A Not-So-Traditional Menu for Thanksgiving

Maybe it’s just us, but did Thanksgiving sneak up on you this year? If so, we’re here to help with your menu!
We’ve compiled some fun recipes that are spins on traditional Thanksgiving dishes so that whether you’re cooking the entire dinner for family and friends or if you’re signed up to bring dessert, you’ll have something delicious to share.
Check out this tasty menu we’ve put together:
Cooking on the Weekends
This would be acceptable at any party, right? Why limit this turkey to just the end of November?
Plain Chicken
This recipe adds one simple ingredient to an otherwise “regular” casserole…and it looks delicious!
CincyShopper
Can you imagine how wonderful your kitchen house would smell if you made this?
Lemon Tree Dwelling
There are so many delicious variations of macaroni and cheese…but this one is loaded with extra flavor! And yes, even though it looks like potatoes, that really is mac & cheese!
We can’t wait to try this recipe soon…
For Dressing and Cranberry in one, check out
Carlsbad Cravings
We love a delicious traditional dressing (who doesn’t?), but doesn’t this one sound extra savory?
 
Tablespoon
We speak from experience when we say, “Don’t expect there to be many (or any…) leftovers if you make these miniature sweet and tart bites! (Also, they are best right out of the oven after the brie has cooled…but also delicious after being in the fridge). If you can’t find the rolled puff pastry, canned crescent rolls cut in half also work!
Dole
This sweet & tangy drink will be loved by everyone at your party! If you want it a little sweeter, increase the pineapple juice and decrease the cranberry juice.
Last but not least…..dessert. 🙂 We couldn’t pick just one (so we didn’t 😉 ).
Home Made Interest
If you don’t think this looks delicious, we’re sure that the person you sit next to at dinner would be more than happy to eat your portion for you. Such a fun twist (no pun intended) on a classic pecan pie!
Pecan pie filling rolled into a light sponge cake make this pecan pie cake roll a perfect Thanksgiving dessert.
Now that you know what you’re making for your dinner party this week, do you need some extra seating? If so, give us a call and we’ll make sure everyone at your party has a place to relax while they dig into that bacon wrapped turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We’re so thankful for our customers who are like family to us and we hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family this week.

How to Pick the Perfect Tent

So you need a tent?
You’ve come to the right place!
We offer over a variety of size and style combinations of tents, plus we have accessories available to make the tent as casual or elegant as you need. Are you looking for a small tent to provide some shade over a few chairs, or a large tent to create an outdoor dining room for a banquet? Either way, we’ve got you covered (literally!)
To dress up your tent, we have tent sides (with or without windows), leg drapes, ceiling liners, tent lighting, monogram lighting, and special effects. Take a look at some of othe other tents we’ve set up and decorated for inspiration for your next event!
We love elegant leg drapes and ceiling liners added to a tent!
Aren’t these cafe lights gorgeous?
There’s a tent for everything at this event, including our fun Midway Game Booths!
Those chandeliers are so dreamy and give this tent a feel of being indoors at a banquet hall.
You don’t want to chance your guests getting rained on at your wedding…
rent a tent with sides and windows for your Spring wedding!

5 Perfect Snacks for Your Fall Party!

We may already be halfway through October, but if you’re anything like us, that means you still have a handful of get-togethers to host or attend before winter! Maybe you need a snack to take to a potluck, maybe you’re helping host a tailgate, or maybe you need a few more ideas for that baby shower you’re hosting this weekend. We’ve saved you a step and found FIVE easy recipes that we know you’ll love!
How cute are these? They would make the perfect miniature appetizer! There’s an added bonus to these being cute…they’re no-bake, so anyone down to preschool age could help put these together!
If you’ve never tried pumpkin pie cheesecake dip, but love all things involving pumpkin or cream cheese, then stop what you’re doing and make some to sample. Vanilla wafers are delicious paired with this dip, as as graham crackers or ginger snaps!
These are precious, miniature, and basically just all around adorable (and simple! This is another recipe that younger children can help make).  In addition to tasting great, a platter of mixed green, red, and purple grapes would look so nice as a centerpiece on the snack table.
What party doesn’t need a tasty cheeseball? We love the simple method The Country Cook uses to make this look like a miniature pumpkin!
This is SO good paired with tortilla chips, celery, crackers, or even spread on fresh bread from the bakery. Prep is super simple, and you could make it even simpler by tossing everything into a slow cooker and letting it keep warm during the party.
What are your favorite fall party snacks? Add them to the comments below!

Trending Themes for Kids’ Birthdays: Super Hero!



