Foodbuzz 24×24: Making Sweet Memories
This month Foodbuzz, along with Frigidaire, is supporting Save the Children’s efforts to ensure kids have access to healthy foods during the holiday season and throughout the year. The program is Make Time for Change, and you can read about it here. It is truly a worthy cause that all of us can appreciate, and this Foodbuzz 24×24 post is dedicated to that cause.
Who says that you have to be a kid, to well, be a kid?
We can all be so serious sometimes. We get up, drink our mugs of black coffee or tea, work all day, exercise, watch some tv, sleep and repeat. While we sometimes make exceptions for fun dates and activities, I know we don’t do it enough. Release your inner child, and go a little crazy. Go apple picking in the middle of the week. Bake a super decadent dessert for no reason. Check out a new activity like rock climbing, or a trampoline class, or a pottery making studio. Do an activity at home. Celebrate every moment.
I had some friends over to join me in being a kid again. We had a fabulous afternoon of sweets followed by an activity, because no kids’ party is complete without one!
The menu was easy to execute and the entire prep for the party came together in under 3 hours, from market to bakery to table. I set a beautiful table that balanced out the very simple menu I created.
Making Sweet Memories
Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Vanilla & Pumpkin Ice Cream
…….with cones, maraschino cherries, nuts, rainbow sprinkles
…….hot fudge & whipped cream
Cupcakes from Pamcakes*
Pumpkin
Vanilla with Strawberry Buttercream
Chocolate with Vanilla Filling
Fruit
California Red Grapes
Pineapple & Strawberries
Special Treat
Sweet Revolution Maple Honey Caramels
*Pamcakes delicious cupcakes are currently sold at the Piazza farmer’s market in Northern Liberties.
We had lots of fun chatting, catching up, and reaching our sugar highs. I may have had an ice cream sundae and a half and some of a cupcake and plenty of fruit. We were trying to release our inner kids’ after all!
After sufficient laughs we moved on to the activity. In 5th grade my best friend at the time, Jackie, and I decided to host a Halloween party. We had a woman’s magazine that shared several Halloween party tips and ideas, and we used every single one. Even as a kid I loved to host parties. Some of the fun activities we did at the party included a mummy contest with toilet paper, bobbing for apples, and trying to eat donuts tied on strings from the ceiling.
While that was fun, it was even more fun to set up the house and the food. We made regular party foods look like so many different funny and scary Halloween-time items, but the most fun were the oranges. We carved oranges like jack-o-lanterns and then filled them with orange sherbert, topping them off with a cinnamon stick for a stem. We made one for each kid to enjoy at the end of the party, and I remember my mom patiently guiding us in cutting out the delicate jack-o-lantern faces. With memories like that, how could I resist bringing that same activity back this October, so many years later.
While my orange barely made the cut, it didn’t matter. We were kids again and each orange was a unique piece of art. We brought out our artistic skills and followed it up with a hilarious photo shoot.
It was a great activity for a small space and a short afternoon! Everyone had fun, and they even brought their jack-o-lantern oranges home!
I ended the afternoon with a smile on my face, remembering the fun I had as a kid and bringing it back today. My guests had some sweet memories of their own to share too:
Melissa’s Memory:
As a kid she only like the top of the cupcake. She would judge a cupcake’s greatness by the amount of icing it had, and only licked off the top.
Lauren’s Memory:
If she and her brother had a good week at school their mom would bring them to Dairy Queen for a treat.
Chrissey’s Memory:
She was around 3 years old at her grandma’s house when someone gave her an orange. She remembers going to bite off the top to begin the peel process when her dad caught her in the act. He thought she didn’t know how to eat an orange and was trying to eat it like an apple, taking her orange away from her. I don’t think she ate oranges for awhile after that…
Lauren’s Memory:
Does anyone else have a summer birthday like Lauren? Poor Lauren never got to bring cupcakes to school to celebrate her birthday, unless the teacher decided to let all the summer birthday kids do it one day before the end of school. She always felt left out of that tradition, and I think on her next birthday we should all bring cupcakes to her classroom to celebrate with her!
I left my favorite shared memory for last… get ready to laugh.
Lisa’s Memory:
Lisa mom taught at her school. For her birthday she and her mom made cupcakes from a box mix. They were covered in frosting and those small sprinkles, and Lisa held her batch of cupcakes on her lap all the way to school. When they arrived, late as usual, Lisa jumped out of the car to run inside, forgetting her cupcakes. They fell to the ground and were instantly covered in gravel. When Lisa started hysterically crying, her mom had a solution. They brushed off the cupcakes and brought them in regardless. The leftover bits of gravel blended in with the sprinkles.
Having fun at the kids’ table… where anything can happen.
The same day I hosted this party I also hosted my luxury dinner party for the third challenge in Project Food Blog. Voting is open through 6 PM Pacific Time October 7th. If you’d like, you can vote for me here!
23 Responses to “Foodbuzz 24×24: Making Sweet Memories”
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thats so fun!!! looked like such a blast ๐ love the pumpkin jack o lanterns – very creative girl!
Cutest. Post. Ever.
you guys are so cute! and this is a seriously adorable 24×24…i’ll take ice cream sundaes anytime! ๐
Awww…that looks so fun! I love the mini Jack O Lanterns!!
You are such a great hostess!! You have a lucky husband and lucky friends!
what a fun idea!!! i would love doing something like that with my girlfriends
Sabrina! That 5th grade Halloween party was the best party ever!!! The peeled grape eyeballs and pasta brains!!! I remember that party so well!
@stephanie, Yes yes yes!!!! Peeled eyeball grapes! That was so much fun wasn’t it!!
What an awesome party! I love the idea of using oranges as pumpkins to decorate. And of course the whole “be a kid again” theme.
HOW FUN! I have an October birthday so my parties were often Halloween themed. Pumpking PAINTING was my mother’s solution to the threat of kids with knives and ghost shaped orange jello was always involved!
As a throw back, my mom threw the same style party for me as a surprise on my 18th birthday! It was so fun for the girls to carve pumpkins together again!
@Clare @ Fitting It All In, That sounds like SO much fun! Happy Birthday month!
This is a great recap. What a fun afternoon! And I’m pretty sure, no one is ever going to eat any sprinkle topped baked good of mine ever again! ๐
looks like fun
Such fun! I wish I lived just a little closer. ๐
I love acting like a kid. I can’t wait to try your orange jack o lanterns. Super cute! Great 24 x 24 post!
This was SUCH a fun day! Thank you again Sabrina!
I love this… I think I know who I will be asking for first birthday menu ideas ๐ Looks like you had a great day with friends.
Such a simple post but I think it’s one of my favorites. It’s so important to remember great memories and create new ones. I love the decor and festivities!
How cute are the pictures…sometimes I wish I was a kid again.
You’re such a great party host and a busy one indeed..2 events in day? I would’ve pulled my hair out but you always look like you are having fun.
Btw, I was at a Nasoya event last night in L.A. The whole night a video of you in the kitchen for Nasoya promo was being played in the big screen at the hotel lobby.
I feel like I got to know more of you thru that video, lol!
How do you have the time?!! Goodness, Sabrina, I swear, you’re the modern version of Wonder Woman. Perhaps that’s who you should dress up as for Halloween. ๐
Cute concept, and I love the part when you share all their memories.
This reminds me of the time we all painted pigs at Julie’s parent’s house! Crafts are always fun.
Those orange Jack-o-Lanterns are adorable. I will definitely be doing that this holiday season!