Winner for Giveaway #3

Congratulations to Janet - she won our giveaway for the book How to Break An Egg - 1,453 Kitchen Tips, Food Fixes, Emergency Substitutions, and Handy Techniques. And since Janet is a dear friend, I'm warning her now that I will be reading through her book before I give it to her!

As our Birthday month comes to a close, I would like to thank each one of you, not only for your participation in our giveaways and your birthday wishes, but for reading this blog on a weekly basis. While "life" has happened lately to make postings a little more sparse, I promise more recipes and entertaining ideas to come this spring and summer!

Winners for Giveaway #2

We have our winners for Giveaway #2! Random.org picked comment numbers 10 and 11. Congratulations to Ashley of Ashley's Modern Ideas and Susie of Hillcrest Acres! I will be in contact with you soon for your mailing addresses!

To those of you who didn't win this week, be sure to check out Giveaway #3 for a fantastic book every Hostess needs!

What Kind of Hostess Are You and FTH Giveaway #3

All Hostesses are different.

I am the kind to prepare a menu far in advance, have candles lit around the house, music playing to complement the party theme, and wine flowing before guests arrive. The bathroom is cleaner than it has been all month, and anything that I didn't have time to properly put away has been stashed into the few closets even nosy guests won't peek. And if it isn't ready by the time guests arrive, I take a sip of wine, put on my best face, and say "forget it!", and continue on with the party as planned. The guests will never know I didn't have time to make that last amazing dessert.

Apparently, according to this fun quiz from the guru herself, Martha Stewart,

What Kind of Hostess Are You?

the correct terminology for what I am is a "Hostess Inspired By Martha". I should have guessed... I am always striving for her party perfection. What kind of Hostess are you? Take the quiz to find out!

And for our FTH Giveaway #3, click here to see what EVERY kind of Hostess needs on hand for any event!

Technical Problems

Hi Friends!

I'm embarrassed!!! There were some technical problems with our comments section for Giveaway #2. I received e-mails from people who couldn't enter properly, so we will be extending the deadline until Friday night to make it fair for all. And we have TWO prizes to give away, so the more entries, the better!

I will still post Giveaway #3 tomorrow, so if you couldn't enter for Giveaway #2, check back tomorrow and be sure to enter both!

Two Of My Favorite Words...

DISCOUNT WINE.

As most of you have seen, there have been online retailers popping up weekly selling designer goods at deeply discounted prices. It was only a matter of time until the wine world caught on.

The Winery Insider features new wines every 24-72 hours, and what I like most about them is that they offer 3 reasonable price points. This week they offer a 2006 Rubicon Estate Captain's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $29 (usually $48), a 2004 Chateau Bolaire Bordeaux for $12.99 (usually $25), and a 2008 Schug Sauvignon Blanc for $9.99 (usually $19). For each wine they also give you a review, tasting notes, and information about the winery itself. While the shipping is a little high for a single bottle or two, buy a case (12 wines- they can be mixed!) and get the entire case shipped to your door for just $10! A great deal for your next party or event.

Click here to sign up for e-mails and offerings from the Winery Insider.

Hostess Gifts & Our Second Giveaway

There is always a dinner party that you feel obligated to bring something to, but the Hostess insists she has everything. These are a few cute ideas for some inexpensive gifts (about the same price as a bottle of wine) to bring for your gracious hostess:

Food Snob Place Cards $14.00
Having some foodies over for dinner? Call them out on their food fetishes with these place cards. Pack of 8 includes library-like definitions of some basic and exotic foods, which ultimately will get the dinner conversation going!

Hot Mama Dishtowel $10.95
Let the cook know that she is Hot Stuff! This fun dishtowel will have her laughing, and provide her with a much needed tool to clean up those kitchen messes!




Kitchen Sticky Notes $12.95
An awesome book that includes note pads for a Menu, To Do List, and Shopping List, as well as tons of beautiful flags to mark your favorite recipes in cook books.


