Party Ice

The next time you have a party, have a little fun with your ice.

Buy a package of regular balloons, not water balloons they are too thin. Fill the balloons with desired amount of water and place in the freezer for at least 2 days before your party.

Now when you are ready, place the ice balloons into your bucket and nestle your drinks in-between.

This is a great way to keep your drinks cold and prevent messy ice mishaps.

Cranky Candles

If you have problems getting your candles to sit up straight in their holders, here are a few hints.

If the candle is a bit to large for the holder or just won’t stand up straight, bring a large pot of water to boil on your stove top.

Once the water has reached boiling, dip the bottom 2 inches of each candle into the water.

Let it warm up in the water for several minutes.

Pull it out and gently press into the holder. The candle should gently form to the base.

If the candle is not soft enough, simply place the candle end back into the water and wait a few more minutes until the candle is pliable.

If the candle is too small for the holder you can use some double stick foam tape to hold it in place.

Don’t forget to never leave a candle burning unattended.

Christmas Cookie Party

Don't have time for a full holiday party this year? For a fun holiday get together invite all your friends and neighbors over for a Christmas Cookie exchange.

Count the number of guests that you are inviting, have each guest bring twice that many cookies plus a dozen and one recipe for the cookie for each family that will be attending.

Once everyone gets there, make up a plate of cookies for each family in attendance that has 2 cookies and 1 recipe for each person.

Take the additional dozen and set out for everyone to snack on.

To add a bit more fun, create a contest for the best tasting, most original, etc.

Pick up a bottle of wine or a small gift for the prizes.

The best part is that no one goes home empty handed either because each family has a plate of different cookies to enjoy when they leave!

Stocking a Bar

Stocking a bar doesn't have to break you. If you have a few of the basics, most everyone will find something that they like.

You can start with the some different kinds of water (sparkling & flavored) and soda. A cola product and a lemon/lime product are wise choices.

Basic beer is good. Check with friends and see what they prefer and pick up some regular and light.

Red and White wine are always welcome, as is Champagne.

For mixed drinks you can pick up bourbon, gin, rum, vodka, tequila and whiskey. Don't forget basic juices like Orange and Tomato.

Make some home made wine coolers by combining equal parts of wine, fruit juice and a fruit flavored liqueur. Experiment with combinations until you get the sweet taste of success.

Holiday Drinks

Want to have some fun with your holiday drinks? Here are some great ideas!

For frosty beer mugs, place glass beer mugs in the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving.

To spice up a tall glass of beer, add a shot of amaretto, rum, vodka or whisky. For a more subtle taste add a shot of lime juice.

Use fresh cut fruit or vegetable sticks for drink stirrers. Popular ones are carrots, celery, pineapple and pickles.

For glass decorations use thin slices of lemon, lime, orange or star fruit.

Backyard Beach Party

You are having a BBQ for friends and family. You can have a simply decorated area with items that you already have around the house.

Grab some beach towels and use them in deck chairs and even as table cloths to cover up mismatched furniture or just to make it a bit more comfortable.

Pick up an inexpensive toddler pool and fill with ice. Place in the shade and place and assortment of soda, juice and water so that all ages have a choice.

Don't have enough tables for everyone? Lay out a beach towel for the kids to have a picnic on.

Find some of your outside holiday lights and string them along the fence and tree's for some festive evening lighting. (don't forget to make sure that they are for outdoor use)

To keep fragile salads cold, grab 2 bowls, one larger than the other. Place ice in the larger bowl and then gently press in the smaller bowl that you have filled with salad.

Place a some cookies or candies into small bags and tie off with colorful ribbon. Place next to each place setting. Now your friends/family can have their dessert whenever they want.

Become eco friendly and shop yard sales for misc. dishes. Pick them up and store in your ice chest. When you have a party, use these dishes instead of paper to save the environment. If you find enough varieties everyone will know what their plate looks like. When the party is over, place the cleaned dishes back into the cooler until you need them again.

To make sure that drinks know who their owners are, grab a handful of straws and a sheet of blank office labels. Place these on the table with colorful pens and let your guests write their names onto the labels and fold in half around a straw.

Don't forget to leave a few bottles of sun screen and bug spray out so that guests can use it when they need it instead of having to ask.

Jiggler Shots

For a more jiggly form of alcohol fun, make some jiggler shots.

Prepare a 4oz box of any flavor gelatin with 1 cup boiling water. Once all of the gelatin has dissolved, stir in 3/4 cup champagne, gin, rum, or vodka.

Pour into ice cube trays and refrigerate until set.

