Photo Flipbook Party Invite

Townes' 3rd birthday is coming up next week and it has me, as most mom's do, thinking back on his first birthday and how much he has grown.  I love throwing parties and so when his first birthday came around I was just tickled to throw my very first kid's party.  I had probably started thinking about it from the day I got him home from the hospital honestly, just casual thoughts about what we could do.

Its hard to pick a theme for a one-year olds party because, let's be real, they don't really have interests.  I mean, sure they are into food and toys and sleeping, but who isn't and anyway, those things don't really make for much of a party theme (though now that I've said that, I'm starting to wonder if I couldn't throw an adorable "nap themed" party for a baby - stay tuned, I'll work on it - I'm thinking some sheep and clouds and cozy blankets....)  Shit, sorry, I digress.

Townes' first birthday wasn't shaping up like I thought it would because first of all, we weren't living in our house.  We were four months into our HUGE remodel and living in a rental so I already felt disjointed.  Also, I hadn't anticipated how bummed I would be at the idea that all of my family probably wouldn't be there since they live in New York, California, Washington and elsewhere that isn't here.

However that is where I got the theme, in missing my NY family, I decided Townes' birthday could still pay homage to them in some way and so we did a NY theme with T, starring as King Kong.  We had Nathan's hot dogs, hot pretzels, and a popcorn bar. There was a King Kong pinata and a custom made cake to look like a skyscraper for King King Townes' to smash (it was the Frost Tower, which is here in Austin, so we had a little Texas sprinkled in).  I even made favors for everyone to take home that were "bagels in a jar" - I filled large mason jars with all the dry fixings to make homemade NY Style Bagels, topped them with a cute label that said I Heart NY and a tag with the recipe and instructions.

The crowning jewel of this party theme though was the invitation.  We had an adorable black gorilla costume for Townes and we decided we wanted to make a video of him walking through towers of cardboard blocks and knocking them down - that idea ended up posing a few problems: 1) he couldn't walk yet, 2) what exactly would we do with said video, and 3) he was having no part in any of it at all, just wanted the damn gorilla hat off.

After some more brainstorming and discussing, Chanel and I decided to scrap the video idea and make a flip book.  At the time the plan was to give them out as favors to people at the party.  So we dressed him back up, set up the blocks and tried again, this time rapid shooting stills with our camera.  No luck again.  He wouldn't cooperate.

Back to the drawing board, one last time.  We went back to something he knew.  Since he had been doing his chalkboard photos for a year we knew he would cooperate that way.  So we drew the skyline of Austin (another subtle nod to his hometown) on the board and tried to get him to walk in front of it.  Nope.  Finally we gave him his chair and a banana (his favorite snack) and went with what made him happy.  SUCCESS!

Then when I started making the flip books I thought, I should mail them to the people who can't come - then it occurred to me to just make them the invitation and send them to everyone!  It was adorable and everyone loved it. I chose black envelopes to go with the theme (from Paper Source, as always) and then chose a vintage NY subway map wrapping paper for the liner.  I printed labels for the front of the envelope that invoked a little film making with the washi tape and they were all set!  My favorite part was the little message on the last page, letting everyone know we loved them and that this was a keepsake if they couldn't come, which lots of people couldn't.

Like the idea?  Here are some tips on how to do it yourself - its not hard I promise!

Shooting the Photos

At this point, you can do this with just about any camera.  Most digital cameras, even basic ones will let you hold down the shutter button and will just keep auto-focusing and shooting. We used my Canon Rebel, but you could get the same effect on your iPhone with the Burst feature.

It doesn't have to be anything super planned.  We happened to have a theme, but the book will capture the equivalent of a 5-10 second video.  That's not a lot.  So if there is something you love about your little one (a funny face, the way the laugh, how they eat, anything) it will be a cute flip book.  They just need to be moving.

Lastly, if you can, use a tripod.  If you aren't moving then the frame of the photos will all remain the same and will look best in a book because the only moving part will be your kiddo, not the angle of the photo.  This will also allow you to apply the same edits and crop to the whole batch of photos instead of doing each one individually and hoping they match up - trust me this saves a lot of time.

The Cover

I made the cover using (gasp!) Microsoft Word.  All my graphic designer friends would be appalled (not even would be, T's godfather is a super talented graphic designer and he repeatedly tells me he is) but its software I am comfortable with, already own, and can intuitively figure out since I've been using it since elementary school.  I just pull up a blank publishing document, adjust the page layout to be the size I need (in this case 2 x 3) and then go to work adding text boxes, clip art, and so on.

