Add fresh floral arrangements to your patriotic party décor—very easily and affordably.

Last year, we showed you how to create a patriotic centerpiece of fruit, flowers, and mini American flags. This year, we’re making an even easier and more cost-effective suggestion for party flowers that are simple to create and simply beautiful.

The arrangements above are available from FTD.com. Here’s how you can get the same looks for your July 4th celebration. Simply choose red, white, or blue fresh flowers from any flower shop, supermarket, or your own garden, if you’re lucky enough to have flowers to cut!

You can select any combination of the three “patriotic” colors or even use a single color. Choose a container that you already own. Some good examples: clear glass vases of all shapes and sizes, glass water pitchers, and baskets of all kinds. (Of course, baskets already fitted with waterproof liners are easiest. However, you can easily line baskets with aluminum foil on which you place straight-edged casserole dishes or bowls that can hold water safely.)

To create a festive look for your July 4th party arrangements, adorn the vases or baskets with ribbon or bows in solids or combinations of red, white, and blue. Then simply place the completed floral arrangements in any or all areas of your patio, buffet table, pool, or dining area.

More easy ideas:

• See ideas similar to these (using different flower and ribbon combinations) plus other easy, floral arrangement suggestions.
• Summer floral trends for easy, inexpensive flowers for parties
• Liven up any party with sunflowers 
• Purchase these exact arrangements from FTD.com.

Filed under: Entertaining, Family, Fun party ideas, Holidays, Party decor, flowers | No Comments »

Here’s a “Gotcha!”–for me, at least. A new survey released by Mintel Menu Insights confirms what many of us know, or at least suspect.

We say we want healthier choices in restaurants. But when faced with actual menus and mouth-watering descriptions of individual dishes, our commitment to healthy dining quickly sinks to third place, behind perceived taste and hunger satisfaction.

Mintel found that only 20% of people rank food health as an important factor when ordering dinner. Taste was named by 77% and hunger satisfaction by 44%.

“[M]ost people are really looking for taste, texture and experience,” says Maria Caranfa,  director of Mintel Menu Insights, and a registered dietician.

The real challenge facing restaurants–and those of us who love to entertain family and friends: “[H]ealthy menu items need to perfect the balance between nutrition and flavor,” says Caranfa.

We fight the same battles as everyone else does.  That’s why we try to feature many easy, tasty–and healthy–recipes in our food for parties section. And we try to suggest lower-fat substitutions for ingredients such as ice cream and mayonnaise in many of the recipes we publish.

Still, sometimes only rich cheesecake or delicious chocolate will do. The only rational approach?

• If you’re planning a catered party, select a couple of rich dessert choices, but order them in mini-sizes.
• If you’re dining in a restaurant, order one decadent dessert to be shared among several people.
• If you’re entertaining at home, take a very small amount of your delicious creation–and savor every last finger-licking bit of it. (And be sure to wrap up the leftovers for guests!)

Image sources: Self; Gild the (voodoo) lily

Filed under: Entertaining, Festive foods | No Comments »

Want to see some great photos? We just posted the five finalists in the Celebrate with Style Father’s Day Photo Contest. The voting is already in progress, and we’ll soon award the $250 prize to the winner.

In choosing the finalists for all of our photo contests,* the judges always look for  images that are not only beautiful, but also elicit emotions. There’s no question that these pictures do exactly that.

Some of the pictures that were sent in were clearly posed; some were the result of quickly grabbing a camera. Either way is fine. But what stands out most about the selected photos is that all of them capture the joy of a special moment–the tender love between father and child or grandpa and his grandchild(ren).

What a privilege to be able to share these pictures with you, as well as those selected by the judges as the 25 Runners-Up. We hope you enjoy them.

*We also sponsor photo contests for “Cutest Trick-or-Treaters,” and “Cutest Holiday Kids,” as well as our Mother’s Day and Father’s Day photo contests. Be sure to sign up at Celebrate with Style so you’ll receive notices about our  contests.

Filed under: Family, Holidays | No Comments »

Last week, while roaming through the blogosphere in search of beautiful, party-worthy food and/or design inspiration to share with you, I came upon a blog post that not only was inspirational, but also made me laugh out loud.

Feels Like Home, written by the talented Tara Gerner-Ziegmont, tackles a wide range of subjects, including cooking, homemaking, and crafts. Tara, a former science teacher, also contributes to a number of Web sites and social networks.

