Female Football Frolic!!!!

Ok ladies.... Yes LADIES!!!! Gather around as we kick the fellas aside and throw our Sunday Soiree.  More and more of women are bored on Sundays when our guys are indulging in football from 1pm until (only God knows when) the last game plays.  Now personally I am beginning to enjoy football more and more. I've even attempted to (key word: attempted) to form a fantasy football team. Better luck next time for me.  So as our other halves drink their beer, eat hot wings, throw chips on the floor, and fuss and cuss at the television.... we can have our fun too.  We're going to call it Female Football Frolic (translation: Girlie Football Party). So pull out the football baby t-shirt, your favorite pair of skinny jeans, pullout the martini glasses, and call over your favorite girls (make sure its not a Sunday the MAN is going to be home).

So here's our menu chicas: 

Football pick at party swizzle

• Cucumber Sandwiches: spread a thin layer of plain (lite) cream cheese on each slice of wheat bread, put a thin cucumber slice on each corner of the slice of bread (should equal to four cucumber slices), sprinkle a dash of lemon pepper and salt (A DASH), cut into fours, top with a football pick, and on to the next dish (http://www.partyswizzle.com/product.asp?itemid=1121&gclid=COaorNmRtKsCFQRy5QodkTK1dQ)

• Buffalo Chicken Dip: OMGeee my favorite dip of all time! So here's the deal: you'll need 2 (10 oz) cans of chunk chicken --drained, 2 packages of cream cheese (softened), 1 cup of ranch dressing, 3/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot® sauce, 1 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese,  mix all ingredients into a bowl (I use a blender to give it the "whipped" effect), and either serve room temp on either pita chips or spread inside of celery.....YUMMY

• Pair these to yummy appetizers with two or three of your favorite flavored wings and Peche Lambic (the yummiest, most fruity beer that doesn't taste like beer EVER), maybe some sweet potato fries, and Voilà

I suggest making the dip and sandwiches the night before and cut up sweet potatoes (and tell "Guy" his fingers will fall off if he touches them) and set them out an hour before guests arrive (1 pm) Sunday.  Call in your wing order around 11 a.m., throw sweet potatoes in oven around noon, set out all your football Decor (plates, cups, etc), send Joe to pick up wings on his way to Alan's man cave, freshen up, and your fries should and wings should be ready as your guest arrive. LETS PLAY BALL (wait, that's baseball) but you get the gist...

Here are a couple more images to give you ideas with your decor (all found at www.partycity.com)

Football kit

Football plates

Bowl

Cups

Turf tablecloth

Napkins

TOUCHDOWNNNNNNNN

HAPPY HARVEST SOIREE

With Autumn in Cleveland swiftly approaching with a vengence, TES, Ltd staff thought that we'd better hurry and post for an outdoor Harvest Soiree! This time of the year where people hang around at clambakes, and at the last of the year's cookout.  But why not have a festive fall shindig.  With pumpkins, decorative horn-of-plenty, sunflowers, spicy (spiked) punch, okaaayyyy unspiked will do too, and the beautiful natural backdrop of the trees with its loss/gain of colors.  I'm ready to go out and get some sun with a brisk breeze as I'm typing.  Oh and by the way, you may want to keep a couple outdoor heating lamps on stand-by(just in case) :) .... Pics and punch recipe after the break, ENJOY!!!

3 cups apple cider (or apple juice)

1 can frozen orange juice (6 oz.)
2 cups cranberry juice
2 cups club soda
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (or 1 cinnamon stick broken into pieces)
1-2 tsp. whole cloves
Orange slices (for garnish)
Cranberries (for garnish)

*this recipe would be lovely in a chic glass beverage dispenser, with your orange and cranbery garnishments floating on top of your punch, and a bottle of Framboise Lambic(it's delish) for an adult Soiree*