Then what you need to do is save the page as an image and you are ready to go!

The Book

There are a two ways you can go about assembling the book depending on your time, budget and patience.

THE DIY WAY

This is not the way I ended up going because I was making so many (I used about 45, we sent them to everyone - first kid overkill if you will).  But what you could do is print each of the photos on photo paper, cut them to size, and fasten them together with glue and some thread. 

What you would do is cut each photo out leaving a 1/4 inch border on the left side.  Add two small pin holes in the top and bottom quarters of the border (in the same spot of each photo, like the edge of binder paper).  Stack up all your photos (NOT THE COVER), and apply a little bit of glue using a glue stick on the border and glue them all together in order. Once they are glued together, thread a needle and go in one hole, out the other side and then in the other hole and out the other side, twice around creating a secondary way to hold the pages together.

Finally, attach the covers.  The front and back covers should be printed as one long strip, with enough space in the middle to wrap around the bound edge of the book. Use glue to secure the cover pages to the binding area and you are done!

This is pretty simple, if you are making just a couple, but its A LOT of work if you are making more than like, five. So I went with the other method.

ORDERING THEM PRINTED

Turns out, iPhoto has a flip book option in their projects!  Yes, you can order a flip book directly from your iPhoto!  This was the method I chose.  All my photos were already in iPhoto so I just added my cover photo to my Library, made a new project and followed the instructions.

At the time, you could order them in a pack of three for $9.  Now this is more expensive than lotsof other types of invitations, but I never said this was an exercise in cost-efficiency.  The iPhoto project also allowed me to add the final page of text and that was my favorite part.  I am sure that also with some digging other photo printing apps and sites would offer a similar project.

Trucks, Trucks and Firetrucks: Hondo's First Birthday Party

Celebrating Townes' first birthday was so normal - most about having Townes has been so normal really - and his first birthday party was adorably average.  We had friends and family, cake, and a pinata.  However, the same can absolutely not be said about Hondo.

For those of you that don't know, Hondo's birth was a totally insane experience.  Long story short, he was born at home, on our floor, and just barely caught by a fireman who just walked in the door.  I had been sent home from the hospital, being told I could have all night ahead of me, and about an hour and a half later Hondo arrived on our floor about 45 minutes after we arrived back home.  All the while, Townes sat downstairs in the living room with his grandma watching Finding Nemo.  The firemen were even able to pull up to the house without their sirens on, not scare Townes, and sneak up the stairs without him noticing.

#babyonthefloor

It's the kind of thing you don't really believe happens, until it happens to you.  In any case, we don't have many photos from his birth the way we do of Townes.  Aaron was prudent enough to step back and take just one photo - he was even scared to tell me later because he thought I would be mad, but he also thought if he didn't do it, I'd be upset I had nothing to remember it by.  When I saw it, I was really glad he did, I chose to announce Hondo's birth the next day with this photo and the hashtag #babyonthefloor was born.

Suffice it to say, since that day, nothing with Hondo has been ordinary, including his first birthday party.  I planned it just the same as T's - we invited family and friends, I planned a kid-friendly menu, it was a simple brunch with a fun activity and a smash cake. But of course, that wasn't going to be enough for this kid. 

Hondo being re-introduced to the men who delivered him.  Rodger (bottom left) was the first face little Hondo ever saw.

I had thought a truck theme would be fun for him - firetrucks, construction trucks, garbage trucks haha - he loves them all, so it seemed to fit.  It seemed even more perfect when I reached out to the firemen who delivered him (who have stayed in touch with and are the most wonderful men, in my humble opinon) and invited them to join us, they all happily accepted.  And on top of it, their home station (AFD Station #10) said they would bring him a birthday surprise in the form of a real FIRE TRUCK.

If all of that wasn't enough, when the heads of the fire department found out that all five of them would be coming to his little birthday party, their Public Relations department reached out and asked if they could do a press release about it and I said sure - those men deserve all the kudos in the world for doing what they do!

What I didn't anticipate was the news crews that showed up at the party too! Four of our local news stations came to interview us, and film Hondo smashing his cake and seeing the firemen.  Someone even told us that the story made the news in Houston - I'm not kidding when I said this kid does not do anything average.

Besides all of that craziness, the party was great! So lets get down to the real business at hand here: the party itself.  Now you know where I got the theme from, trucks, of all kinds. I didn't want to make it all about the fireman, he has enough stuff that's all fireman related, and he really seems to love any truck he comes across anyway.

