Planning the party

was very intimidating because I didn't have my "jax" team and had to plan a party that would  start without me as we were coming straight from the church. And, I had to bring all my party supplies to the pottery studio beforehand. I brainstormed over a  meal at Walmart. Here we are sharing our fries and soda to save calories. I needed all the calories for my big mac. I should have gotten the mushroom and swiss angus burger, so much better than the big mac. Look at my sandwich. Where's the beef??? I only had rieker this one afternoon to drive me to get supplies because he had to work all day Saturday. Luckily, we got most of our party supplies from Walmart and Sam's Club in Robinson Township, right across the street from each other.

I wanted a fruit and veggie platter with cheese & crackers for guests to snack on until Jayne and Matty were able to get back with the Lulu's food we used to cater the party. I soaked the grapes for a bit in water and sprinkled a little sugar on the strawberries to marinate.

I chopped celery and carrots.

I made green tea ice tea and put it in my new cool dispenser and packed it to go. It came with an ice core to chill the tea. I also brought a wine decanter to help "class up" my boxed wine.

Because I had to rely on Jim & Joe to put out my appetizer platter, I tried to fool-proof it by putting everything on the platter and in the containers I wanted my dips and sauces in. I got the dried ranch dressing in the seasoning section of Sam's Club to make dips and dressings. To make my ranch dressing dip, I only had to mix 3 tablespoons of mix with a container of sour cream. It couldn't have been easier. I sliced up some cucumbers and soaked it in vinegar with some salt and pepper. (It wasn't the freshest cuke but it was still good, I had it in my fridge.)

I love serving pickled jalepenos now, ever since our boy's birthday party.

And, I wanted the cutlery in the zotter pots. They were the perfect size.

I have to admit that my cupcakes were leftover from the week before. They were still delicious, just an odd number that didn't make sense. I got pretzels and little chocolates too for the snackers.

And raided our snack pantry. We started on the popcorn a few nights before.

I decided to go for two liters and bulk drinks instead of individual cans and boxes to save waste. Even my wine (both red and white) were in boxes. The best boxed wine money could buy :))))

The tea looked a lot better with lemon slices floating on top.