Thinking of throwing your own party?  Style at Home as a great feature on creating a high/low wine and cheese party…check it out here.

1. Gather your ingredients: caramels, apples, candy sticks, chocolate and toppings

2. Melt the caramels in a pan, and dip your apples once it is the right consistancy

3. Place your dipped apples on a piece of wax paper and let harden

4. Melt your chocolate and mix in a teaspoon of vegetable oil to make it shiny, dip the bottom half of your apples

5. Immediately dip your apple into the topping of your choice, and then let dry

Suggested toppings:

toffee crunch, mini m & m’s, chocolate chips, “turtle” toppings, nuts

Fried Green Tomatoes with Goat Cheese and Tomato Jam

6 hard green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick

Kosher salt and black pepper

Freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 cups Japanese panko bread crumbs

Vegetable oil, for frying

Tomato Jam (see recipe epicurious.com)

¼ pound goat cheese

Slice the tomatoes into ¼” slices. Season with salt and pepper. Pre- heat oven to 200°. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, the buttermilk in another and the flour and cornmeal (stirred together) in a third bowl. Take a slice of tomato, coat in flour (shaking off an excess), dip in the buttermilk, then coat with the breadcrumb/cornmeal mixture.  Place on a plate and repeat the breading steps with the rest of the tomato slices. Heat ¾” of oil in a skillet to 350°.  Cook tomatoes on each side until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spoon, place on the baking sheet. Keep in the oven until all the tomatoes have been fried. Top with a piece of goat cheese and a dollop of tomato jam.

Read on for some serious eye candy, and all of the details as told by Christi, herself…..

For my birthday this year, I decided to celebrate with a close group of girlfriends.  I wanted the theme to be unique and one that people looked forward to.  I decided on a flower arranging party!  Many times, my husband will bring home flowers for me from the store and I haven’t the slightest idea how to arrange them. I know other ladies feel the same way! I asked my good friend, Elizabeth Munger, who happens to  be an amazing interior designer who often arranges stunning flowers for her clients, to come teach us simple steps and tricks.

Gray is such a popular color right now, looks fabulous with just about every other color out there.  I went with the color scheme of emerald green and gray and loved how everything turned out.  Kelly Lyden of The PartyDress and WH Hostess always does a phenomenal job with her designs.  I told her my color scheme and that I wanted to incorporate a chevron pattern and she ran with it.  Kelly designed all of the paper goods for the party, from the invitation to the food tent cards, to the favor tags and all of the signage.

After the flower arranging fun, we moved to my dining room where each girl was served champagne and had a small cake all to herself!  My favorite local bakery made individual two tiered cakes for my friends and I could not have been more pleased with how they turned out.  Kelly now offers a service where you can order fabric to match any of her designs!  I  ordered fabric in the gray and emerald green chevron print and had a friend turn them into napkins for the table.  The napkins really made the table pop!

I created a macaroni and cheese station with lots of toppings options.  Who doesn’t love comfort food with a creative flair?! The toppings included favorites such as sun dried tomatoes, chives, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, truffle oil, and many more!  A Skinnygirl Margarita is my drink of choice, so naturally, this was the signature drink I served.  Kelly created the cutest sign for the beverage area along with white straws with flags in all of the patterns we used throughout the party.

Desserts were served on my coffee table which was near the flower arranging area. Serving the sweets there brought people out of the kitchen and into the living room so we could begin.  On the dessert menu was cookies, meringue, small donuts and rice crispy treats.

Elizabeth did such a great job teaching us how to take store bought flowers and turn them into a beautiful arrangement that could last for days!  On the way out the door, the girls took home the arrangements they made along with one more sweet.  They had the choice to take home cake pops in strawberry or s’mores flavors. We had such fun with this unique theme and I am so happy I branched out and invited friends over for a fun night in!

Photography by Ellenzilla

The start of football season is always a reason to gather friends together for a little rah-rah party.  Ahhh…the good ole’ days of tailgating collegiate style!  Well, why not throw your very own tailgate party at home?  We have come up with ideas to set the play in motion: Pick a color from one of your favorite teams or simply make up a color scheme that you like!  We chose licorice red and chocolate brown which seemed appropriate with the start of fall and the fun-filled football season.

You don’t have to go overboard with team paraphernalia to throw great themed party.  We focused more on the tailgate theme with our printable party collection and played up the menu and sweets around a casual football element. Burlap fabric paired with a traditional gingham was used to dress the tables.  We “scored” 2 spring form cake pans and a candlestick at Goodwill that were easily transformed into a two-tiered party tray DIY project.  A great alternative to its pricier counterparts seen at a local retailer.  This was used to hold peanuts and cornbread muffins iced with honey-butter to resemble cupcakes.  Other items on the menu included chili with toppings, hot wings, and beer cheese with crackers.

We served up some super easy dessert recipes along with familiar finds such as Turtle Chex Mix and Twizzlers. To wash it all down? Nothing fancy here….ice cold brewsky and classic root beer beverages completed this fourth and down.