The Invitations

So lets start with the invites: as usual, they were printed through Minted.com.  These are the Party Trucks design that I paired with the Persimmon envelopes from Paper Source and a hand stamped yellow and white polka dot wrapping paper for a liner.

I addressed the envelopes simply with a white paint pen which contrasted really well against the darker envelope.  I liked the color scheme that the invitation led us to, so we stuck wit that for the rest of the party (red, yellow, orange and blue).

The Decor and Activity

Again, this is a birthday party for a one-year old, so I wasn't super concerned with needing a crazy exciting type of entertainment, however, he does have a big brother and our friends who were coming had kids ranging in ages from newborn to four, so I had to do something to keep all the kids happy.

We decided to let trucks do what trucks do best and put a bunch of sand out on a tarp and made a temporary sand box right in the middle of the backyard and set out all the trucks we had for the kids to play with. 

To give the kids a favor to take home and something that felt special for them, Chanel (who happens to be Hondo's very special godmother) and I personalized some $1 construction hats from Party city with a black oil-based paint Sharpie and oval labels from Paper Source that we printed with a cement truck and "Hayes' Party Crew."

Chanel even decorated the back yard with life-size fire hydrants and traffic cones (you can see them by the play set)! She drew them onto red and yellow poster board with black paint pen, cut them out, and taped a wooden dowel to the back and stuck them in the ground to line the play area and the front walkway outside the house.

Finally, we had the cutest photo booth for people to take photos!  Chanel, again, made the most fantastic kid-size cardboard bulldozer for the kids to pose in and snapped the pics out in the yard!  You can find a tutorial for how to turn your old boxes into cars and trucks here.

Oh yeah, and there was a FIRETRUCK!  So in the end, I think the kids were well entertained.

The Menu

Finally, to the best part of the party - the menu! This being a party celebrating my sweet baby boy, I decided to shape the menu around what he likes and what would be a brunch food that functioned well in this setting.

I needed to choose foods that would travel well - kids this age move fast, so I didn't think most parents would be sitting down and enjoying food that required a plate and utensils, and neither would the kids - so everything on this menu meets three requirements: easy to grab and go, a breakfast food, and Hondo-approved.

I started with a homemade granola/snack mix of oats, shredded coconut, raisins, pretzels, etc. (recipe to come) that we divided up into individual paper bags so that kids could grab one and carry it around with them.  Then there was a double batch of lemon-ricotta-blueberry bread (recipe to come), cut into bite sized pieces. 

For the main "meal" I made two dozen mini-bagels using my regular bagel recipe (just using half the dough per bagel).  I pre-sliced them and set out butter, cream cheese, and even the toasted right there on the bar.  They were the perfect size for the kiddos to carry around and nosh on.  I also made mini english muffins and served them as a breakfast slider with a sausage patty and cheese in the middle.  I rounded it all out with some of Hondo's favorite breakfast food: sweet potato hash.  I diced up some peeled sweet potatoes small, diced some onion, seasoned them and sauteed them on the griddle in the leftover sausage fat. 

Of course, for dessert we had some very normal offerings (something had to be regular at this party)!  I made basic vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate buttercream.  I used the same recipe to make him a tiny four-layer vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream to dig into on his own.  We even found some cute semi-truck cupcake decorations at Party City!

Hosting Friendsgiving & How to Cook a Winning Turkey

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I mean, come on, its basically about family and food.  My two favorite things.  And as many of you know, or could guess,  my friends are my family too.  Naturally, when I first moved to Austin in 2009, I hosted Thanksgiving, even though I had only lived here a month.

Not shockingly, I only had five people.  It was me, my roommate Kelsey, our friend Kevin, Kelsey's new boyfriend Andy, and Andy's best friend Kate.  It was okay, not very noteworthy I suppose, but fun.  Since then, I have hosted a Friendsgiving for our Austin family every year on the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Each year it grew, it was always an open door policy, bring your new girlfriend or someone from work, etc. and it was wonderful.  Year four was the last year we had it in an apartment and we were really pushing the boundaries of space for about 30 people.

That spring I bought my house and so we were able to have the next one here which was so much fun and a very different vibe.  We had a yard and so much more of a homey feel.  That was also the first year that Aaron was here! Things kind of blew up after that.  Last year things really seemed crazy...we had SIXTY-FIVE people! I mail out invitations now and that year I ordered over 40.  While it was a ton of fun, it was also verging on totally crazy.  No one really had anywhere to sit and there was way too much food.  Its normally a bit of a potluck and there was just too much food - we even had to make two 25 lb turkeys!