The first of Tara’s posts that I saw (I’ve since read many!) was called How to Make a Tutu: A Tutorial.  Since we’ve included “Parties for Future Ballerinas” among our special birthday parties for kids articles, Tara’s post about making a tutu for her daughter got my attention.

Tara starts with, “For her second birthday, I made Grace a tutu. It is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

“You know we’re anti-princess around here, but I thought a tutu would be a perfect dress up piece. Tutus are all about imagination and whimsy. Tutus can work for ballerinas or fairies or special birthday girls.”

We totally agree. Tara then gives step-by-step details on how she made the tutu from a loop of elastic and yards of purple, yellow, and white tulle. Some of her how-to photos, #1 through #4, are above.

Tara’s instructions and pictures are terrific. But it’s the text for the last photos that had me laughing out loud.

It turns out that after all of Tara’s time, effort, and almost $13 in materials, Grace refused to wear the tutu. So Mom has since come up with other uses for the garment, including wearing it around her own neck for a game of peek-a-boo (photo #6).

If you have a birthday party for a would-be ballerina, princess, or fairy coming up, by all means, enjoy Tara’s great instructions, as well as her funny post. And if you do make a tutu for your birthday girl, please send us pictures. We’d love to post them!

All images courtesy of Feels Like Home.

Filed under: Blogs, Family | 1 Comment »

I just stumbled on the most wonderfully decadent and elegant recipe for a brunch or small shower.Watched the video on how to prepare Wild Mushroom and Brie Crispy Rolls, and wanted to make it NOW. (Will require a shopping trip, however.)

The video, featuring chef Jerome,  of the Provence Grill restaurant in downtown Miami, was prepared for Ile de France, which calls itself the portal of the French cheese community.

I’d like to think that it could be made slightly in advance and the rolls reheated just before tossing the salad, but doing so might make the brie very runny, which would actually be OK with me.

See if this doesn’t make your mouth water!

Filed under: Baby showers, Bridal shower, Entertaining, Family, Festive foods | No Comments »

We’re excited to announce this year’s Father’s Day Photo Contest. Just share a “special moment” picture of Dad and the kids, Grandpa and the kids, or you and your own Dad!

Entering couldn’t be easier. And you can send in more than photo. You could be our next $250 winner.  Click here for details!

Filed under: Family, Holidays | No Comments »

Just as recent clothing trends have shown brighter colors,  party and home décor trends reflect the bright colors of the season–and particularly, bright yellow. Whether you’re having guests over for appetizers, cocktails, dinner, or gourmet desserts, beautiful decorations or flowers always add an extra special touch.

Decorations and floral arrangements can be affordable and easy to put together. These beautiful arrangements, designed by Jill Slater on behalf of the Flower Promotion Organization use pretty, decorative pots. Here is what you need and directions to create these beautiful floral arrangements to place around your party area (Note: Below, you’ll find affordable, pretty yellow party supplies to throw an even brighter get-together):

Materials for each sunflower arrangement:

6-inch waterproof, decorative pot (this photo features copper-colored pots)
2 bricks floral foam
Glass hurricane with candle (hurricane should be about 6 inches high)
Flowers: 5 stems small sunflowers and 5 stems yellow button chrysanthemums
Foliage: 14 stems sword fern and 5 stems tree fern
Floral clippers, knife and scissors
Floral preservative/food

Directions:

1. Soak the floral foam in water that has been treated with floral preservative/food for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the floral foam to fit interior of the pot. The floral foam should rise about 1-inch higher than the rim of the pot.
3.  Place hurricane with candle atop center of floral foam.
4. Cut sword fern stems to approximately 6-inches in length and disperse around glass hurricane.
5. Cut tree fern stems to approximately 5-inches in length and insert among sword ferns. The greens should almost cover the floral foam.
6. Cut small sunflower to varying lengths, with the longest at approximately 6-inches tall and the shortest, approximately 2-inches in length.
7. Insert the shortest sunflower stems closest to the rim of the pot, with longer stems towards middle. All the sunflowers should be placed evenly around the pot.
8. Separate the lateral stems of the button chrysanthemums from the main stem of the flower. Using the varying lengths of button chrysanthemums, insert them sporadically throughout the pot.

