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Jenni

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Jenni is a blogger and marketing professional in Portland, Oregon. A Well Crafted Party is a blog about all the little things to celebrate in life. Follow Jenni or A Well Crafted Party with BlogLovin, RSS feed, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
A Well Crafted Party

{REAL PARTY} Patriotic Crab Boil

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So, this upcoming weekend is  
Independence Day Weekend…
and, I totally forgot.
(Pregnancy Brain?)
Summer holidays have always been hard for me to get into as much as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine’s Day…Maybe because it feels like all of summer is a good excuse to throw a party I don’t really feel the need to do it on the same day as everyone else. 
  Yep, I’m a Summer Party Crab. 
I do however like Independence Day (even if I don’t often do a BIG shin-dig)…
Which is why last year I thought it would be fun to throw a Crab Boil around the holiday and spice it up with a few patriotic details so that I didn’t feel like I wasn’t celebrating at least a little. 
And, since the holiday is creeping up on me again this year I thought I’d share the photos with you just in case you needed some last minute party inspiration. 
 (If that is you then check back tomorrow for some {Friday Finds} chock full of Independence Day 
inspiration including FREE PRINTABLES!)

~*~ 
Patriotic Crab Boil
Each guest got a hand painted bib along with their silverware.
The bibs were a bit too small for most guests. But, were cute anyways.
I kept most of the decorating quite simple… a few red and white streamers really brought it all together.
The adorable printables were found FREE at Hostess with the Mostess!
No plates needed for this feast! The buckets were filled with rolls.
I wrapped boxes of sparklers up with fun homemade wrapping papers and created Thank You Tags to finish off the favors.
The aftermath… but, hey! I didn’t have a ton of dishes to do at the end of the night!

 The Details

 
Really, I didn’t do a bunch for this party. That is one of my favorite parts of a Crab Boil.

—Decorations—

I put up red and white streamers around the party areas and our porch area.
I also used the Hostess with the Mostess printables to designate the refreshments area.
Using Illustrator I created a few printables of my own
including some wrapping paper and thank you tags for the favors.
My favorite part was the table… To protect the table I put down some wax paper and then covered the whole table with white butcher paper (seriously the best party supply purchase I’ve ever made). I then added the bibs and silverware packs to each place setting. The bibs and silverware wraps I just free-handed earlier that day. I added galvanized buckets of rolls down the center of the table and ramekins of butter and lemon slices at each place setting…. and that is it!
The main attraction happened at dinner time when I dumped the food on the table!

—The Food—

I did a simple crab boil (and, to tell you the truth… at the last moment we decided to save some money and went without the crab and instead did shrimp and clams). I have two really big pots and I filled them with red potatoes, onions, lemons, corn on the cob, sausage, shrimp and clams. They steamed beautifully with a little bit of white wine. I also added in some spices to give it a bit of a kick.
(Check out this recipe from All Recipes or this one from Martha Stewart)

Well, I hope you enjoyed this {REAL PARTY} post and I hope it shows you can throw together something fun and celebratory even at the last minute. 
It can be simple and simply FUN at the same time.
We are always so happy when having friends over to our place!

What are your plans for Independence Day this year?

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So busy… sneak peek of posts to come!

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I’ve been a very busy bee lately!
I usually spend a little time working on posts over the weekend and my day off (Tuesday)… but, this week I’ve not been able to do any of that! 
Over the weekend my hubby and I spent our time NESTING. 
We cleaned out our closets and took a trip to goodwill with many bags and boxes full of stuff. I didn’t even know we had that much STUFF. Makes me feel a little guilty. 
Well, our closets look LOADS better and my label maker was put to good use. Next weekend we’ll be putting the finishing touches on baby’s room and (HOPEFULLY)
do some deep cleaning in the house so I don’t have to worry about it before baby gets here.
The past two days I didn’t have a lot of time working on posts because a dear friend of mine is here from Oklahoma. We spent our time hanging out and reminiscing.
But, I do have a TON of posts that I want to be working on and bringing to you soon.
So, I thought I’d share a quick sneak peek of things to come! 
 {DIY CHERRY BLOSSOM PROJECTS}
Photo Credit: Capturing Grace Photography
Although, if you just can’t wait you can shimmy over to Hostess with the Mostess for her feature on the DIY projects that we created for this shoot.
{Mommy Monday Posts}
Photo by my very own Mommy who prepped a {Mommy Monday} post for us!
I have a LOT of fun {Mommy Monday} posts coming! 
If you like DIY projects that aren’t exactly party related then you will like some of these upcoming posts. There will be posts with projects for decorating the nursery, re-purposing (or upstyling) clothes to help save money and some fun summer projects to do with the kiddos. 
A robot painting I did for the nursery!
P.S. If you are a Mommy Blogger or a Blogger who is about to be a Mommy then I’d love to feature a guest post by you for the future {Mommy Monday} spots! 
{RECIPES}
 
Maybe it is the nesting, but I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm lately! 
So, I have a ton of fun recipes for you, including the Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes pictured above! Check back in over the next couple of weeks for recipes for cupcakes, dinners and an a ton of recipes that involve STRAWBERRIES! 
{REAL PARTIES}
I still need to post all about our Baby Shower and Beer before Baby parties! I was a silly blogger and didn’t take very many photos, but my friends were gracious enough to send me some of their photos…. so, I have some fun details to share with you! 
{GIVEAWAY}
What!?! Another giveaway so soon!?
I’m really excited to say that one of my favorite party supply stores has offered a
fun giveaway item to you! 
So, don’t forget to check back to see what it is and how you can win it!
  Well, thanks for checking in on the blog today…
I haven’t quite fell of the face of the universe. I am however prepping the blog for the moment when baby arrives and I do fall off the face of the universe for a moment. So, what type of posts would you like to see on the blog? 
And, if you are a blogger as well….
would you like to do a guest post!?! 
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{CONCEPT SHOOT} Love in Blossom Pt. 2

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Can you tell I’m excited about this party concept? 
And, THE PHOTOS! 
I was thrilled when Aubrie LeGault from Capturing Grace Photography sent these photos to me
and I’ve been dying to show them to you ever since!
So, part one of the photos showed you my concept for a DIY, budget-friendly, Japanese-Inspired head table and bridal bouquet… now, for the DESSERT!
I love this picture of the cake table. The cherry blossom cake is surrounded by more white flowers, cherry blossom confetti and a Japanese tea set used for candle holders.
Just so  you know… that cake tasted as good as it looks!
What bride wouldn’t be happy with their own personal cupcake to enjoy!?!
Alicia, from The Sweet Smith blog, created a white cake with lemon filling and a delish butter cream frosting for the cake. She then topped the cake with molded chocolate cherry blossoms. You can find the recipe and DIY instructions on how to create the flowers over at Hostess with the Mostess!

*****
For DIY projects visit Hostess with the Mostess or check back in next week!

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