Strawberry, Lemon & Mint Infused Water

In keeping with our strawberry theme this week, I thought I would share with you a yummy alternative to soda for your summer parties.  It's very easy to make and looks pretty too!  It's great to serve at a get-together with your friends or to keep in the fridge to sip on throughout the day.

Ingredients:

The following worked well for me.  Feel free to adjust amounts depending on your pitcher size and personal preferences.

• 6 Medium Sized Strawberries, Sliced
• 1/2 of a Lemon, Sliced
• 4 Mint Leaves, Torn
• Water (you can also use sparkling water if you prefer)
• Ice (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place strawberries, lemon and mint in a pitcher.

2. Add water (and ice if you are using it) to fill up your pitcher.

3. Serve and enjoy!

That's the end of our strawberry-themed week. I hope you enjoyed it! In case you missed them, take a look at our Hello Summer Strawberry Cake and our refreshing Strawberry Popsicle and Prosecco Drink. Enjoy the weekend!

Strawberry Popsicles + Prosecco = A Refreshing Summer Drink!

Next up in my week of strawberry themed posts is a refreshing adult drink perfect for your summer parties (change the straw color to blue, and you've got a great drink for a Fourth of July celebration). It's a bit unexpected as you don't normally put popsicles in your prosecco, but it is really refreshing and gives your prosecco a yummy strawberry flavor. It also has the added benefit of keeping your drink cool longer.

There are a couple of ways to enjoy this drink. You can wait to drink this until the popsicle has melted all the way. Or, like I did it, drink some, then eat some of the popsicle, then drink some more, and so on. The bubbles mixed with the fresh strawberry taste makes a great combination. This works well with any sparkling wine or even sparkling water (for those who don't want to drink alcohol or for the kids).

The best thing is they are so easy to make:

1. Puree strawberries and freeze them in a popsicle mold for a minimum of 6 hours. I replaced the popsicle sticks with straws before freezing. 

2. Place the frozen popsicles in a glass and pour prosecco over them.

3. Serve immediately and enjoy! 

I promise your guests will enjoy this, especially on a hot summer day. Or just make it as a treat for yourself!

Sweet Mondays: A Hello Summer Strawberry Cake

Summer is officially here! My family and I picked our own strawberries at a farm this weekend. We enjoyed talking to the other pickers and sharing recipes. We had so much fun that by the time we knew it, we had a big boxful!

Since we had so many strawberries, I made a few things with them that I'll be sharing with you this week. First up is this cake that I made to bring to a summer BBQ. It is a strawberry cake, from scratch, that uses strawberry puree in the batter.  The frosting is a strawberry buttercream, also made with fresh strawberry puree, and as my friend said, it tasted "amazing".

I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but I can't.  I used this recipe and followed it pretty closely. The only changes I made were to add a layer of strawberries in between the cake layers, and to add a strawberry "flower" on top of the cake. I also made a "Hello Summer" cake topper to tie it to the summer theme and to make my cake a little less ordinary.

I highly recommend trying the recipe. It really does taste as good as it looks. 

Coming soon: Strawberry Popsicles with Prosecco!

Mini Ice Cream Party-In-A-Box

I have some friends who are having birthdays this week and, since they are far away and I can't be there to celebrate with them, I thought it would be fun to send them a mini ice cream party-in-a-box. I included everything they would need for a mini ice cream party at home -- cute ice cream cups, colorful spoons, candles to blow out and balloons to decorate. I even included some paper ice cream toppers to decorate the ice cream.  On the inside of the box cover there is a mini ice cream banner so that when the recipient opens it, it's immediately a party!

How fun would it be to receive this? To make it easy for you to send one of these boxes, we are making them available in our shop.  We can ship it directly to the person of your choice and we'll include a hand-written note with a message from you.

If you don't have any birthdays coming up, this is also a great item to take to a summer play date or to a girlfriend's house for a night of ice cream!

View it in our shop!

Summer Party Themes

Summer is almost here and for some of you lucky ones, you have already started your summer break. We only have 5 weeks of summer vacation here in Switzerland and it doesn't start until mid-July!  I'm already dreaming of sunny skies and warm nights and thinking about what summer parties we can have.  In doing that, I took a look at some of the themes I've designed and thought I would share with you some ideas for your summer parties.

1. Pool Party

If you have access to a pool, a pool party is a great idea for summer.  It's a fun theme for both kids and adults, and it's really simple to set up.  All you need is a pool, and the kids are kept busy and are happy swimming.  Always make sure someone is watching the kids in the pool to be safe.  The food is easy as well.  You can BBQ or have easy finger foods like mini hot dogs and chips. It's definitely an easy-going party and is perfect for summer! See how we styled our pool party for more ideas.

2. Nautical Party

Summer is the time to be by the sea, so why not have a seaside nautical inspired party? We used our red, white and blue printable collection to have a party by the sea. If you can't be by the sea this summer, bring it to you by decorating with lots of red, white and blue, and adding some anchor or nautical decorations to your dessert tables.

3. Camping Party

This is a fun one for the kids! I know I always wanted to sleep under the stars in the backyard, and how much more fun would that have been if my friends would be there too! Set up some tents in the backyard, roast s'mores, tell ghost stories and you have a recipe for a great party. And if the weather doesn't cooperate, you can always have it indoors.  We had our camping party indoors.  You can take our ideas and bring them outside for more fun!

4. Ice Cream Party

What is summer without ice cream? Have an impromptu ice cream party for friends and enjoy chatting and catching up. Isn't that what summer is for anyway?

Surf Pool Party

Those of you that know me know that I love summer and the beach. There's just something so relaxing about the sand, the sun and the sound of waves. With summer coming up soon, I wanted to have a printable collection that reminded me of summer and the beach.  So, I drew surfboards, used hibiscus flowers and chose sunny colors to remind me of one of my favorite places. 

This was a fun dessert table to create.  My favorite part of this table has to be the sandcastle cupcake stand that I made. I love different ways of displaying cupcakes. It's actually made out of cardboard boxes and covered with sand. I found a great tutorial for making this here. I used the straw flags on the cupcakes so that it would look like the sandcastle had flags blowing in the wind. The starfish and burlap add to the beach feeling, and the desserts are sitting on plates lined with brown sugar to look like sand.

This collection has everything you need to set the mood for your summer party...invitations, a welcome sign, banner, party circles, straw flags, food labels/tent cards, and favor tags. I styled it as a pool party, since not all of us are lucky enough to be close to the beach, but I can picture this table right on the beach too.  The colors look great against the sand.  

You can now get these items in the shop.  Look for a blue version of this coming soon! 

Scroll down to see the rest of the pictures...