St. Patrick's Day 2011

Then:

Now:

I'm not exaggerating when I say I "love" throwing a themed party. And, I love it even more when it is for Chris and my adult friends and doesn't entail cars, trucks, trains, or Scooby snacks. No offense to those that love such fabulous things (Josh). Last week, Chris and I hosted our annual St. Patrick's Day party. It was great fun and I'm still recovery, so my words may not be eloquent, but I will do my best to capture the party in picture form.
Thanks to my awesome in-laws, who invited Josh to stay with them for the week leading up to the party, we were able to get a head start on decorating. My trooper of a husband, even rented a super duper tall ladder to hang puff balls for me. What a good sport. I believe it was this night when I asked Chris, "Do you think I went overboard?" To which he quickly replied, as he eyes the house filled of green decor, "At what point do you think you went "overboard?"

Ha. Ha.

Just my luck, two cute little leprechauns arrived just in time to help me pull everything together before the party started. They brought with them, their sassy attitudes and Irish beer. How could you ask for more?

Each year, we pick a different Irish-themed dish to serve. This year, it was Bangers and Mash so we set up a mashed potato bar served in green martini glasses.

We had 12 different toppings to choose from. If you were wondering, the favorites were bacon, cheese, shredded BBQ chicken, and ranch dressing. Broccoli was a very, very distant favorite, or non-favorite, of the night.

These little crab cakes were a big hit, but we ran out early in the evening. That MAY have had something to do with Chris, Pickles, Devon, and I eating our fair share before any of the guests arrived. Oopsy.

In keeping with the "bangers and mash" theme of this year's party, I served Whiskey Sausages (Click for the recipe) on decorated skewers. They were so yummy and so easy to make. I don't even love sausages, but this sauce makes the sausage taste like dessert. You should try them. And, as a bonus, the smell will drive your dogs (and a hungry husband) crazy.

I wish I could take credit for these cuties, but I got them from a bakery my friend owns. Chocolate cake balls infused with Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor.

Need I say more?

I made my Aunt Alacoque's Pavlova as individual desserts. I believe Pavlova is actually Australian, but my aunt makes it every time we go to Ireland to visit, so it's Irish to me.

And, my personal favorite, Chocolate Biscuit Cake. I love this stuff. The ingredients include: chocolate, biscuits (aka: cookies), butter (and lots of it), and Golden Syrup... and that's it.

Who says kids are the only one's that deserve party favors? I made each guest an Irish magnet for their fridge. They are so easy and so handy. And, you can use any image you want, you don't have to use " I love Green beer or Luck of the Irish" if you don't want to. I made a few with Josh's cute face and a few with family pictures. Here is how to make them:

Supplies: Bottle Caps ( I got them on bottlecaps.com- go figure).

Strong Magnets

Image, picture, or a piece of decorative paper- cut to size.

Diamond Glaze glue (found at craft stores)

All purpose super glue

1. Cut picture or paper to fit into the concave part of a bottle cap (usually 1" circle)

2. Pour Diamond Glaze glue on top of picture filling the concave part of the bottle cap. Let this dry over night.

3. Super glue a super strong magnet on to the flat side of the bottle cap.

4. Done!

We set up drinking games around the house and they were a big hit. This one (goal: stack 6 dice on a Popsicle stick) was really hard. But, I have talented friends that pulled it off without any trouble.

Turns out I have several friends that excel at drinking games. Yes, I am very proud. Hillary successfully placed 4 M&Ms on the top of four straws and looked cute in her green fish nets doing so.

Story time.

One day, Chris came home from work as he does on any other day. He walked in the back door, said hello to Josh, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and went to change out of his suit before dinner. However, this evening, something was different. What was it???? Oh yes, I remember now. In his arm, he carried a life-sized cut out of John Wayne. Chris, however, mentioned nothing of this. He just walked through the house like he was carrying a book or a glass of water. Turns out this was some sort of lawyer-ly prop from a speech he gave... I'm still not clear on the story. Sounds sketchy to me. All I know is, we have inherited a life-sized version of John Wayne that startles me EVERY TIME I walked into Josh's old nursery. The least John could do was dress up for our little party. And that he did. Thanks for coming, Mr. Wayne.

The Irish Car Bombs were started early in the night which lead to much, much more fun. When it involves alcohol, it's a ripple effect, really it is. I will say, this year's party was fun. It was a little more wild than year's past, but I'm okay with that. I don't mind if Chris and I have the reputation for throwing wild parties, as long as JOSH doesn't follow suit, we are okay.

Chris and most of the men were sent outside to smoke the cigars on the patio and eventually, unbeknownst to me, the men started a "which party is better?" contest between the inside party and the outside party. Those boys were having fun, but...
The ladies are no strangers to a good time.
In the end, I think the outside party won, mostly because of the beautiful evening we were blessed with and the fact most of the food was gone. It had nothing to do with the boys or the Irish Car Bombs.

Nothing at all.

The aftermath of the party was quite impressive. We drank every last ounce of beer and whiskey in the house and even had to crack into the Mexican beer towards the end. We were sure to clean up this mess before Josh arrived home the next day. Chris and I were like two teenagers bagging up all the beer cans in black garbage bags so he wouldn't see the evidence of our indiscretions and ground us from hanging out with our friends.

I think we pulled it off.

This time.