>>POW!<<      >>BAM!<<      >>ZAP!<<


For the third party in our series of Kids’ Birthdays, we bring you some SUPER ideas for a fun celebration! (We’ve also shared ideas for a Backyard Camping Party and for an Art Party).
When your heroes arrive to the scene, what better way to get the party started than to have a photo booth at the door? We love the idea of a city scene for the backdrop. Add an assortment of capes, masks, and speech bubbles based on your child’s favorite hero for props.

This backdrop at Tips from a Typical Mom Blog was made with a black plastic table cloth, some paper clouds and stars, and various boxes wrapped in black paper.  They added some rectangles cut from yellow paper for windows. A dark blue table cloth for an evening sky would look great too.
So simple and SUPER at the same time!
Tips from a Typical Mom Blog

These assorted masks available on Etsy would be cute in pictures!
(Store them with the kids’ dress-ups clothes to use for getting into character on non-party days.
LetsGetDecorative on Etsy
If your guests are old enough for a craft, you could provide felt or craft foam and string or elastic for them to make their own masks using one of the patterns at First Palette or JustBunch. Everyone could then model them in front of the city scene for a fun keepsake. (speaking of the mask and the photo! Wouldn’t a picture of the guest and birthday boy or girl be a sweet addition to a thank you note?)

JustBunch
This cape was made from a t-shirt and requires NO sewing…just a pair of scissors.  They even give instructions for how to create an iron on using your favorite hero’s logo.
Tutus & Tea Parties
There are some really creative ways to display the food for a SUPER party at Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss. We love how these drinks are stored in a bucket with a comic book style “POP” across the front. (They even decorated the ketchup and mustard bottles!)

Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss
Although these lollipops were designed as Valentines, they would be SUPER as a favor.
Little Bit Funky

We love love love this colorful Justice League moonwalk, perfect for every hero celebration.
Deborah’s Party Rentals

We also came across some FREE printables that would make your party >>POP!<<
Pure Costumes
Use these colorful printouts to decorate your food table, goody bags, or the photo booth area.  Tape some clear string or fishing wire to the back of them and hang them from the ceiling. Print onto iron on paper to use to make a custom birthday shirt for the birthday boy or girl!

Photokapi


These would also be great on a T-Shirt (Mom, Dad, and Kid are included!) or print several of each letter for guests to color the letters of their name. Then they would be able to take their own SUPER name banner home after the party to hang in their room.

Hope we sparked some SUPER ideas to help you start planning your little Hero’s next birthday. Give us a call if you need to rent some tables, chairs, tents, concessions, or inflatables and we’ll help make sure it’s a memorable day for everyone!

Trending Themes for Kids’ Birthdays: Art Party



Welcome to the second party in our series of Kids’ Birthdays!

Do you have a little artist on your hands? (We know a few!)
An art party would be a fun event for boys and girls, ages 0 and up!
Plus, you’ll be able to use as many colors as you want in the decorations. 🙂


Speaking of colors, take a look at these invitations: one printed on a paint sample, and one made to look like a paint palette. How creative are they??
The Modest Homestead
Invite and Delight

We imagine that decorations for any Art Party would be full of color and whimsy…
The Party Teacher Shop
The Partiologist
Play.Party.Plan

As for snacks, really, anything goes as long as it’s brightly colored! However, some of these ideas went above and beyond and really added to the art theme. While looking for inspiration, we found so many beautiful cakes (inside and out!) as well as these adorable cake pops that used a paintbrush as the stick!
And Everything Sweet
Cravings of a Lunatic – Trix Krispies
Momma Told Me – Rainbow Grapes
These Rainbow Grapes are gorgeous…and only three ingredients! Water, Grapes, and Jello. We may have to try these soon…just to make sure they taste as good as they look!

McCormick Tie Dye Cake

Hi Sugarplum!

Depending on the age of the guests, you could have a table full of coloring pages and crayons, set up small canvases for everyone to paint and take home, let them decorate their own cupcakes, or set up a t-shirt tie dye station!

Tulip Tie Dye Your Summer


Here are some Tie-Dye Tips in case you need a refresher on how to come up with different designs!


When it comes to choosing an inflatable for the guests, we have oh-so-many beautiful, brightly colored, fun, affordable rentals that would match an Art Party, but this Crayola one would be one of our first picks!

Crayola Combo at Deborah’s Party Rentals

An apron to wear during the party and then take home would be a nice way for the guests to remember how much fun they had, (and would keep their clothes clean…which is something all the parents will likely appreciate. 🙂 )

BlankClothing
Doesn’t an Art Party sound like fun? If you plan one soon, send us an invitation and we’ll help you pick out whatever rentals you need to have plenty of space for all your artists to sit & eat!

