Christmas Cookies & Milk!

As you all know, Saturday was our milk & cookies party for T’s daycare friends.  While it was a lot of work…it was a wonderful party.  Per my usual style, I was working up to the very last minute.

Anyway, the inspiration really started when I was surfing the web this summer.  I just loved the idea of cookies and milk for little kids, and had wanted to host a party for her schoolmates.  Add to that how much I love Christmastime and my inspiration was born!  From there I gathered a few images that I liked…but really, I just let my imagination go wild with the whole party.

Sources:

    Green Cookie Buffet – Toast & Tables

    Tree w/Candy Canes & Tree w/Vintage Ornaments: Country Living

    Red & Gold Decorations: 123rf.com

    Milk & Cookies Favor: Simply Sweet Bake Shop

Follow the jump to see the results!

Back in November, I posted some of my favorite invitations for the party.  I started to work with a vendor, but for some reason communication dropped off, and I never saw an invitation.  Suddenly, I found myself four weeks away from the party with absolutely no invitation in hand, and no clue where to get one!  With a few key word changes, I stumbled upon ThreeShinyJ’s.  She was incredible to work with, has the cutest designs, and works lightening fast (thank goodness)!

Of course, the heart of any party is the food display.  As I said before, I was working right up until the first guests arrived (right at 3 p.m. on.the.dot.)  I had seriously underestimated how long it would take to place three dozen cookies on a Christmas tree.  Add to that, T decided to take an extra short nap, which then required that the Husband keep her entertained instead of being on hand to help me.  If it weren’t for those two things, I would have been finished at least a little bit earlier. (Quick note:  The weather was pretty blah that day, so there was practically no natural light; which means that between quick shots and poor lighting, the pictures look horrible.  I wish I had been able to capture how everything really looked – but this is what I got and it’s what I’m sharing!)

 The drink buffet unfortunately got the short end of the stick-or the set-up, as it may be.  I literally had 15 minutes to wipe down the island, and put everything together.  Still, it turned out okay:

 I just want to give a quick shout out to Pam at Party Starters.  My original plans included cookie mix favors and label designs of my own.  However, a week before my party, I had yet to test  out how many batches of cookie mix could fit into the favor bottles; and I dreaded the idea of trying to adjust the recipe for whatever the final amount would be.  Then, I saw Pam’s post on hot cocoa mix, and I was suddenly saved!  I quickly sent her a message over Etsy; she made a couple slight changes to her original design, and I had my favor recipe, favor labels/tags and labels for the buffet all within a few days.  Thanks so much Pam, your designs were fantastic!