Mothers Day Barbecue Party Ideas

“Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and gave me wings to fly.”
Love You Mom!
-Jenny

Mother’s Day is special and is a great way for the whole family to unite and party to thank that one person who is there for everyone – Mother! Thank You Mom in some special way by hosting a great get-together with her friends and family. Make her feel special this day with the royal treatment. I am planning a surprise Mother’s Day Barbecue for my Mom this year. My mom just loves Barbeque cooking and summer time!

To start with the planning. I had to sneak in her office to see her planner and see if she has some plans for that day! And I was glad to know that she was Free for the day! And now I can easily start with my barbeque planning for my mother.

The first thing to start with is deciding the venue, if you want to surprise her than planning it at your place is not a good idea, mom’s know each movement in the house even if they are secret, which can ruin your Surprise plan. So I thought of having it in my neighbors’ backyard!

Before going in for the decorations, I decided up the following menu!

MOTHER'S DAY MENU:

·         Apple Walnut Salad

·         Slow-cooked Baby Back Ribs

·         Decadent Brownies

APPLE WALNUT SALAD

Ingredients:

2 green apples, cored and sliced very thinly

1-1/2 cups walnuts, chopped

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese shavings

1 to 2 bags of prewashed mix baby greens

Balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:

This salad gives an elegant touch to any meal, but it couldn't be simpler to toss together! Simply pour greens into a large bowl and top with the apple slices, walnuts and Parmesan shavings. Wait until just before serving to mix in the desired amount of dressing.

SLOW-COOKED BABY BACK RIBS

Ingredients:

Pork baby-back ribs

Store-bought dry rub of your choice

Barbecue sauce

*Note: The number of racks you need depends on how many guests you are planning on serving. Most guests will eat between three and four ribs. (It's always better to have too much than not enough.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet (you might need more than one) with heavy-duty aluminum foil and place ribs on the foil. Sprinkle dry rub on both sides of the ribs and pat the spices into the meat. Put in oven and bake for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. A few minutes before the time is up in the oven, light the grill. Take the ribs out of the oven, slather with barbecue sauce, and finish them on the grill for 7 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

DECADENT BROWNIES

Ingredients:

3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and baking chocolate together, then stir in sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla. Blend flour into the mixture until just blended (do not over-mix). Finally, fold chocolate chips and pecans into the batter.

Pour batter into a lightly greased 8- by 8-inch baking pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.

Barbecue Party Decorations:

Keep the party decorations simple and sleek. First thing to do is to get your backyard mowed 3 days before your Barbecue Party. Choose those simple Barbecue Invitations available to invite your Guests and make sure you do that atleast 2 weeks before the party. Arrange some chairs and tables decorated with candles in those glass jars and some fresh flowers to make the yard look beautiful. Use disposable plates and cutlery so its easy to clean after the party and its comfortable for guests to carry the left over home. 

Nothing flashy for the party keep it simple and let your Mom enjoy chit-chatting with her friends!

Best Pirate Party Ideas for Kids

It’s time for some great Pirate Festivals in USA. Kids usually are fascinated by Pirates and love to imitate them. I have many of my friends who are reluctant to take their kids to Pirate Festivals thinking that it might not be good for them. And due to this Kids miss out all the fun of these Pirate Festivals. This year, I planned to host a Pirate Party for all the kids in my neighborhood and kids of my family & friends in town. I have always loved hosting parties and hosting a party for kids is always fun and exciting.

As, this will be a party for kids of different age groups, I have to be sure that it caters to all the party needs! Having a pirate party is not a difficult task, you get all the party decorations from online, and you just have to pick the best ones for your party. And here are some of the best ones I picked for my party.

Pirate Party Invitations:

The best way to tell your guests about the theme of Party is by sending Invitation Card going with your Party theme. I found these Pirate Theme Invitation cards for my Kids Pirate Party giving me Pirate Feel for my party.

Pirate Party Decorations:

Pirate Giant Piñata:

Kids love Piñata’s filled with lot of Goodies and eagerly await when will someone break them and they can have their candies. I found this cute little Pirate Piñata for my Party. Which I will fill with candies for the little Pirates attending the party.

Pirate Foil Balloons:

               

For a kid’s party, balloons are important. No decoration is complete without Balloons. I found these two Foil Balloons for my Kiddies Pirate Party. And I plan to buy equal quantity of these Foil Balloons, so I can tie them in different corners of my house to turn my house to a Pirate’s den. 

Jointed Pirate Ship Cutout:

Add a bit more to your party area with this Pirate Ship Cutout. Place it either on your Dinning table in the middle of all the food items or in the play area. 

Pirate Party Tableware:

I wanted to go simple with the tableware I wanted for my party. As I always suggest look for Party kits which go with your Party Theme. They reduce the hassle you have to go through finding cups & plates online or in stores! I found this amazing Pirate Party Kit Pack which includes: 8 invitations, dinner plates, dessert plates, cups, forks, spoons, 16 napkins, solid-color table cover, foil balloon, 12 balloons (2 colors), curling ribbon (2 colors), crepe paper rolls (2 colors), and cake candles. Standard Pack for 16 includes: 16 invitations, dinner plates, dessert plates, cups, forks, spoons, 32 napkins, solid-color table cover, foil balloon, 12 balloons (2 colors), curling ribbon (2 colors), crepe paper rolls (2 colors), and cake candles.

Pirates Party Favor Boxes:

I was much tensed as what to include in my Party Favor boxes for kids. I tried many things but the party favor box was not coming out to be as I wanted it to be. So I found this Pirate Party Favor Box which is in the shape of a treasure box and includes a Pirates sticker sheet, a pirate wristband, eye patch, 2 tattoos, toy telescope, blowout, rubber ring and 30 golden coins. This box has everything I wanted in my party favor boxes.

Kids Parties can be very boring if you don’t have any playful activities for them. Here is a list of some great kid’s activities that you can conduct to for those little Pirates.

1. Tattoo Corner: Kids love getting tattoos painted on their cheeks & hands. I asked one of my friends who has decent drawing to help me in this. Paint their hands / cheeks with those pirate ships and skull skins.

2. Treasure Hunt: Pirate party without treasure hunt is no fun at all. I drew a map citing that there is a treasure hidden somewhere. We decided to divide the kids into 2 groups of pirates to make the competition healthy. Guide them as to what the maps means and let them find the clues themselves  and see which team wins.

3.  Captain Hook's Pretzels. This was a fun one! You have 30 seconds to hook as many pretzels as you can. This is good for a wide range of ages. The young ones (ages 3-4) do just as well as the older ones (ages 7-8). If you don't have a hook, you can use a black cup with a candy cane sticking out the bottom.

4. Swab the Decks Relay. Divide into two teams, each team has 5 ping pong balls that they need to sweep over to the other side and back. I spray painted one set of balls gold so they didn't get mixed up.

So, I am all set for my Pirate Party with those little Pirates!