20th Birthday Party

She likes to party all the time, party all the time,  party all the tiiiiime! 

I love entertaining.  It's something that I was never really able to do the first few years of my marriage while living in our tiny cozy third story apartment.  We had room for only one sofa and even that was at an angle.  We've been renting this home for 3 years now and I think I've had a good amount of "events". 

My little sister recently turned the big 2-0.  That's really hard for me to come to terms with because sometimes I still feel like I'm 20.  Where do the years go?  This was the little girl that killed my pet bird (yes Affnan, I did have to bring that up and I shall hold it against you forever). The one who took away my title of "baby of the family".  The one who... okay I'm starting to sound bitter.

She's been asking for a party since she turned 16.  Being a true little sister, she usually annoyed me to the point of getting the silent treatment for weeks on end coincidentally overlapping on her birthday.  This year she stepped up her game and has kept it cool and collected long enough to plan out her party. 

This shower curtain dictated the color scheme.  I felt it was "woodsy" enough to go with your subtle owl theme. Giraffes are to me as owls are to Affnan.  I looted her room for all her owl paraphernalia to use for the party. The silver owl bank was purchased from Target a while back.  The branches were from my yard clipping pile that has been on the side of my house since before Ramadan.  (Dear Rami, Thank you for not getting rid of that pile of rubbish though I nagged you for 2 months.  Had you listened to me, I would not have been able to decorate Affnan's party. Love, Your Wife That Would Like You To Get Rid Of  The Yard Clippings Now)

Still riding on my rolled flower wave, I decided to make some as brooches to use as favors.  Rolled up the fabric as usual, cut out a little leaf, glued on a felt circle and then glued on the clasp. Easy stuff.

Packaged them with a couple of hugs and kisses and then used the same ribbon closure that I used on the Eid bags.

Lunch was the same spread as I had served for Serene's party.   Food that can be prepared in advance is essential to having a stress free party day. 

Mexican 7 layer dip: Vegetarian refried beans, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, black olives, shredded cheese, and green onions.  All assembled the night before.

Chicken enchiladas. Shredded chicken, sour cream, enchilada seasoning packet, cilantro, and shredded cheese.  Rolled up in a tortilla that has been dipped in red enchilada sauce. Topped with more cheese and black olives. Bake covered in an oven on 350 for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese is melted.  Assembled the night before. Popped in the oven to bake just before serving.

Chevy's Mexican Caesar salad.  This is a huge favorite with everyone.  I got the recipe from the Chevy's cookbook.  Since I've passed along the recipe to Nada, she has become our official Caesar salad maker.  I love that she adds green apples. So good!  She brought this (as she did for Serene's party) along with her.  Recipe to come soon.

As I did some last minute preparations and setting up for lunch, the guests hung out in the living room.  They played some fun games and from the sound of their laughter had a really good time.  If you haven't ever played Taboo, it's a great game for a group. To make things a bit interesting, the losing team had to eat a spoonful of cinnamon each. 

After lunch and some more games came the good stuff: Dessert!  Affnan has always wanted to have a fondue party so we decided that a chocolate fondue fountain was a must.  We borrowed the machine from a very generous cousin.  But first, owl cupcakes!

I've seen these quite a few times and I knew they would be perfect for her.  They are very easy to make and I suggest anyone to give them a try.  However, getting pure white "eyes" is very difficult. I give major credit to the ones that are able to do so.  Since me and Affnan weren't trying to win any contests, we decided they were just fine as they were. 

I made boxed cupcakes and frosted them with store bought chocolate frosting.  Split cream filled cookies carefully and set aside.  Take a plain cookie (once separated from cream) and split in half to form the eyebrows.  Place onto cupcake towards the top.  Dab a little bit of frosting so that the eye will stick to the brows.  Using the color of your choice, dab two M&Ms with a bit of frosting and "glue" to the cream. Then place eyes on top of brows and gently into the frosting.  Place one yellow M&M for the beak.  Adding the beak really made these.

Chocolate fondue! I wanted to make sure that there was good variety of items to dip so that it would be fun for everyone.  I went with strawberries, pineapple chunks, grapes, green apple slices, pretzel rods, rolled wafers, chocolate chip cookies, kettle corn rice crackers, rice crispy treats, (phew, still following?) crinkle cut potato chips,  graham crackers, marshmallows, gummie bears (both halal of course), and angel food cake.  It was a total hit and everyone loved it.  Unfortunately despite following the package's directions, the chocolate didn't flow as well as it should have.  I used two packs of chocolate as directed but three would have been a better choice. Either way, it was a lot of fun.  There was plenty of melted chocolate at the bottom to dunk our goodies in.  My personal favorites were the green apples (tossed in lemon juice to prevent browning), the crinkle chips, and super soft marshmallows.  Oh and the strawberries and rice crispy treats. And the pretzels and... okay, everything dipped in chocolate is divine.

After the dessert we were all absolutely stuffed.  We moved back to the living room for Affnan to open gifts.  Nada earned her "invite to Amnah's next party" pass by doing some beautiful henna designs on all of the guests.  I'm telling you, this girl is a keeper.

Happy birthday Affnan. May all of your following years be filled with good health, true friends, and success in all you set out to accomplish.  Love you. Even if you did kill my bird.

Linking to Made by You, Get Your Craft On, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Much Ado, Somewhat Simple, Sew Chic and Unique, Tatertots & Jello.