Chinet sent me product and a stipend for the food and decor in this post. This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed. I was provided the samples free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.
I was thrilled to be invited to take part in Chinet's Lost Art Of Getting Together campaign. Their goal is to encourage fun ways to bring family and friends together and rediscover this "lost art art of getting together." Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have the extreme pleasure of living near amazing farms and when fall arrives, the pumpkins are in full glory and corn mazes are begging to be walked through. Thus, the idea for our Pumpkin Patch Tailgating Party was born. After all, who says you can only tailgate for football?
If you missed it, take a peek back at the invite; getting friends and family together on a gorgeous day for picking pumpkins, running through the corn maze, fresh kettle corn, meeting new 2- and 4-legged friends and topping it off with sweets and treats? It was a done deal.
Easy entertaining is always the name of my game and my friend C and I joined forces to create the perfect tailgate set-up out of the back of her vehicle. A simple blanket, and with her mad pumpkin carving skills, the pumpkins finished the scene perfectly.
No matter what you are serving at your tailgating party, it better be easy to set up, serves and clean up. We went with donuts, of course, cookies and homemade muffins and cupcakes. C even roasted and bagged the pumpkin seeds from the carved pumpkins.
I was going to put up my garland made with Chinet beverage napkins, but alas, ran out of time. The children were closing in fast and I feared for my safety. I love making napkin garlands...just overlap your napkins over ribbon and use little clothespins. No clothespins? A little double stick tape works just as well.
I made easy dessert stands by stacking a Chinet square dessert and dinner plate with their 9 oz.Cut Crystal® cup. The plates are so sturdy I didn't even need to glue them to the cup. I finished them off by punching holes in the corners and threading baker's twine through. Super easy and a nice touch! We ate our goodies on Chinet Cut Crystal® dessert plates which I totally meant to layer them with green paper doilies but totally forgot to do so.
I also used the Cut Crystal® cups for our toppings bar for our hot beverages. From rock candy sticks and various chocolate chips to cinnamon sticks for the hot cider, mix-ins are a must when you are serving a crowd. It's a great way to keep your guests engaged and is just plain fun!
My fabulous friends at Garnish sent me goodies to use as well; large wood paper serving cones, wooden spoons, and beverage boxes. You just saw the wooden spoons and here are the beverage boxes in action at our little drink bar along with their sauce bottles, which I love and use all the time. For the adults, we used the Chinet 12 oz Comfort Cups which come with lids, and for the kids, we used smaller hot/cold cups.
FYI, the beverage boxes are awesomeness...I kept them hot (that's right...the liquids were still steaming several hours later) by making a hot box with my cooler thanks to Daphne Oz's tutorial.
The wood paper cones fit perfectly into my ice cream cone holder and became awesome donut holders. The kids loved the idea and a few were two-fisting cones...which leaves no hands for eating, I had to point out.
Stamping and writing on wooden spoons are perfect for easy entertaining, no need for fancy food cards. I dipped the wooden spoons in a chocolate chip/baking squares mix and let them and set them on wax paper. The kids couldn't get enough of them and they were mighty good in a cup of coffee.
My lovely co-hostess...get a load of her festive nail polish!
With the craziness of the holiday season, take advantage of the last days of beautiful weather and enjoy some time with family and friends. You don't have to plan an expensive and time-consuming blowout to make the day special. A few clever ideas and storebought treats make things so much easier and you will spend more time with your friends and less time in your 'kitchen'.
Need more ways to bring people together? Check out these posts from my fellow Chinet gals Cupcakes & Cutlery, Hank & Hunt, and The Proper Pinwheel.
Chinet sent me product and a stipend for the food and decor in this post. This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed. I was provided the samples free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.
Like what you just read? There's more where that came from...follow Not Just A Mommy on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Never miss a post by signing up by email. You can also follow the blog with Feedly.
This post is from the blog, Not Just A Mommy. If you are not currently reading this via e-mail or an RSS feed from NJAM, then this post has been stolen or scraped from the NJAM blog. Stolen content can be reported here https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?pli=1&