The Winner is: #114 Wehaf! Congrats!
I recently got the opportunity to host a Girls’ Night In party, so I asked my friend Tracey if she would like to help me out by having the party at her house. She has a beautiful dining room, and she was more than ready to get it spruced up for spring
The party was just the ticket to inspire her to bring out her spring accessories. She happened to be hosting her women’s group that night, too, so we made a party of it.
I went to the grocery and picked up some really good cheeses, crackers, and assorted other party foods. Girls generally love to nibble on cheese and crackers, dips and chips, and with a little sweet thrown in for good measure, it’s a perfect meal.
My kind of nibbling. I love girlie food, don’t you? 
Tracey has a beautiful dining room and when I told her I wanted to throw a party, she was more than ready to set a pretty spring table. She has some gorgeous silver pieces and by adding some birds, nests, and eggs, as well as a few fresh flowers from the yard, the table was picture perfect. That glass float was picked up on our shopping trip to Asheville earlier this year and came from Screen Door. I love it! 
White dogwoods and hot pink azaleas are hard to beat for a centerpiece. Simple and elegant.
Tracey added these cute birds’ nests with eggs on top of glasses, along with beautiful thrifty plates she picked up at Scott Antiques. 
A large glass bottle holds more dogwood branches. This time of year is perfect for clipping outdoors and bringing them inside to enjoy. 
As part of this Girls’ Night In party, we were asked to try out a brand new product, Simply Cranberry Cocktail, made with not-from-concentrate cranberry juice. 
I filled a pretty glass pitcher with plenty of crushed ice and filled it with Simply Cranberry Cocktail. The girls all loved it and remarked on how delicious it tasted. It was a refreshing accompaniment to our girlie food fare. 
I brought along some pink dogwoods to add to another vase on the kitchen island, and that’s where we set up all the food. 
Strawberries and cheesecake, a winning combo every time. 
Happy flowers make a girl party special. 
Plenty of hummus and delish dips along with chips and crackers, and we were all smacking our lips. 
Cheese and crackers are definitely on my short list of snack foods to enjoy. 
That’s the hostess, Tracey, at the sink and her friends enjoyed all the food, too. 
We all went through and filled our plates with plenty of yummy food. 
A perfect girls’ night in.
Can’t get enough of those flowers, as there is nothing prettier than a pink dogwood. It was a fun evening with the girls, talking and chatting about life issues, and the food and drinks brought us all together for the night and a fun time was had by all.
Simply Cranberry Cocktail is refreshing and delicious, and I would definitely try it again. It’s gently pasteurized with no added preservatives to bring you a taste unlike other cranberry cocktails you may have tried. You can find both the 59oz and 13.5oz single serve carafes in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, as the beverage is kept chilled from the time it’s blended.
What is your favorite way to make a party or get-together in your home more festive? Tell me about it in the comments for a chance to win a $100 gift card.
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 5/7/2012 – 6/6/2012
Be sure to visit the Promotions & Prizes page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!
“Simply Cranberry™” is a trademark of Simply Orange Juice Company.
Beautiful flowers, cheese and crackers , sweets. Sounds perfect for a GIRLS night out party. Love being with the girls. Good conversation and lots of laughs. We need this every now and then. Thanks for the give away and congratulations on your house. Can not wait to see the end results.
The table looked so pretty. I love the pinks and whites in the flowers. Girl’s Nights are perfect for splurging on the good stuff like cheese and dips. I like to have good food so maybe everyone doesn’t notice my lack of decorations!
Tweeted:
https://twitter.com/#!/Krystle_CTF/status/199850737696649217
My favorite way to make things more festive is good food, wine, and flowers.
I love Simply products … especially their Raspberry Lemonade. Can’t wait to try the Cranberry Cocktail.
I like to have a fun “signature” drink for the evening. I usually try to have it match a theme for the season.
I need a nice pretty house, then if you have good friends whatever you have is perfect.
I agree with the candles! Every room should have at least one, and they should be complimenting scents. I also will go to local thrift stores to find things that “match” my theme!
I use our fancy glasses to make everyday dinners more special. Our little girl loves drinking her milk out of a fancy glass.
I once belonged to a smallish group of girls that included a lot of gardeners. We would trade off having the get togethers at each other’s house and each hostess would be responsible for having a garden themed doorprise to be given away at the end. Often the gift was incorporated in the table decor, but sometimes it was a surprise in a gift bag. While getting the prize was nice, I think that all of us enjoyed keeping our eyes out for the perfect something to give when it was our turn to be hostess.
You can’t go wrong with fresh flowers, candles and some soft background music!
I like involving multiple senses. Fresh cut flowers for a visual appeal and baking something shortly before guests arrive–bread, cookies, cake, whatever! It fills the house with such a homey smell. =)
The decorations look so pretty. And the spread looked amazing!
Your party looked like fun! The photos are beautiful of the decorations and flowers. I always like fresh flowers and pretty decor to set the mood. The cranberry juice looks good, too! Don’t know about you, but I”ll be a “girl” when I’m a senior citizen, if I’m fortunate enough to live that long!
My favorite way to make a party or get together more festive is to add fresh flowers. I grow a lot of flowers that can be cut and brought in in the spring and summer so it is pretty easy to do then.
Loved the “Girls In” party idea! I like to use a variety of colors to make a party festive…everything from colorful food, fruit kabobs and unique serving dishes…to a show stopper dessert and fabulous finger foods. Fresh greenery and flowers (+ seasonal items) are always a plus combined with good friends, good drinks and conversation and you have a good recipe for a successful get together!
I love to have friends over, and I try to make it special by making food and drinks that they wouldn’t ordinarily make at home for themselves. I also set a nice table with some flowers (from the yard, usually.) It always shows that you care and that you’re happy to be together. I’ll definitely check out that cranberry juice!
I like to fresh flowers set on the table where all the food is and also I put little bunches all around so people can see them up close when they are eating or talking etc. I think it is a perfect conversation starter. Your party looked so lovely.
I love to have fresh seasonal flowers displayed and candles burning to welcome friends! Baking my bread and desserts completely from scratch also brings a lot of enjoyment to the get together.
I think fresh flowers, slightly scented candles, and good food are the way to go for a party! Thanks for the chance!
I think keeping things simple and semi homemade make for a festive event and not a harried hostess.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to host a dinner party for a writer friend of ours that was in town for a speaking engagement. I filled three large clear glass container with limes and used white flowers from my snowball bush to fill the top of the three containers. The table linens were bright white and it was such a pretty, elegant and simple table to do. I used clear glass candle holders with white taper candles. I repeated the same in a smaller version for the other tables. The compliments are still coming in and I didn’t have to buy a thing except the limes.
Great giveaway once again dear Rhoda!
Mary L
I LOVE that blue glass float! What a beautifully spring table!
My grandmother always served a small glass of juice with Sunday dinner: either her homemade tomato juice ~ or ~ cranberry juice with a small scoop of lime sherbert. Try it sometime, it looks very festive!