So this year we sat down and had a real conversation about what we wanted out of the party.  I missed the fun, casual time to sit and chat with good friends that we don't see all the time, but also, we have two kids now and I wanted to make it about their memories of the event too.  So lots of people are very overwhelming for little kids and so many of our friends are parents now too.  We decided that keeping the guest list to about 20 seemed reasonable (that's only ten couples) and about prioritizing the people that our kids like to be around.

It was really hard to shave the guest list down but it was worth it.  This was the perfect amount of people and we had such a lovely time.  I was way less stressed and things went really smoothly.  I also had my best turkey yet.  It was moist and tender and flavorful - and I don't even like turkey.  I had a lot of people asking me how to make the turkey and to make sure I posted it before they did their Thanksgivings on Thursday so I will be writing that out. 

We also had a sweet potato dish that I am going to share.  It was probably the big hit of the dinner as well.  The other two standouts from this year would also be my friend Karissa's roasted Cauliflower (I am going to try and get the recipe from her so I can share it with you because it was so awesome!) and the white cheddar version of my regular macaroni and cheese.  I am going to put all those recipes up here for you but unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet!  We were so busy socializing, chatting and just enjoying ourselves that I barely have any food pictures - everyone just dug right in!

I did get a bunch of pictures of all the neat stuff I did this year that was the culmination of seven years of hosting this party and now the third year with tiny guests.  The first year we had kiddos at Friendsgiving there was just baby Townes and two other little ones.  This year we had ten kids ranging from 4 years to 5 weeks old!  It was absolutely awesome and they had the best time so I'm going to get started with tips on the kiddos and then on to the food!

Tips for Hosting Kiddos

I have an amazing time planning things for the kids - I was a preschool teacher, its really what I do.  So the older all of our kids get, the more excited I am to do neat things to make their time while their parents socialize more enjoyable and to keep them busy so their parents can actually finish a sentence.

Step 1: Give them their space

I set our entire family room to be the kid zone.  They would be out from underfoot near the food, there was a clear path to the back yard (our family room has a door right to the porch and thus to the swing set), and has the TV in it.  I set all the adults tables in the dining room that is off the other side of the kitchen - we could see them and they were also free.

I used a low coffee table that we have (that is already covered in chalkboard paint) to set for them.  Instead of place mats, I made coloring books by printing out Thanksgiving themed coloring pages (turkey, Mayflower, pumpkin, etc) and stapling them to a piece of thick card stock. 

I made crayon holders (personalized for each kid, the older ones LOVE having something with their name on it) that were mini-pilgrim hats!  They are just a black paper party cup, turned upside down and glued to a circle of black scrap book paper.  I traced an upside-down large solo cup onto black paper and cut them out.  Turn the paper cups upside-down and cut out the bottom carefully with an exact-o knife and then glue to the black circles.  I used sparkly gold washi tape for the band and then a white paint pen to put their names on.  I filled them with crayons and chalk.

If there is also one other thing that EVERY kid likes its bubbles, so I dug into my cabinets and found a couple of bubbles that hadn't been opened this summer and put those out too.  I set up the boy's tee-pee for a little Thanksgiving ambiance and a place to play.  We almost resurrected the red wagon-pirate ship from Halloween as the Mayflower, but didn't have time.

Step 2: Keep Them Busy

If the crayons and bubbles weren't going to distract them enough, I had a few other things to keep them playing.  I made a Turkey Toss out of an old diaper box by wrapping it in black wrapping paper and then cutting up construction paper to decorate with a turkey.  I cut out three hole with an exact-o knife and then reinforced the edges with scotch tape.  Voila! I gave them a bunch of soft balls and they went to town throwing balls at the turkey trying to get them in the hole. 

The center piece on their table was also doing double-duty for the little ones.  It was a Paper Bag Turkey filled with Chex Mix! We cut open the top after the kids arrived and they were able to come and go from the table and grab a little handful of snacks without being underfoot near the kitchen. 

Finally, with something that the adults had just as much fun with as the kids, was the Pilgrim hats and Native American headbands I made. They were actually pretty simple, they were made out of the craft foam sheets you can buy in packs at any craft store.  For the pilgrim hats I just free-hand drew one hat on paper, cut it out and then traced it onto the black foam sheets and cut out as many as I needed.  I cut white labels and wrapped them around for the band and then cut out yellow squares and glued them on with a hot glue gun.  I cut strips of black foam sheet about an inch wide and eight inches long and attached elastic string to both ends to make a headband.  Then I used my hot glue gun to attach the Pilgrim hat to the black head band.  The Native American headbands were the same idea.  I cut strips of colored foam sheets and then decorated them with shapes and feathers (also cut from foam) and then attached the string and there they were!

