With the recent American Girl trip to Charlotte, and a Frozen-themed birthday party this past weekend, life has been all about Liza lately in the Hines house. I put all of my writing assignments on hold because I was up to my eyeballs in Frozen party preps.



My parties usually consist of making the kids go play while I have a cocktail with the adults. But, when you are entertaining preschool friends for a child's birthday party, crafts and activities for the little guests are put ahead of adult cocktails and socializing.

Beth, a friend of mine, who loves to do crafts was my secret weapon for this party. We made a great team. I gave her some ideas, told her to make a list of what she needed, and I would write her a check for the amount of money she spent.. It was the best party planning ever. Beth thinks that she will make me crafty one day, but it's just not in me unless it involves food, and can be edible or drinkable.



The girls did two crafts during the two-hour party. They built snowmen in a bottle. The end-result was a floating snowman snow globe. I think the girls had a good time with it.



The second craft was making a snowflake magnet picture frame. I bought the kits from Oriental Trading. It was easy, but did require a lot pre-assembling, which Liza was very happy to do. She spent hours the day before the party punching out  the snowflakes for each girl's photo frame. Apparently, she likes crafts and didn't seem to mind this daunting task at all.



As for me, I spent all of my time on the food.




I made snowflake sandwiches using a cookie-cutter. I made three kinds; cheese, laughing cow cheese and cucumber, and ham and cheese.




I made a snack-mix using pretzels,white cheddar Cheez-its, honey Chex cereal, and blue M&M candies.




 I just bought a large packet of M&M candies, and manually separated the blue ones to use for the mix. Liza complained because I did not use orange Cheez-its so I don't think she ate it. I guess I'll be eating a lot snack mix this month.



World Market had white cheese puff winter icicles in stock for the upcoming holiday, I served those along with carrot sticks, and a Greek yogurt dressing made with olive oil, dill week, garlic, salt-pepper mixed up in a food processor. I called the cheese puffs Elsa's icicles and the carrot appetizer, Olaf's Noses.




I put together a snowman cheese ball using whole cloves for his eyes, mouth, and buttons. It was just plain cream cheese tossed in parmesan and mozzarella shredded cheese. I cut a piece of carrot for his nose. Everyone loved him, but no one ate him. In my own HinesSight,  he was too big. If I were to do it again for the holidays, I would just do the head of a snowman.  I would use black olives for the eyes, and raisins for the mouth instead.


Liza picked the cake. It was a Harris Teeter celebration cake.  It cost just $20 and was very tasty.



Rainbow-layers on the inside. Every little girl loves a rainbow.




Elsa, the snow-queen stopped by for a 30-minute appearance. She was booked through Fairy Tale Dreamer, a children's entertainment company. She was fantastic with the children, and a true highlight. This is a Raleigh-based company, but they travel throughout the state.



I think this photo captures the awe that Liza experienced. A little girl's dream of Elsa attending her birthday party came true.




I can't believe she is five. She was one when I started this blog in 2011.




For the gift bags, Beth made snowflake ornaments, and I purchased Frozen bracelets from Learning Express, a local Toy company here in Raleigh. I added Frozen fruit snacks that can be found at any national grocery chain to complete the bag.



Disclosure: I have nothing to disclose here except that I am now in party debt, and was a complete mess before this party happened. I had stuff everywhere and stress levels where high.  I said that this would be my last party ever at my home, and from this point forward, all birthdays will be trips. That's why I am a travel writer, right?  On the day of the party, I was as cool as a cucumber and loved every minute. I even shocked my Mom, who adored my hot cocoa. 

She asked, "What packet of hot chocolate is this?"

I replied, "What? I made this from scratch."

I made the hot chocolate in the crockpot from scratch using this recipe from my Pinterest Entertaining board,. I added a little heavy whipping cream to make it my own.

I hosted an owl-themed backyard S'mores party for my daughter's 4th birthday last week.  It was a little chilly that weekend, but the cooler temperatures just help set the tone for S'mores by the fire.



I served a cheese ball, a fruit tray, a hot corn dip, and party ham rolls. The rolls were delicious. I basically took a recipe I had and chose to leave out all the ingredients for the topping, except butter. My version is more simple, and less messy.


These ham rolls will disappear quickly.  I made two packets of rolls, but you can make as many as you need for your event.

Ingredients: 
2 packets of Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
1 pound of Boars Head Black Forest Ham
1 pound of provolone cheese
1 tub of whipped plain cream cheese
2 tablespoons of butter, unsalted

Directions
Cut rolls in half. Place bottoms in a baking dish.  Place a half  slice of ham and a  half  slice of cheese on each bottom roll.  I folded the slices over to make it thicker. Spread cream cheese on the inside top roll, and then top your sandwich. Melt butter, and butter the tops of the rolls with a brush. Cover rolls with tin-foil.  Bake about 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

I made the party favors. I bought an owl Christmas ornament at world market, and paired it with a Whirlypop sucker. Believe it or not, I was having so much fun at the party that I forgot to give some of my guests the favors. I've enjoyed reconnecting with them this week to deliver the favor.



I also found two owl-themed bowls at World Market, and used them to store the marshmallows and graham crackers.  Guests could choose to make their S'mores with dark, milk, and white chocolate.




The birthday girl had a great time, and we're going to continue the party later this month for her first trip to Walt Disney World.

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