{entertaining tips for a girls night in with Sauza Tequila}

Remember that little sneak peek I gave last week of my trip to New York to shoot a fun video with four other fabulous bloggers?  Well I'm back today to show the final video the team at Glam & Sauza put together starring Hallie, Ali, Mel, Devon & yours truly.  The video is inspired by a fun girls night in showcasing the new ready to serve Sparkling Margaritas by Sauza (a classic cocktail made into a sparkling version?!? count. me. in!)  Plus read on past the video as I share some of my favorite tips on entertaining for a girls night in!!

I just love watching that video! We had so much fun making it that I wish I could go to that fabulous beach house every weekend.  I wish I could say the five of us single-handedly made all the dishes and decor, but while we were laughing (and drinking) there was a huge team behind us making everything look gorgeous (including some very talented food stylists!).  While you might not have a glam team behind you next girls night, you can still put together a beautiful evening with some of my tips for a quick, easy, and girly entertaining set up....

{I like to scoop up cute wrapping paper whenever I come across it (most of these are from Home Goods!)- its great to have on hand for last minute gifts, but it can also double as a fun tablecloth or runner! I store all my gift wrap in this vase from Target}

{the same goes for dinner/cocktail napkins- whenever I see a fun design, I make sure to buy it. I can always find something fabulous at Home Goods or Ikea}

{Although I love to whip some mini appetizers (usually inspired by this pinterest board), I also make sure to keep our freezer stocked with tasty and quick frozen apps.  While fresh dishes are always preferred, if you keep a good selection of bites in your freezer you will always be ready for impromptu guests or a great spread of food when you are short on time!}

{One of my go-to simple desserts are these cheesecake bites (seen previously here), using a regular frozen cheesecake, a few raspberries & fun appetizer picks this dessert looks like it took all day to assemble when really it takes only a couple minutes.  The instructions on the frozen cheesecake will probably tell you to let it thaw in the fridge for a couple hours, but I prefer to let it thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes then cut it into the bite sized cubes while it is still slightly frozen as it makes it easier to cut.  After you have the cubes, simply let them thaw at room temperature for about another hour then pop a raspberry one top of each one secured with a wood appetizer pick}

{Who doesn't love pita chips and tasty hummus?!?! I like to fancy this classic snack spread up a bit, by placing the pita chips in a vintage pedestal bowl and transferring the hummus from its store bought container into a simple rectangular bowl}

{the best part about the Sauza Sparkling Maragritas is that they are all ready to go out of the bottle! No prep or mixing needed, but that doesnt mean you can jazz them up just a bit more with fresh garnishes like mint sprigs or lime/lemon wedges!}

{I love to display fresh garnishes in vintage cocktails coupes (like at this party) and allow guests to serve themselves as they desire}

{peach mango garnished with fresh lemons, wild berry with raspberries & original margarita with mint and a lime wheel}

{this simple spread does takes some planning ahead of time, but you can have almost all these ingredients on hand in your fridge or freezer so that your next girls night in takes minimal prep time on your part- which leaves you with more time to pick out a fun outfit and spend time with your friends!}

Sauza® Sparkling Margarita is our brand new, ready-to-serve sparkling margarita. It's available

in three delicious flavors: Original Lime, Mango Peach and Wild Berry. Now you can add a little 

more sparkle to your ladies' night. Connect and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Sauza® via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed 

herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Sauza®.

{oscar viewing party snapshots}

{simple serve yourself bar set up}

This past Sunday we hosted our first ever Oscar Viewing party and it was a blast (see the inspiration board here). We did a little re-arranging of our living room furniture to make for optimal viewing for our 12 guests, set-up a simple serve yourself bar and served a trio of fancy tacos for dinner.  Some parties that we host allow me the time to really take a lot of great photos for the blog, but other times I get too caught up spending time with our guests that I forget to take photos so I just have these few snapshots from the evening:

 {we made two batches of make ahead cocktails using these guidelines and I placed out a few 

bottles of champagne along with a selection of liqueurs and bitters for people to play with}

 {oscar ballots I made myself and oscar bingo printed from here}

 {a selection of popcorn: one is the classic Garrett's popcorn Chicago mix, the other 

was brought by Heather and it is a chocolate, sea salt and chile flake mix}

   {I wanted to make some extra special and since it was the Oscars, 

caviar seemed like the best way to go!}

{champagne & desserts birthday party}

This past Friday, we celebrated my friend Heather's birthday with a little champagne & desserts themed party at my place!  You can see the original inspiration board for the party right here.  I absolutely loved how this party turned out.  Just a few champagne cocktail recipes and a sprinkling of desserts mixed with pink and sparkly decorations created the perfect setting to ring in a fabulous birthday.  Here are some snapshots from the party and later this week I'll give you all the details on the champagne cocktail set up plus some freeeee printables!