The kids had fun wearing them, but Chanel and I were guilty of wearing them around all morning while we were cooking too - I almost made the run to pick up the flowers with my headband on.  We rounded out the entertainment by putting on Pocahontas and a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on the TV - I have to admit that the soundtrack to Pocahontas was pretty fun.

Step 3: Make It Easy For Mom and Dad

After hosting a good amount of birthday parties, thanksgivings, etc, with the kids a few things have kept happening that I thought I could anticipate to make things easier on the other parents.  Its already overwhelming having to keep track of your kid, hold a conversation, and eat your food without figuring out where to change a diaper, what to do with smelly poop, to ask for supplies or make sure your kid doesn't spill juice all over your host's carpet.

So this time I left out handy signs so parents could be as efficient as possible and not worry about trying to find me or Aaron to ask permission to use something while trying to hold on to a kid with poop running down their leg (we have all been there). What I suggest is picking out a spot to designate as a changing zone (if you don't already have one), ours is the laundry room right off the kitchen.  I labeled the diaper sizes, the drawer of extra wipes, set out extra small bags for stinky diapers, a trash can, Lysol, hand-sanitizer, diaper cream, etc. 

I was a little bit worried when I did it that it might come off as bossy or controlling, but I ended up getting a lot of positive comments about it because people felt like it made stuff a whole lot easier, given all the organized other chaos going on.  I also followed this trend in the guest bathroom as well.  Some of our little guests were potty training or recently potty trained so I set out an extra back of wipes there, spare pull-ups, a jar of M&Ms and a couple kids books, just in case.

Lastly, I set up some disposable "sippy cups" for parents to use as needed and not worry about losing.  I just purchased a 12 pack of paper coffee cups with lids and then put bendy straws in the opening.  I set out a marker for parents to label their kids cup (because we all know they put them down and don't remember where).  There were set out right on the bar where the apple cider, cranberry cocktail and all the alcohol and cups for the older guests were.  For the first time this year as well, I did not add alcohol to any of the drinks (the cider and cranberry cocktail), but rather set the liquor next to the juices so that if kids asked for some, they had other options than water.  People also seemed to like being able to pour to their preference.

How to Cook the Winning Turkey

What I am about to share with you is the result of seven years of trying different turkey methods until finding perfection.  I have seriously done it all; there was the famous turkducken of 2010, deep-fried turkey of 2013, smoked turkey of 2014 - we've been there, done that. 

Up until this year, I will have to admit that the deep-fried turkey had been the favorite, followed by the smoked turkey.  However, I have a fundamental problem with a cooking method that could potentially burn down the house so, sorry 2013, but I wasn't going to be able to take the stress of deep-frying again.  And the smoked one was okay, but I wasn't personally a fan of the flavor for Thanksgiving - I wanted something savory and buttery.  The smoker produced a sweet and tangy turkey, that was absolutely moist, but also took forever.

So this year I went back to my tried and true - oven roasting with a belly full of stuffing.  But year after year the bird wasn't as tender as I thought it could be (even though I basted that baby with herb butter every 30 minutes).  So I got some lessons from my professional chef friends and made my own brine this year and it was the right choice.  So without further ado - here it is.

Southern Herb-Brined Roasted Turkey

• 1 fresh or defrosted turkey (about 1 lb per guest)
• 2 gallons of water (8 quarts)
• 2 cups kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 tsp. dried chipotle powder
• 1 tbs. garlic powder
• 1 tbs. sage
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. tarragon
• Ground black pepper
• Large cooler or 2 basting bags and a roasting pan
• Basting Liquid:
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
  • 1 tbs. minced garlic
  • 1 tsp. sage
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • Ground black pepper
• Sausage Stuffing:
  • 2 lbs. ground Italian sausage
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 2 tsp. minced garlic
  • 3 generous tbs. ground sage
  • 1 box RItz crackers (or other salted, buttery cracker)
• For the gravy:
  • Up to 1 cup of flour

1-2 Days Before Thanksgiving:

Make your brine.  In a large stock pot, big enough to hold 2 gallons of water (mine is a standard 10 qt pot) combine the salt, brown sugar, molasses and spices.  Pour the 2 gallons of water over the spices and stir together.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar and salt into the water.  Once it is dissolved, removed the brine from the heat to cool completely - this is important because if it is not cooled it will parboil your turkey and that's gross, I promise.