We hope you’re enjoying our mini-series on Kids’ Birthdays and that you’re getting some good ideas for future parties.

Trending Themes for Kids’ Birthdays: Backyard Camping

Classic characters or latest new character on TV?
Underwater, or on land…or sky…or rail?
Pizza or hot dogs?
Ice Cream or Cake?
(Or both!)

So many questions to think about when you’re helping your children plan their favorite event of the year: THEIR BIRTHDAY! We don’t know if your guests are going to prefer pepperoni or cheese pizza, but we can help you choose a fun theme for the party!

In addition to all the characters you’d expect to be popular party themes like Mickey and Nemo (we have those inflatables!), we’ve also noticed a few other themes as being popular this year, and we’re going to take a look at a few over the next few weeks on the blog!

First up…



With the weather transitioning from summer to fall, a camping party set up outdoors couldn’t be planned at a better time. Obviously, S’mores would make the perfect snack for a campout, but being a birthday party, a cake is needed as well! Check out the TWO camping birthday cakes made for a double birthday party over at 3 Little Greenwoods:

 


The TomKat Studio showcased a really well-planned camping party with lots of delicious (and appropriately named) snacks…

Bean Talk has more delicious snacks to share (and free printable labels for you party!)
Bean Talk Free Camping Snack Printable

After your nature walk, the guests will want to see how high they can jump in a woodsy moonwalk…so check out our Camouflage Moonwalk to set up for the weekend!



Of course, you’ll need invitations so everyone will know where to set up their tents for the night.
MomDot has a free one you can download and print at home!

Speaking of tents, we love this idea to help keep sleeping quarters cool in the afternoon and to block the morning sun before the campers start to wake up.
Tent under a tent!
We have the perfect tents that you could use as a shelter for your campers’ sleeping tents.

Next in our series of Kids’ Birthdays…. Art Party!
Keep an eye out for our ideas on how to plan a colorful party. 😀



Free Fall Printables to Accent Your Party

With Fall officially underway (although the temperatures haven’t been reflecting that this week…), we thought it would be fun to showcase some free Fall printables and give you some ideas for how you could use them at your wedding, corporate event, party, or just in your home or office decor!

Check out this classic leaf print from A Night Owl Blog. Wouldn’t it be perfect as an accent piece on a sign-in table at a wedding, or framed on your mantle at home?

from A Night Owl Blog
Print out these signs and put them in frames surrounded by floating candles or a flower arrangement and you have a nice Autumn centerpiece at the tables for your corporate dinner under one of the tents we have available to rent!

from Tatertots and Jello 
This whimsical word art would be a fun way to have guests at your get together sign in (and write what they’re thankful for!) around the border, then frame later OR print out a smaller version for a mini office desk frame to brighten up your workspace.


We love the mention of cozy sweaters in this print by Pitter and Glink! (Maybe this time next week, we’ll all be able to unpack our cozy sweaters to wear!) This would be a sweet print to have on display at a pumpkin or fall themed shower, or how about frame it to display on a table with coffee and pumpkin spice creamer at your fall wedding reception?
Pitter and Glink



Can’t you just smell the leaves in the air and the bonfire and apple cider now?
It’s like love is in the air. 🙂


Of course, if you’re looking for more fall-inspired ideas for your next party, check out our Pinterest boards for inspiration, then give us a call and we’ll help you put everything together so all you have to do is sit back and drink your pumpkin latte!


Pumpkins, Leaves, Sweaters, Football, Lattes …. and Festivals!

Aren’t there so many wonderful things that show up around the same time that the leaves begin to fall? Everyone around town starts to sport their favorite team colors on a sweater while stomping through leaves to their favorite coffee shop to savor a hot latte topped with cinnamon (iced coffees are great, but we’ve been enjoying those all summer).

We love every one of these little signs of fall, our favorite part about the changing season… is the upcoming Fall Festivals!


We’re well known for having an exciting assortment of moonwalks for kids of all ages – from toddlers to “kids at heart” – but did you know that we also have concessions rentals so that you can have delicious snacks at your trunk or treat? Our popcorn machine or our cotton candy machine would make the perfect sweet or salty treats at any cool weather event! We even provide the supplies you’ll need to serve them (one less thing to remember at the store, right? Besides, you’ll need the extra room in the shopping cart for candy corn…)



If you’re planning to have a carnival style Fall Festival, check out the fun Carnival games we have for rent including Skeeball, High Striker, or our Inflatable 3 in 1 Carnival Game.


 If you need prizes to give away to game winners, let us know and we can help you get those at a great deal as well.

October is a busy month (everyone must love fall festivals as much as we do!), and a lot of these fun attractions are rented quickly….so give us a call today so we can help you plan the PERFECT family event for your church, school, or work group while Fall is fresh on your mind.

