What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, January 24, 2014

Crafty Mama's Night IN (and Finances on Friday)





 


 

Like the frame Andrew made me for Christmas?  It made a perfect favor tray!


On Wednesday night, I hosted a  "Crafty Mama's Night IN" par-tay.    The original invite list was 12 but only 8 were able to come.  The absentees all had good excuses, but I missed them anyway.  *sniff*

I didn't really do much out of the ordinary to save money this week outside of the party, so I thought today I would just share my financial efforts for the Crafty Mama's Night IN

* I created my menu to use as many foods I had in my pantry as possible, while still serving 'special treats'.  The only things I bought especially for the "Ladies Night IN" were crackers and tortilla strips and some cream cheese, because my normal stash had run out.  Oh yes, and Whipped Cream Vodka and pink lemonade for a delicious ladies' night pink cocktail.  (yum.) 

On the Menu:  
Cream cheese and home-canned jalapeno jelly on crackers
Chicken Barbeque Dip with tortilla chips
Meringue Cookies
Coconut Macaroons
Sugar and Spice Pecans
Chocolate truffles
Apple chips
Cheese squares
Peppermint Tea
Pink Velvet cocktails

I offered wine (we had been gifted a bottle at Christmas) but it never got opened.

* I wanted to give little 'pamper' gifts to each of the ladies, so I bought $1.00 candles for each guest from Walmart.  (A lot cheaper than other candles the same size anywhere else.)

* The napkins and plates were those I got for .80 after Christmas.

* I used my wine goblets (set of 20 in three sizes) I got at a yard sale last summer for $5.00 for the drinks.

* I *didn't* buy flowers for the occasion, but this was less because I was financially-disciplined and more because I couldn't find any that I liked enough.  It being a 'pampering' type party, I fully intended to buy some fresh flowers.  (It's been TOO long.)

* dehydrated more apple chips.

*  bought the cheapest Whipped Cream Vodka I could find, which incidentally had a $3.00 mail in rebate.  The bottle cost me $5.00

* printed those hysterical blurb cards that are all over Pinterest to scatter on the food table and a cute quote When Life Gives You Hands Make Handmade.  (Love that.)  They were a hit.

* Used Pandora (station: Frank Sinatra) for background music.

What about you? 
Do you have anything financial to share this week? 

 Link up!  

But PLEASE- link to your SPECIFIC blog post, not your entire blog. It could be ways you saved or stretched or strategically spent those pennies...or even inspiration you found or quotes... but please link to a post about SOMETHING financial! Lastly, please link back to my blog and maybe others would like to share!

9 comments:

Jill Foley said...

Well I vowed not to buy groceries this week and just eat what we had on hand. We ate well and still have plenty to eat. Sure, we ran out of some favorite staples, but we aren't hungry!

But then I went out and bought new bedspreads and decorations for my girls' room....I was just tired of winging it for so long and the room needed some streamlining and uniformity.

I keep forgetting you have a link-up now.

Courtney said...

Oooohh! What a lovely, fun party! I also loved your last post about our brokenness and God's faithfulness. Good stuff.

Ruth said...

Oooohhh my, I so wish I would live just down the road from you so that I could have attended your lovely party! :)

Unknown said...

You are amazingly creative and I love your heart and blog! I wish I lived closer, because I would love to be your friend! Thanks for all you do! I love your words, your photos, and your children are adorable!

Unknown said...

Where was my invite? ;)

Full of Grace said...

Thank you for the nice time, your treats were delicious and it was good to get out of the house for a few hours among women rather than children :)

Bonnie said...

What Amy said.

Leah T. said...

It looks like everyone had a fabulous time! Wish we still lived close. :)

Rhonda said...

wish I lived closer too, you threw a lovely party and your signs are hysterical.