Once your brine is room temperature or cooler, prepare your cooler or brining bags.  I used two of the thick plastic bags that our grocery store gives you when you buy your turkey, but grocery stores should also sell large plastic bags for this purpose.  I have also heard of people using coolers, but I have no idea how you would adequately sanitize it after, so I did not go this route. I placed my roasting pan on counter and opened up one of the bags, placed it in the roasting pan and rolled down the sides so I could place the raw turkey right in.  You may want another set of hands to help with this part, I did.

Place your turkey in the sink and unwrap it, make sure the cavities are empty (neck and gibblets removed) and rinse out the inside carefully.  Once that is done, place the turkey into the bag in the roasting pan and pour the brine over the turkey and into the bag.  I had Aaron hold the edges of the bag steady while I poured.

Once your brine is all in, pull your bag closed and try to push out as much as a possible before tying it off completely.  Once its tied, you will want to put the wrapped turkey into the second bag and tie that off as well (this is your insurance policy in case the first bag tears).  Aaron even went further to wrap the whole thing in saran wrap which helped better distribute the brine all around the turkey.

Place your bagged turkey into the roasting pan and into your fridge for up to 36 hours.  I placed mine in Thursday night to take out Saturday morning.  Flip your turkey over half way through your brining time to make sure all parts of the turkey get equal amounts of immersion in the bring.

The Night Before Thanksgiving:

Make your stuffing.  Dice up your onion small and saute in a large pan with the garlic until fragrant.  Add the ground sausage and cook until sausage is cooked through, breaking up the meat with a spoon as you go and mixing into the onion and garlic.  Once cooked, add the sage and season with salt and pepper. Stir well.  Remove from heat.  Three or four crackers at a time, crush the crackers over the stuffing and stir in, absorbing all the cooking liquid.  I normally use 1 sleeve per pound of meat, so about 2 sleeves of crackers, but more if you need it. Stir well to combine, cover and refrigerate until morning.

Thanksgiving Day

Half an hour before cooking, remove your turkey from the fridge and release from the brine (in the sink, obviously).  Place the turkey into the roasting pan and fill the cavities with the sausage stuffing. Allow the turkey to come up to room temp while your preheat the oven to 325°.

In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat melt the two sticks of butter with the garlic and herbs.  Once melted bring to a bubble and then immediately remove from heat and stir.  Set aside.

Place your oven rack to the lowest part of the oven and put your turkey in the oven.  The chart will help you figure out how long you need to cook the bird, remember to cook it to 165°!  I recommend planning on taking the turkey out 45 minutes or so before serving.  You will want to let it rest before carving it and you will want to make the gravy from all the roasting juices.

Every hour, you will want to open up your oven and baste the turkey generously with the melted herb butter using a basting brush.  If your turkey skin starts to brown on top faster than the rest of the bird is cooking, cover the areas with foil until the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Check your birds temp with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast AND the thigh.  Remove when its at least 165° and set it to rest.

Meanwhile, use this time to pop anything in the oven you may need to heat up (like sweet potatoes or macaroni and cheese).

Once that is done, you will want to scoop the stuffing out of your bird and into a separate serving dish - set aside and cover to keep warm.

Then carefully remove the turkey from the roasting pan and place onto a large cutting board or cookie sheet with a lip or a casserole dish.  Pour the juices and fat from the bottom of the roasting pan into a large sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to a soft boil.  Whisk in flour a few table spoons at a time, incorporating until smooth after each addition.  Add flour until your gravy is your desired consistency.  Remove from heat, ladle into your desired serving dish and set aside.

Carve your turkey and place the pieces onto a serving platter.  I have used this Buzzfeed guide to turkey carving the last two years and it hasn't failed me!

Katie and Clay's Baby Shower: A Chic Black-and-Gold Picnic

I think the most important thing I have learned as a hostess over the years is that when you are throwing a party to celebrate something or someone, you have to first put yourself aside.  The first thing you need to ask yourself is what would they want?  What do they enjoy? What are their favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite activities?  What things illustrate their personas?  And most importantly, what do they NOT like? 

Those things seem like givens, but its not always easy to put your preferences aside when you are the one throwing the party.  Maybe you would love an over-the-top, all-girls, silly games baby shower.  But also, you might be the friend who hates being the center of attention and feels uncomfortable.

So when I was planning Katie's shower, I immediately started picturing an environment where Katie seemed the most like herself: a casual setting, outside, sun shining, shoes kicked off, chatting with Clay and Aaron, watching the dogs play.  That's Katie.  I wanted her shower to be all of those things, to feel just like that for everyone who came.