Happy First Day of Fall!

#TransformationThursday – Birthday Party Edition!

 If you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or Pinterest you’ve seen some of our #transformationthursday posts showing how our rentals have turned the simplest space into something truly spectacular!
This week, check out the transformation made to this backyard for a three year old’s PJ Masks Birthday Party! 

Before….Fun Space to run and Play! (But where to sit?)
…besides, this needs to be a PJ Masks Headquarters for the Party!
This space on any other day is perfect for running and playing, but when it came time to party, there wasn’t much sitting space for guests to relax. Plus, a May afternoon birthday meant the sun was shining and a little extra shade was needed to keep the guests cool.  Fifteen white folding chairs, a roundcocktail table, and a blue umbrella table rented from Deborah’s Party Rentals solved those problems!

Check out all that seating and the extra shade from the Umbrella!
One of our rectangle tables covered in plastic table cloths to coordinate with CatBoy, LunaGirl, and Gekko was perfect for holding snacks and drinks.


To make the icing have green speckles like Gekko, just mix in some green sugar sprinkles! Here is a link to some similar cupcake toppers you can print if you’re planning a PJ Masks party.

Speaking of snacks, the shaved ice machine with Blue Raspberry syrup (like CatBoy of course!) was a hit with all of the guests (from under age 1 to over age 70!). What a perfect way to keep cool when the temperature was hanging around 80 degrees.

Everyone wanted seconds on the Shaved Ice.

In addition to the slide and backyard toys that the birthday boy had set out for his friends to play, he also picked out the Fat Cats tossing game to have set up for everyone to enjoy. We have so many fun carnival type games you can rent!

Fat Cats was a fun game for all the kids and adults to play.
A month later, when it came time for this Birthday Boy’s little brother to celebrate his first birthday, the backyard was transformed into an ocean-themed party! (Stay posted for a post about that party in the future).
Filter by LooksLikeGlitter

How have you transformed your backyard into an amazing party venue? If you have a party coming up, give us a call and we’ll help you pick out the perfect supplies to transform your own backyard.

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The photos in this post were provided to us by the customer for use in advertising and social media. Thank you!

10 Party Tips that Will Rock Your World

When you’re planning any kind of party, no matter the size, location, theme or occasion certain details must be addressed.  The following list will make your party planning process considerably easier.  These 10 party tips will lighten your load and have your guests cheering for more.  Happy Planning!
1.       Freeze fruit to chill your favorite beverage.  Fruit will not only add flavor to water or wine, but will also keep your beverage of choice cool without watering it down.  Bottoms up!



2.       Use food as a container to serve other food.  This technique is most often seen on fruit and veggie trays, but is an easy way to dress up your buffet.  This is the perfect place for your favorite dip.



3.       Make it clean up easy with baskets lined and labeled for trash and recyclables.  The baskets look nicer than regular trash cans and you won’t be sorting through the mess after the guests go home.



4.       When using extra power sources and extension cords for an outdoor event, make sure to protect the intersection of all your cords by cutting holes in simple disposable containers.  This simple step will prevent guests and their vehicles from shutting down the fun unexpectedly.


5.       When partying outside, don’t forget the sunscreen and bug spray stops.  Nothing can kill the fun faster than bug bites and sunburns.



6.       Glow in the dark everything!  If something is fun during the day, it’s even more fun in the dark where it glows.  This can be fun for kids and adults alike and the products are great on the party budget as well!




7.       Use what’s on hand in a new way.  Your guests will be so impressed when you have taken ordinary household or office items and used them in a new way to accommodate your party’s theme of choice.  Get creative!



8.       Light it up!  Nothing changes the mood more effectively than lighting.  Whether you hire pros to create a custom monogram to be highlighted at your wedding reception, or you simply use Christmas lights across your fence to create a romantic effect to your backyard garden party, lightening can make or break your party.




9.       Make sure your food is easy to eat.  All the beautiful displays that can be imagined when entertaining food can underwhelm when guests don’t have an accessible way to eat it.  Try to remember the logistics of your event when planning the menu.  For example, don’t serve steak when guests have nowhere to sit down with a knife and fork.  Finger foods without messy sauces are always crowd pleasers at parties.




10.   Last but not least, don’t forget about the kiddos when planning your next party.  In most cases, you can count on kids being among your guests, so don’t leave them out.  Even if your main focus of the party is an adult centered event, keeping the kids occupied will insure success.  A Kid Zone is the perfect way to keep the integrity of the main theme of your party still intact.



AS you can see, these party tips can be lifesavers for your future successful party planning adventures.  Have Fun!
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