Planning a Fabulous Baby Shower on a Budget

Charlotte Today March 6, 2013

Last week I was fortunate enough to make my second appearance on Charlotte Today!  You may remember my first appearance Planning a Stress-Free Holiday Party.  This time it was all baby talk: Planning a Fabulous Baby Shower on a Budget.  That’s right, it really isn’t hard to throw a fabulous baby shower on a budget.  The key is to get creative!  And no, you don’t have the be the Craft Queen to pull it off, you just need a little time and this blog :-)

I’ll walk you through step by step, how to make:

Pink Popcorn Cones

Decorative Water Bottles

 Popcorn Buffet

How to make your Decorations do Double Duty

So let’s start planning your next baby shower!

Until next time,

Jennifer

aka Chick #1

P.S.
Here's a little peek at the challenge I faced backstage, 30 min before we aired LIVE.... The cupcake disaster of 2013 :-) Luckily this Chick knows how to improvise!

Lonerider Showdown {Clueless Chick Giveaway}

The Clueless Chick is a proud sponsor of the Lonerider Showdown coming up on Saturday March 23rd in support of a great cause, Nourish International.  This great event, including the 5th Annual Brew if Forward event will take place in Moore Square in downtown Raleigh, NC.

We are excited to announce that we are giving away 4 General Admissions tickets to one lucky winner!  With your tickets you and your posse will receive admissions to the Showdown, samples of four different beers and a chance to listen to four great bands & play fun games. Great bands, beer, and duels - what could be better? 

So sign up today for your chance to win all 4 tickets! 

Nitty Gritty Details:

Lonerider presents the Outlaw Event of the year, Showdown 2013 benefiting Nourish International

Lonerider Showdown 2013 Featuring Dillon Fence

Lila, Jack The Radio, Debonzo Bro's, Dark Water Rising

Saturday March 23

5:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Moore Square

200 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC

Lonerider will be taking over Moore Square in downtown Raleigh to bring you the outlaw event of the year. Craft beer, great music, and wild west games. The Showdown will benefit Nourish International, a non-profit in quest to make an impact on extreme poverty.

Brew It Forward 2013 will be a major component of the festival. Homebrewers are invited to participate for a chance to brew their creations at Lonerider's Brewhouse.

Don't miss out on an awesome event. Bring the outlaw out in you at Lonerider Showdown 2013.

Visit LoneriderShowdown.com for additional information.

**Winner must be able to pick up all 4 tickets in Raleigh on Friday 3/22 or Saturday 3/23**

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cinnamon Monkey Bread Minis

www.CluelessChick.com

Cinnamon Monkey Bread Minis

Ingredients:

2 cans refrigerated cinnamon rolls

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line12 muffin tins with foil liners
2. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small sandwich bag
3. Separate 8 rolls on a cutting board. Using a pizza cutter, cut each roll into 8 pieces.
4. Shake pieces in the bag of sugar to coat.  Place ~10 pieces in each muffin cup.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While minis are still warm, spoon icing on top, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve warm.

Enjoy!  And don't forget to leave a comment to let us know what you think!

Until next time,

Jennifer

aka Chick #1

Pink Popcorn Cones

Pink Popcorn Cones by the Clueless Chick

This week on Charlotte Today I shared some of my favorite tips for planning a fabulous baby shower on a budget.  One of the most popular treats was our new Pink Popcorn Cones.  These adorable treats are super cute and fairly easy to make.  They are the perfect example of how a simple Pinterest recipe can lead to a fun new creation.  While making a modified version of this Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn recipe, the idea to make this super cute popcorn into popcorn cones was born - after all I was already planning to use ice cream cones as the cups for my popcorn buffet so why not? I gave it a try and voila, a fun new Clueless Chick favorite!

Pink Popcorn Cones
Components

• Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn (freshly made)
• Ice Cream Cones

Directions:

1. While your Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn is still warm on your parchment covered cookie sheet, place popcorn in each cone, forming a ball with the popcorn on top to look like an ice cream cone.
2. Place completed cones in an airtight container to set.

Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn 

Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn

Ingredients

• 1 bag pre-popped popcorn or 6 cups fresh popped popcorn
• 1 cups sugar
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 tablespoons corn syrup
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 to 3 small drops of red food coloring

Directions:

1. Bring sugar, water, corn syrup, salt and vanilla to a low boil, stirring regularly  
2. Remove from heat, stir in food coloring adding one drop at a time to ensure your color is not too dark
3. Put ½ of your popcorn into a large stainless steel or glass bowl, pour ½ pink syrup over popcorn and stir.  Add remaining popcorn and pink syrup and stir again.
4. Transfer pink popcorn onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet to cool.
5. Once cool, break apart and enjoy!

Tips:

• Any color of food coloring can be used to make a rainbow of old-fashioned popcorn
• Use your Old-Fashioned Pink Popcorn as the base for a popcorn buffet, just add some sweet and salty mix-ins

Pink Popcorn Buffett 

Duct Tape and Water Bottles - Who knew?

Last week on Charlotte Today I showcased one of my favorite new combinations - Duct Tape and Water Bottles! Here is a fun (and super inexpensive) way to extend your party theme to your water bottles.

Supplies:

• Water Bottles (any shape or size)
• Duct Tape (in a color to match your event theme)
• Scissors
• Stickers

Instructions:

1. Remove the labels from each water bottle
2. Wrap duct tape around each bottle.  Start at the back of the bottle to cover any remnants of the label, wrap completely around the bottle, cut the tape so that there is a ½ inch overlap
3. Place stickers on the front, or all around the tape 

Tips:
Use your team colors to decorate the water bottles for your next tailgate.
Choose a different color or pattern for every member of your family to personalize each bottle.

Get creative!  With all of the adorable duct tape colors and patterns available at your local craft store and the endless variety of stickers, your only limit is your imagination.

Until next time,
Jennifer
aka Chick #1

Decoration Double Duty

www.CluelessChick.com

Make your decorations work for you!  Instead of spending all sorts of money on cheesy decorations that you will use once and throw out, repurpose items you already have around the house.  Or, incorporate your gifts into the decor.

We’ve all seen pictures of a baby shower with adorable clothes lines filled with cute little onesies and socks - that is exactly what I’m talking about.  Not only do the clothes lines serve as adorable decorations, they are also filled with baby clothes for the Mommy-to-be to take home!  You can put an even greener and budget-friendly twist on your clothesline and use it to display the gently used hand me downs you’ll be passing down to the Mommy-to-be.

Inspiration!

1. The classic clothesline baby shower decorations:

2. Gifts (like these adorable ducky bath toys) make adorable serving pieces. Just remember to wash them before (and after!) you use them:

3. Favors (like these adorable ice cream cone bubbles) are the perfect decorations for your food table:

4. Larger gifts (such as this adorable bathtub kneepad) are ideal centerpieces:

And don’t forget about your own little one’s toys - borrow your son’s dump truck to use as a chip bowl, or use his teddy bears as a centerpiece.  Use your imagination and have fun with it!

Until next time,
Jennifer
aka Chick #1