That's how I decided we would have a couples shower, in the backyard, with lights, and picnic tables, and dogs and kids, and casual food.  But Katie is also one of the most casually classy people I know - so this was not going to be a backyard BBQ with someone flipping burgers either. 

Finally, she doesn't like being the center of attention - I remember her asking me if she hadto open gifts in front of everyone.  While, unfortunately, I told her yes (you can't deprive future grandparents and aunts and uncles the fun of a little oohing and aahing) but that we didn't have to play any games if she didn't want to.  She could just be herself and enjoy visiting with all the people who love her and Clay and wanted to come celebrate them and their new baby.

It all came together just as I had pictured.  We all had the most fantastic time and it was so fun to see Clay and Aaron with all their high school friends and their children and families.  What a way to celebrate a new member of such a wonderful extended family.

The invitations

I wanted to invite to convey all of the things that I felt Katie is - casual, classy, modern.  I also wanted to make it clear that it wasn't going to be a typical baby shower: we were going to throw it at night (6 PM) and with a more adult color scheme and vibe.  A lot of people we were inviting were coming in from out of town so I wanted to make sure they could come and maximize their time with Clay and Katie, so a two hour event mid-day didn't seem to fit the bill.  In fact, the last guest left out house at nearly 1 AM.

When I saw these they screamed Katie.  They are all the things I had pictured: modern and classy, but fun.  I loved that the colors (black and gold) seemed adult and cocktail party-like.  I love the shimmer of the gold foil pressing.  So it was a no-brainer to pair these minted.com invites with some fancy gold envelopes from Paper Source. 

The liner is my favorite part.  I loved that it brought just a little touch of fun colors to the classic black and gold.  Teal is Katie's favorite color, it evokes the thoughts of a baby boy (instead of powder blue) and the purple is regal, festive and feminine (we are celebrating Katie too!).

Decor & Activities

As I said earlier, we decided to forgo baby shower games for this party.  Lots of people were coming in from Houston and even further so I wanted to make sure they could all maximize catching up and socializing.  So I decided to go with easy things for people to do besides eat: there was cornhole, a fire pit, picnic tables, and the football game got put on inside (it is football season in Texas after all).

Aaron strung lights around the whole yard, we put out Adirondack chairs and the hammock.  I used our huge, rustic wooden dining room table out on the porch for a classy, but casual feel.  I folded a big piece of black and white gingham into a table runner.  All the accent decor (cups, plates, banner, tissue poofs, etc) were all strictly gold, white and black. Finally, we set up the guests of honor in some Adirondack chairs out on the lawn to open their gifts.

The Menu

Now this is where your guests preferences really have to come before yours, especially with a baby shower. There is nothing like the way a pregnant woman feels about food - even if she isn't having insane cravings for things, she is probably having some severe aversions to things.  Always make sure you know!

For this menu I made variations of the couples favorite casual foods.  Katie had been craving chicken salad, butter-anything, hamburgers, pimento cheese, banana pudding, and ice cream.  Clay loves BBQ, pulled pork tacos, lemon bars, and key lime pie.  Doing all of those things would have been quite an undertaking so I made combinations and alterations as I could to try to hit all the marks.

We ended up with Smoked Pulled Pork Sliders with Sweet and Spicy Sauce on King's Hawaiian Rolls with a tangy Coleslaw, Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Butter Croissants, NY Deli-Style Macaroni Salad, Chips and Dip (a ranch dip and whipped Pimento Cheese).  For dessert I made Lemon-Blueberry Shortbread Bars, Key Lime Bars and Banana Pudding Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Alice's Baby Shower: Looking Back

Next Saturday I am throwing another baby shower, this time for one of my very best friends, Katie.  Her husband, Clay, has been friends with my husband, Aaron, since they were in high school (so like 20 years ago haha).  Katie and I hit it off the moment we met when Aaron and I started dating - and the rest is history.  As I write this, her sweet baby boy (dog-baby) Jackson, is snoozing with my three pups on the bed (how is there even room for me?).

In any case, I am so excited about showering Clay and Katie on Saturday and it has me thinking back to last summer when I showered my friend Alice, who was expecting her first baby girl, Betsy, just ten days after I was expecting our sweet Hondo.

Alice is as southern-girl as they come.  She couldn't have been more perfect to have a baby girl and the matching sweet southern, pink shower to celebrate her.  So from the get-go with Alice, there was no question that pink would be front and center, right along with bows, and frills, and sparkles and anything cute.

