Just call me the party planner...

I am so late in posting these pictures!  But I wanted y'all to see the fun baby shower I planned for my darling friend Kristen the first weekend of March.

Isn't she cute?!  She's due this month.  AND she and her husband Andrew are totally naming the baby after me!  Ok, maybe they aren't really naming the baby after me but they are naming her Kaitlyn.

The theme of her shower was "The Apple of Her Eye."  We did mostly apple flavored treats and cute apple decorations.  This was the first time I've planned an official party so don't judge my amateur decorations too much. But I thought it turned out pretty cute!

I found this cute sewing basket at DI for $1.50!

We used children's books to create levels on the table.   

The letters came from Dollar Tree and we just used twine and clothespins to hang them up.  

The Menu

The food was definitely a hit and luckily I had help from Kirstin's family to make most of it. 

Apple Dip 

1 10 oz. tub of soft cream cheese or 1 8 oz. block softened

1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 pkg of a 8 oz. bag of SKOR English Toffee Bits
6-9 Granny Smith Apples cut into wedges for dipping

Mix together with a spoon until smooth – cream cheese, sugars and vanilla.  Fold in toffee bits just before serving so they don’t get soggy.  (soggy is yummy too!)  I cut the apples just before serving to prevent them turning brown.

Apple Strudel Muffins

Yields 12-18 depending on size

2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C butter
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 apples, peeled (1-shredded and 2 chopped)(I used Galas)
1/2 C  cinnamon chips

Topping

1/3 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg (or Penzey’s Baking Spice instead of cinnamon and nutmeg).

In another bowl, beat the butter, sugars and eggs together  until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Add in apples and cinnamon chips. Gradually add in the flour mixture. Note that this is a thick batter. Spoon the mixture into greased or lined muffin pan.

In another small bowl comgine the topping ingredients: brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like course crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Sour Cream Apple Bars

Crust:

1 C butter, softened
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 C uncooked quick cooking oats
1 C flour
1 C chopped pecans
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice

Filling:
1 C sour cream
3/4 C sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 egg
2 medium (about 2 cups) apples, unpeeled, shredded

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until creamy.  Add  remaining crust ingredients and beat until well mixed.

Press HALF of crust mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.

While crust is baking combine the filling ingredients; mix well.  Gently pour the filling over the hot, partially baked crust.  Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the top of the fill and press down lightly.

Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set.  Cool.  Cut into bars.  Store refrigerated

Egg Casserole

1 lb grated cheese (any kind)

1 can green chilies (optional)
½ lb chopped ham, bacon, or sausage
6 eggs
3 cups milk
1½ cups Bisquick
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Cover the bottom of the greased pan with the pound of grated cheese, then the meat and chilies.  Set this pan aside.  Mix together in a bowl the eggs, milk, Bisquick, salt, and pepper.  When this is well blended pour over the pan with the cheese.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until knife come out clean.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Wassail

3 quarts of apple juice (the largest sized jug at Wal Mart)

2-3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate

1/2 contained frozen cranberry juice concentrate

2 cinnamon sticks

Mix everything together in a pot and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.  

The Games

 I generally hate shower games but these were actually really fun!

Dirty Diaper

Materials- 5-10 diapers with 5-10 different types of chocolates 

This game is one of the funniest and most popular baby shower games. Have the baby shower host or appointed person moderately melt 5-10 different candy bars separately, placing each one in a diaper to be viewed by everyone. Mark each diaper as A, B, C, D, etc. Have everyone guess which candy is in each of the diapers. Make sure to use some candies that have nuts, toffee, caramel, etc. 

Name that Celebrity Baby

 Materials: Celebrity Magazines, Baby Magazines, Poster Board, Glue

Prior to the baby shower, go through magazines cutting out 15 different pictures of babies. Go through varies different magazines and cut out baby heads and celebrity bodies. Paste the baby heads onto the celebrity bodies. Try to use a variety of celebrities from different era's too as to accommodate the different ages of your guests. You can either use a giant poster board and paste the pictures onto it or you can paste the pictures to cardstock and laminate each one. Don't forget to number each one and write down the celebrity. Have each guest try to guess the name of the celebrity. The one who guesses the most correctly wins.

Baby Supplies Memory Game

Materials: Different baby items such as a bottle, pacifier, diaper, etc as well as pads of paper and pens

Place several baby items on the table (i.e., rattle, teather, lotion, bottle scrubber, mittens, comb). Leave the baby shower items out for a few seconds to view the items and then take the items away. Everyone has to write down as many items as they can remember. The one with the best memory wins.

Guess Mommy's Tummy Size

Materials- String or yarn and scissors 

Have each woman pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mother-To-Be's center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mommy-To-Be's actual tummy. Give a prize to the woman who is the most close! This is a baby shower favorite.