 {desserts set up}

 {the gold sequin tablecloth that keeps on giving- originally from the sequins & bowties party}

 {one of my favorite wedding registry gifts- gold flatware from here}

 {gold & ivory tissue poms from BHLDN & the DIY glitter letter banner}

 {champagne cocktail set up}

 {pomegranate seeds for champagne cocktails in a vintage cocktail coupe}

 {the cutest bow tie bottle stopper from BHLDN}

 {snickerdoodle cupcakes- one of my favorite box-mix recipes}

 {festive jelly beans}

 {white chocolate dipped oreos with birthday sprinkles}

 {classic cheesecake cut into two-bite portions and topped with a fresh raspberry}

 {key lime tarts cut into bite size portions}

{the birthday girl!}

{engagement party: jeff+ katie}

{the newly engaged couple- get Katie's cute dress here!}

Jeff and Katie are some of our closest friends and as soon as they got engaged, a few of their close friends along with Chris and I started brainstorming ideas for an engagement party.  Jeff and Katie are a very fun and light-hearted couple.  They love to have a good time and we knew they would want their engagement party to have a relaxed and fun vibe.  After Kay and I choose some general inspiration, we went to work on all the little details for their celebration while Chris worked out the food and drink.

 {floral arrangements by Chelsea of Hello Gem}

 {paper drink flags for the whiskey punch}

 {the drink set up for the evening in addition to the normal wine and beer selections was centered around champagne and a big batch of Gold Rush Whiskey Punch which was based off of this cocktail recipe}

 {to keep with the fun vibe of the party, we created a DIY slider bar for the guests to snack on throughout the evening. We hired Stephanie Ha to cook up sliders and veggie sliders to be garnished by the guests from an array of different toppings and garnishes.}

{We created the large slider bar menu with some Jeff & Katie inspired menu suggestions such as "The Deloitte Burger" named for the work place the two met during a college internship. Those who needed a little inspiration for their burger could reference the suggestions on the board.  Some of the favorite toppings of the night turned out to be (unsurprisingly) the bacon, truffle aioli, and sauteed mushrooms.}

 {my slider topped with avocado & truffle aioli for the win}

{dessert table set up adorned with festive confetti system}

 {how adorable are the cookies on the left provided by the bride-to-be's mother!?! 

snickerdoodle cupcakes on the right were made following this recipe.}

 {by far the most fun part of this party was the temporary tattoo set up!  Since both Jeff & Katie's last names start with a C, I thought it would be hilarious to design a little play on the classic Chanel logo along with their upcoming wedding month to be used as a temporary tattoo for guests to indulge in.  Kay & I were able to print these directly onto temporary tattoo paper and then cut them out for the guests to apply.}

{a few of the guests showing off their temp tats!}

I absolutely loved this party- engagement parties are quickly becoming my new favorite reason for celebration.  I cannot wait for Jeff & Katie's big day next year and this party was a fabulous way to kick off the array of wedding related activities that are to come in the next year. 

{sequins & bow ties party recap}

The weekend before last, we hosted our "sequins & bow ties" themed going away party.  I absolutely loved this theme from the very beginning and was so excited to see what our friends would wear.  Who doesnt want an excuse to break out some sequins?!?!  We started this party later in the evening and served all our favorite party snacks like our burnt habanero crema salsa and sausage bites (both of which are always picked clean by the night's end) along with some new additions like a gourmet popcorn spread.  For drinks, we kept it simple with everyone's favorite whiskey punch recipe and various champagne cocktail supplies along with the usual selections of wine and beer.

In lieu of a photobooth, we picked up 10 packs of Fuji Instax film and let all of guests capture the night as well as display the shots on our kitchen chalkboard.  Nothing can really replace a photobooth in my heart, but this set up came really close especially since guests could check out all the snapshots up on the board as the night progressed.

Although I did not take as many photos as I normally do since I was trying to spend time saying our goodbyes, I was able to capture some of the little details from the party including all the party food and decor to share with you along with some instagram shots near the bottom...

{champagne cocktail supplies}

{glitzy bar set up}

{simple snacks sprinkled around the loft}

{all the savory party staples: burnt habanero crema, bacon wrapped dates & sausage bites}

{gourment popcorn bar including parmesan seaweed popcorn, funfetti popcorn & sriracha

 lime popcorn (the hands down favorite of the evening)}

{red velvet whoopie pies- same ones we served at our housewarming party for the loft so it seemed fitting to pick them up for our going away bash}

{so much sparkle!}

{some of the guests' instagram shots}

{all the instax shots from the evening}

{easy and inexpensive decor for the deck: alternating metallic gold and white fringe drape}

This party was an amazing send off and a great way to get in some quality time with our closest friends while forcing them to dress up!  We are truly lucky to have had the new and old friends we were surrounded with in our 4 years in LA and I can't wait to see what Chicago holds for us!