THE PENGUIN BOWL

Who doesn't love a good Super Bowl party, and all of the delicious snacks? I know I'm looking forward to it! But you can only have so many chips and dips at one party. If you want to bring something that has the ability to take the attention away from the game, try making up a football team's worth of these little guys.

All you need are a few carrots (peeled and sliced), small black olives, extra large black olives, cream cheese and toothpicks (the flat, thin kind work the best, since you may have to break a piece off).

• Cut a slice down the middle of the extra large olive and stuff with cream cheese
• Cut a small triangle out of the carrot slice, and stuff in the small olive to make the beak
• Piece the parts together (as shown) and secure with a toothpick

GLUE ON THE CLASS

This past weekend we celebrated my dear friend's engagement by hosting a party for her and her groom. The budget was limited, so we decided to supplement a nice case of wine with some cheaper selections. Well, not just cheaper, the cheapest there is. I am a huge fan of Trader Joe's "Two-Buck-Chuck" (although it's actually $2.99 on the East Coast). For an inexpensive wine, it is pretty tasty. I picked up a case before heading back to NY, but wanted to dress Charles Shaw up for the party. 

The party had a  had a vintage travel theme, centered around the quote "Enjoy the Journey". I found a sheet of Cavallini postcard wrapping paper at the Paper Source, and decided it would make great wine labels. Easiest DIY project ever - simply cut squares from the paper (to match the label size), used a black marker to write the variety in cursive, and glued it over the original label.

They looked great displayed on the bar table, and fit in with the theme!