UltimateMama enjoys beautiful centerpieces when she entertains. A quick, easy, and inexpensive do it yourself DIY centerpiece idea is the Floating Candle Centerpiece.

You need:

-Vases

-Flowers

-Floating Candles

-Water

To do:

-Fill the vase with water

-Place the candles in the middle

-Cut stems off flowers and place the brightly colored flowers around the candles

Enjoy!

UltimateMama often surprises her kids with easy to make, not to mention handle ice cream cone cupcakes.  They are a perfect treat for parties or summertime BBQs.  Adding sprinkles to the mix is fun for all.  To make:

-Place 24 cones in metal cupcake baking trays

-Make the cake batter as directed and fill each cone halfway

-Bake according to directions

-Cool and frost!

Whether your child is celebrating a birthday party, first communion, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, holiday event, or end of season team championship, UltimateMama believes a Donut Wall would make everyone excited. A Donut Wall is perfect for any occasion and is great for kids of all ages (not to mention adults).

To add a bit of pizzazz, one could offer assorted toppings for the donuts, including frostings, icings, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, caramel sauce, nuts, shredded coconut, sprinkles, red hots, nonpareils, dried fruit, candy (M&Ms), cookie crumbles, (Oreo, Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, etc.), or candied citrus peel.

Donuts are the perfect dessert for any kids party or even an ideal party favor to take home in a box (hello tomorrow’s breakfast)!

UltimateMama and her girls enjoy hosting friends for brunch or dinner parties throughout the year.  Some of these events are “fancy parties” with many guests so UltimateMama organizes seating charts as well as creates beautiful tablescapes with festive and fun placemats, runners, mis-matched china, and elegant water goblets.

UltimateMama finds a great way to use deeply discounted gift tags purchased during January post-holiday clearance sales is to turn them into name cards for place settings.  Just take a colored Sharpie (gold is a favorite) or a calligraphy pen and write your guest’s name on the front of the name tag and place it above their dinner plate or on a folded napkin on their dinner place.  You can leave the inside blank or write a quick note thanking them for their attendance. Elegant and efficient!

UltimateMama and her family have a constant flow of guests around the holidays and always keep 5 inexpensive wines (all under $25) on hand for the adults.  Here are 3 bottles of red and 2 bottles of white (or pink considering one is rose) that are perfect for entertaining or gifting:

1. Cantina Zaccagnini 2015 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (red). You can spot it at any wine store as it is the wine with the stick attached to it! Around $18 but one can find it on sale for less. Product of Italy.

2. Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon Vintners Blend California 2015 (red). Amazing with brie cheese and table water crackers.  Around $9.99. Product of California.

3. 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (red).  Goes with anything from burgers to filet mignon to lobster rolls. Around $9.99 to $14.99. Product of Columbia Valley.

4. Whispering Angel Rose 2017 (rose).  UltimateMama’s favorite wine to gift all year long as well as a staple in her refrigerator.  Around $19.99. Product of France.

5. Domaine Serge Laloue Sancerre 2016 (white). This classy selection is always a crowd pleaser if your crowd prefers something white and light. Around $21.99. Product of France.

Sometimes it is hard to execute on a good idea. Case in point when UltimateMama told her daughter that it would be absolutely no problem decorating cupcakes with a Harry Potter theme.  After searching several specialty craft and baking stores in NYC, UltimateMama came up with a genius idea – -making Funfetti cupcakes with colorful cupcake liners, smearing white frosting on them, and placing a Harry Potter plastic ring in each cupcake as the decoration (themed plastic rings are also fun party favors AND cupcake picks can work as a fun alternative to the rings)!  A big hit for all in no time!  UltimateMama will admit she did have to buy the Harry Potter plastic rings on eBay!

UltimateMama hosted the birthday party celebration of her 9 year old daughter at Pizzerina Uno.  The kids were able to make their own personal pizzas as well as decorate sundaes.  While the guests were filing in, they took part in a create a t shirt for a teddy bear craft project.  It was simple, fun, and free of messes!  Here’s what you do:

Buy each birthday party guest a plush 15 inch teddy bear (or another animal of your choice) – we purchased our bears at Toys R Us

Purchase white t shirts for teddy bears in bulk – from amazon.com in our case

Cut up a cardboard box into little squares to put inside the t shirts so that markers do not bleed through

Tell the kids to let their creativity flow with fabric markers – we love those by Crayola

Enjoy!