(if you share the house with small children make sure that you place them out of reach, or make some for them in a different color using water instead of alcohol)

Remove from the trays to serve.

Bonus Buffet

If you are thinking about entertaining, don’t be scared, have a buffet.

There is no rules that say you have to serve a four course meal.

This get together is exactly that, you meeting with your friends.

To make it even easier, assign each guest to a portion of the dinner.

Be sure to have some back up dishes already prepared and on hand in case someone is not able to make it!

Restaurant Fun

You love going out with the family, but some times the kids can get bored very quickly while waiting for food to be delivered. Most restaurants have the kids menu's but they are quickly completed.

A fun and easy game that you can do is right in front of you. Grab a menu off the table and open it up. Looking at the menu, pick a dish and let everyone in the family see how many words that they can make from the letters in the name of the dish.

(For younger kids, it is ok to let them make up words phonetically)

Filling Air Toys Easily

You are trying to fill up your child’s blow up toy and you are going crazy trying to keep all the air from sneaking out.

You can actually make this easier by grabbing a turkey baster.

Remove the bulb from the end and place the small end into the nozzle for the toy.

Now you simply blow in the large end and you can easily pinch off when you are done.

Fishing Party

Want to have a great party for a fishing fiend? Here are a couple of great ideas that will go a long way with your angling friends.

Throw a fishing party and serve up some fish burgers for a great entrée along with some fries and cole slaw.

For some fun decorations, fill some cleaned out empty cans with gummi worms, leaving a few hanging out over the sides.

You can get real creative and place some paper around the cans and write "worms .10 each"

Find an old fishbowl and clean it out well. Make up some punch and pour into the fishbowl.

For a fun cake, make up a white or yellow cake. Add a bit of blue coloring to the frosting and frost your cake well. Now using a package or gummi or sweedish fish, have some fun and place them all over your frosting "water"

You can also find all different kinds of small fishing lures and whatnot for decorations around your table and room.

Have some fun and let your imagination swim!

Pairing Placements

When you have your next sit down dinner, have a little fun with the seating chart. Collect items from around that house that are in pairs.

A pair of dice, cards, candy, keys, coins. Place one of each item on the table in the center of each plate. Place the mates into a bowl.

Now when your guests arrive, have them select an item out of the bowl and match it up to the item on the plate for their seating assignment.

Winter Luminarie Fun

If you want luminaries but you think that it is too cold out think again! There are several fun ways to have luminaries out side when it is cold.

For starters you don't have to use candles anymore. You can buy battery operated candle lights from most drug stores or department stores. You can buy pure white or candles that change colors.

If there is snow on the ground, using a soup can or coffee can, press it firmly into the snow creating a chamber. Place your candle into the chamber. If you use a battery operated light, place the light into a zip lock baggie before placing into the hole. This will keep the light from getting wet.

Awarding Door Prizes

The next time that you have a party, instead of getting the usual door prizes or ditty bags, get lottery tickets. They are inexpensive and will offer a great reward if they are lucky enough.

As each one is given their ticket, they have to say what it is they would do with the money if they win.

You can have them scratch as a group or one at a time.

You can also get regular lottery tickets and everyone can watch the drawing of the numbers together.

Foiled Again!

Sometimes you find the perfect gift, but it is little and a little oddly shaped.

An easy way to wrap these presents is with aluminum foil.

It molds to the item easily, looks impressive with any color of ribbon.

It is also very easy for small kids to open. Just watch out for any little pieces that might choke and infant or toddler.

Christmas Cookie Party

Don't have time for a full holiday party this year? For a fun holiday get together invite all your friends and neighbors over for a Christmas Cookie exchange.

Count the number of guests that you are inviting, have each guest bring twice that many cookies plus a dozen and one recipe for the cookie for each family that will be attending.

Once everyone gets there, make up a plate of cookies for each family in attendance that has 2 cookies and 1 recipe for each person.

Take the additional dozen and set out for everyone to snack on.

To add a bit more fun, create a contest for the best tasting, most original, etc.

Pick up a bottle of wine or a small gift for the prizes.

The best part is that no one goes home empty handed either because each family has a plate of different cookies to enjoy when they leave!

Paper Preservation

You walk into the craft room to wrap a present and you notice that all of your rolled wrap is coming unrolled and the paper is tearing.

It is easy to fix, just grab an empty cardboard tube from gift wrap, toilet paper or even paper towels.

Cut the empty cardboard tube lengthwise from the top to the bottom.

Tightly roll up your paper on it’s existing tube and slip the cut cardboard tube over the roll of paper to hold it securely in place.