Forget the wine, how about dessert?

**Please excuse these photos. The lighting was all over the place. I was shooting inside at 7pm. Not the best light for photos. Sorry. Carry on with your reading enjoyment. Thank you!**

Hello. My name is Jessica. I am a member of a wine club. I don’t like wine. Okay, I feel better now that I’ve confessed. What’s a girl to do when it’s her turn to host wine club and she doesn’t even like wine?? Naturally, I hosted the party! Since my favorite thing to make are desserts, I thought that would be an appropriate “menu” of sorts. I have little knowledge of wine, but did know there are dessert wines and told everyone to bring a bottle.

I had a ton of yellow and orange decor left over from Linc’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party. I thought I could somehow incorporate all the items into my wine club night. I added hot pink to the color palette and was ready to start planning!! Yay! My favorite part of party planning is doing the research and finding as many inspiration boards/ideas as I can. I love the planning!! I know, I know. I am a total nerd. What can I say?

Before every party I throw, I get some ideas and sketch them out on a sheet of paper. Yes, I really draw them out and label them. Someday I will include my awesome little sketches. Did I mention that I can’t draw at all?? Then I make a ton of lists. Without lists, I wouldn’t be able to function or keep anything straight. I wouldn’t be able to sleep either. All my ideas keep me awake at night if I don’t organize them! Stop bugging me ideas, I’m trying to sleep!

I also created a “logo” that I included on all of my party decor. What? Did you expect something else? Planning. . . check. Paper decor. . . check. Now, onto baking!

I spent a few days baking and dipping various items into chocolate. It was like a chocolate lovers haven. I don’t really love chocolate either, but it sure looks pretty. Okay, I take that back. I do like chocolate a lot more now! Plus, anything is better if it’s dipped in chocolate, right?

Here are some photos of the dessert table! Enjoy. . .

A dessert party wouldn’t be complete without cupcakes now would it? I made these Pink Champagne Cupcakes (thanks Jen for the tip on the recipe). I thought they were fitting. I found this cute cupcake “paper” at Paper Zone. I couldn’t resist it!

I also made cream filled macaroons, brownie pops, marshmallow pops, peanut butter bon bons (get these at Costco around the holidays. No baking required and they are like heaven rolled up in a ball. Unless you are allergic to peanuts and then they are like little balls of death.), chocolate covered strawberries and more. See for yourself.

I tried my hand at Double Stuffed Oreo Pops. Let’s just say, I will probably leave this one up to Kim at Sweeties By Kim. They tasted good, but they didn’t look very pretty!

I saw this awesome idea in one of the party planning books. We did this for Lincoln’s party too, but didn’t get a photo of it. You put cupcake liners in your muffin pan, pre-scoop the ice cream, and leave it in the freezer until you are ready to serve it. Genius. Isn’t that the best idea ever? Then there is no waiting while you are dishing it up! Just grab a muffin liner full of ice cream and eat away. I also made homemade cake batter ice cream. Yummy!

You’ll notice that the oranges are “recycled” decor from Lincoln’s party!

It was a super warm day and I figured that we could always use some non-alcoholic drinks on hand. This was the first time I’ve made water bottle labels. They were so easy and I think it was a wonderful touch. This is going to be a must at my future events.

I saw these adorable Chinese-style take out boxes at Paper Zone and I’ve been dying to incorporate them into one of my parties. I always make way too much food and if I had to-go boxes ready for my guests then I wouldn’t be stuck eating all of this yummy food, right? Well, that plan worked out better than I had expected and my guests cleaned me out! I have pictures to prove it. Thankfully, they left the kitchen sink 🙂 I put different labels on the boxes. It was my attempt at humor.

Okay, you’d think these people had never eaten before. They were like hungry animals. This is how they left the place. Maybe to-go boxes were a bad idea? I kid, I kid! It was a great idea!!!

Off to bed I go. I’ll be dreaming of all of these yummy treats and gaining weight while I sleep!

Jessica