Add to your sunflower theme

          
Wilton sunflower pan ($12.99)       Chocolate sunflower favors 10 piece box ($13.50)

20 yellow paper plates ($2.95)          Yellow paper lantern ($5.07)

Filed under: Baby showers, Bridal shower, Entertaining, Party decor, flowers | No Comments »

The New York Beef Industry is holding its third annual “Create the Perfect Burger Contest.” If you live in the New York area and have a great, original burger recipe, the deadline to enter is July 31st. Click here for more details.  Even if you’re not America’s next Top Chef, you can make tasty, gourmet burgers for your guests—Memorial Day or any day. Here are recipes from three of last year’s finalists. See more recipes for great gourmet burgers on our site!

Far East Burger

“Consumer Friendly Burger Winner,” submitted by Jane Wojtaszek

Burger Mix Ingredients:

2  lbs. 90% lean ground beef

½ cup diced scallions

1/3 cup Soy Sauce

2 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce

2 tsp. ground Ginger

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. nutmeg

Additional Ingredients:

8   soft rolls

8  leafs of red type lettuce

¼ cup mayonnaise

1. Mix all of the ingredients from the burger mix.  Form 8 burgers, fire up the grill to medium heat, cook to 160 degrees.
2. Very lightly spread buns with mayonnaise; lightly toast mayonnaise side down on grill.
3. Serve burger on toasted bun, dress with lettuce, enjoy!

Taco Burger

“Most Dynamic Use of Cheese,” submitted by Lori LaBrake

Burger Mix Ingredients:

3 lbs. lean ground beef

2 package taco seasoning

½ onion grated

2  cloves garlic grated

10 Tbs. green taco sauce

10 Tbs. medium taco sauce

8 Tbs. sour cream

2 cups Mexican shredded cheese

2  small tomatoes diced

1  avocado diced

2  tsp. lemon juice (for avocado)

2  cups shredded lettuce

1  pkg. pita bread

1.  Combine ground beef with packaged seasoning, onion, garlic 2-4 Tbs. of both taco sauces and mix well.

2.  Grill burgers to an internal temperature 160 degrees

3.  When burgers are done, place into pitas and top with both taco sauces, sour cream, avocado, lettuce, tomato and cheese.

The Cream Cheese & Chive Explosion

“Juiciest Burger,” submitted by Matt Avery

Burger Mix Ingredients:

2  lbs. 85% ground beef8  strips of crispy bacon

½ cup fresh cut chives

9 tsp. Chive & Onion Cream Cheese

6  slices white American cheese

6  hamburger rolls

Lettuce

Salt & pepper

1.  Crumble all 8 strips of bacon.  Combine beef, bacon, chives, dash of salt, and pepper in a large bowl.  Work mixture until well combined.  Form beef into 6 1/3lb patties.  With your fingers make a deep depression in the patty like a bowl.

2.  Place 1 ½ teaspoons of cream cheese into the center of each bowl. Close the sides of the meat bowl over the cream cheese.  Place patties on grill, sear both sides.  Turn the grill down to a low to medium heat.  Close lid cook for 15 minutes turning every 5 minutes.  Cook to internal temperature of 160 degrees.

3.  Put American cheese on all burgers, place on buns with lettuce and enjoy.

Filed under: Entertaining, Festive foods, Holidays | No Comments »

How could we have missed this one? Thanks to my brother, Bob, I’ve been reminded that today is, indeed, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! Time to get the chocolate chips out of the cabinet and turn on the oven.

Over the years, I’ve made many batches of chocolate chip cookies. My all-time favorite recipe is still the one on the back of the Nestle’s semi-sweet morsels bag. So here, in tribute to that favorite of American cookies, is the Nestle’s recipe, plus a couple of tips I’ve picked up along the way. Enjoy!

The Original Nestle’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Makes 40 to 60 cookies, depending on amount of dough used for each

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (12 oz.) package NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
6. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

A Few Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips:

• For cookies that are curved, rather than flat,  chill the dough in the refrigerator before placing dough on cookie sheets.
• Similarly, place the portions of dough on cool, rather than warm cookie sheets for best results.
• Leave at least 2 inches between cookies. The dough spreads out, and you don’t want to have to separate the cookies.
• Remove cookies from oven as soon as edges turn golden, even if the centers remain soft; the cookies will continue to cook.

Filed under: Entertaining, Family, Festive foods | No Comments »

You still have time to enter the Celebrate with Style Mother’s Day Photo Contest for a chance to win $250!

Check out the first contest entries and then submit your own “Special Moments” photo. Send in a picture of you and your kids, you and your own Mom, or Grandma and the kids.

Contest details and entry form are right here!

Filed under: Family, Holidays | No Comments »