The Invitations

After scouring for hours, and changing my mind 15 times, I finally chose this adorable "Mommy to Bee" invitation from Minted.com.  The hardest part with this shower was choosing a theme, besides pink.  Chanel and I had considered a "Cute as a Button" theme, a "Twinkle Twinkle" theme ( so. much. glitter.), the list goes on.  In any case, we just kept coming back to this invitation.  The colors seemed so perfect for Alice and Betsy.  They were girly and soft, but popped with that navy accent.  Very girly and traditional, but a little modern. It just fit. 

To keep the whimsical, girly feel that we liked about the invite so much, we chose a mint envelope from The Paper Source, lined it with a sweet polka dot paper, and then dressed up the labels with perfectly coordinated washi tape.

The Activities

Baby showers can be really hard, I will be honest.  I am not a huge fan of the kitschy games that make everyone feel kind of awkward (I'm looking at you, Mystery-Poop-Diaper Game Inventor). At a party like a baby or bridal shower, its likely that not everyone knows each other, they just all know the guest of honor.  So games that require everyone to really let their inhibitions down and do something extremely silly can be rough for people who air on the side of awkward (like me). 

My goal with the games for Alice's shower were to be things that people could 1) enjoy without all the attention on them, 2) might produce something for the momma-to-be to keep, and 3) were short, but funny.

What we came up with was a due date calendar, Pin-the-bow on the Baby Alice, and Baby Price is Right.  I even was able to order these cute customized signs from Minted!

The Due Date Calendar was simple to put together: we got a pretty wall calendar from Paper Source, a set of pink pens (different shades) and set it up on the wall.  Each guest was asked to sign their name and write a message to Alice on the date they predicted Besty would arrive.  This game checked all my boxes!  Each guest could do it on their own, it functioned as a guest book and a gift for Alice (she got a whole calendar), and only took each person a minute.

Pin the Bow on the Baby Alice was also easy to prep and easy to do.  I had Alice's mom send me a baby photo of Alice, then I emailed the image to my local Staples and had them produce a black and white 2' x 3' engineering print for 5 dollars! I hung it on the wall with it corresponding sign, and then hung a baggie full of tiny bows with adhesive (they were from the scrap-booking section at Joann Fabrics) next to the poster. There was no spinning and blind-folding to be completely transparent.  If your friends are game, I'm sure it would have been cute, but all of our guests just happily decorated baby Alice with adorable bows and Alice got to take it home.

Finally, while we were all eating, I passed out the custom cards I had made for our Price is Right game with some pens.  We uploaded a slideshow of all the items to my TV (don't ask me how I hooked up my laptop - I called my brother and he talked me through it) and everyone made their guesses while we ate and chatted and tallied up their guesses.  As always with the Price is Right, the winner was the one who was closest without going over.

The Menu & Decor

I had envisioned a beautiful outdoor brunch on the back porch at wood tables with pink and white table runners, but the reality was it was July in Central Texas so it was actually 105 degrees outside and no one wanted any part of that.  So we served the food buffet style on the kitchen island, and added extra seating to the family room for people to be comfortable, play the games and let Alice open gifts.

I was able to stick to my menu though, despite the awful heat.  When I do a party that is celebrating someone specific like this, I try and design the menu around their favorite foods and then tailor them to the occasion and theme.  Since the party was a southern brunch, Alice's favorite foods were easy to incorporate.  I am about to let you all in on the crazy that is how I organize for a party - below is a menu snapshot from my Excel spreadsheet. 

My spreadsheets for any given party have three tabs: guests, menu, and decor and to-do.  On the Guests tab, I have each guests name, address, RSVP (# attending), and then a column for their gift. At the bottom of the RSVP list, it tallies the total number of guests I am expecting and then when the party is over I can send the sheet along with the guest of honor so they have address and gifts written down to make Thank You Notes easier.  Then the Menu Tab has a column for each food item I am going to make, the ingredients I need to purchase for that item, and then a servings cell, so I know how much to make.

To make this brunch quintessentially southern, I chose to make mini fried chicken and waffles, mini biscuits served with jam or white pepper gravy, spinach feta crescent rolls, a caprese salad, pimento cheese deviled eggs, and fruit salad.  For desert I made trifle parfait cups, lemon and raspberry sorbet, and pink ombre Italian Rainbow cookies.  As of right now, I haven't written posts and recipes for all of the things I made, but I promise I will as opportunities arise to make them!  It's most likely that those Rainbow Cookies will appear again soon, everyone always asks for them. 

Finally, the decor.  I went simple and pretty for this.  Shades of pink and white tissue blooms on the ceilings in the kitchen and family room.  Pink crinkle table confetti strewn among the serving platters and gold glitter stars atop the toothpicks in the chicken and waffles.