmart. I specifically by the brand “Frillz”. In the package comes 2 cello bags (the plastic wrap), 12 glue dots to hold the bags together, 2 ribbons for bows, and 2 gift tags. You can usually find the kit for under $5.

Lastly, I put my basket in the cello bag and tie it with a bow. Here is the final product:

Those are my tips and tricks for giving gift baskets! Just remember, there is never a wrong time to give someone a gift basket!

If you have any questions or would like more ideas for themes I did not cover, please reach out to me! My email is: samanthalynnsamuelson@gmail.com

Talk to you later!

Samantha