Micro S'mores 2 sets for $19.95
Perfect for the cook with a sweet tooth! No fire needed here... just pop the ingredients into this microwave safe contraption, cook for 10 seconds, and you have a perfect S'more. What's even better, you get two sets for $19.95... one for her, and one for you!


Giveaway #2
These PERFECT Hostess Gifts are the prizes this week for TWO lucky readers during our month-long Birthday celebration. Click here to find out what they are, and how you can win!

We have a winner!

Congrats to Beatriz as our first giveaway winner!!! The winner was chosen using Random.org. I tried to copy and paste the entire results box here, but the luck of the Irish was not with me tonight.... this is the best I could do:

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 8 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

To all those, like me, who were unlucky this week, we have 3 more fabulous giveaways coming up. A new one will be posted tomorrow, so come back to enter again!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top 'O The Mornin' To Ya! It is on this great, green day we celebrate everything Irish. Here are a few good links for everything you need for a St. Patty's Day celebration:

How to Make a Black and Tan

Shepherd's Pie

Irish Stew

Soda Bread

Irish Coffee

Hopefully the luck of the Irish will be with you as our first Giveaway comes to a close at 8:00PM tonight. We will announce a winner and a new giveaway tomorrow! Click here to enter.

Good Luck!

The Hostess Eats Out!

Have you ever had a friend come into town and want catch up over dinner? You think quickly about how messy your house is from leaving in a hurry this morning, and how the only things in your fridge are leftovers, because you were planning on going to the grocery store tonight after work. Most of the time you are the Hostess with the mostest - but not today. Eek!

Well to save time and face, you have to GO OUT TO EAT. Where you ask? There are great websites designed to help you narrow down your choices in a flash. The first is a website called Open Table. Open Table brings up some of the best restaurants in you area that take reservations. From your desk at work, you can make reservations for a number of people at a specific time, and it will send you a confirmation via e-mail. It also rates the restaurants based on user reviews, including Best Service, Special Occasion, Best Ambiance, or most Notable Wine List (my fave), if you are having trouble deciding. You can still look like the Hostess with the mostess when you meet your friend at the packed restaurant, and they not only have your reservation, but your table is waiting.

Another fabulous website is Restaurant.com. They offer gift certificates to local restaurants for a discounted fee. So for example, you are going to the new Italian hot spot, go to Restaurant.com for a gift certificate worth $25 for only $10. Before you purchase, they tell you the minimums that must be spent when using the certificate... for example, most $25 certificates are valid on a check of $35 or more (excluding alcohol). They e-mail you the certificate within minutes of purchasing it online, so you can print it and use it the same day (or hour!).

What is great is that they often offer specials of 80% off the price of their certificates, and TODAY if you use the promo code BITE, you can get a $25 certificate for $2. That's a savings of $23!!! So if you do the math right, on a $35 check, you will only pay $2 (for $25 certificate) and $10 for the difference.... a meal for two people worth $35, all for $12!!!

You can still be the savvy Hostess, even when eating out. It just takes 5 minutes on your computer, and you will have reservations and savings at your fingertips. And your friend never has to know your secret!

FTH Giveaway #1

Hooray for our first Forever the Hostess giveaway! I am super excited about this one, only because there are so many possibilities that anyone can use.

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment at the end of the post (click COMMENTS) and I will use Random.com to pick a random winner at the end of the day next Wednesday, March 17th (after St. Patty's Day celebrations). Is the luck of the Irish with you?

Click here to be directed to our fabulous giveaway.

Forever The Hostess Turns 1!

One year ago today, I started this blog as a way to share a recipe with friends. I found that posting it online would be easier to reference it time and time again, and for me to share more recipes and party ideas along the way.

While there have been some slow months with fewer posts, I have done 90 posts prior to this one in a year, which is almost 2 a week. My resolution for the next year is to do at least that many, full of new party ideas, recipes, and even other websites and blogs to help you plan any great event.

And with any birthday, there are always presents. As a thanks to my readers, starting this week, every week until the end of the month, we will have GIVEAWAYS of some awesome gifts. Specifics for the giveaways and how to win will be in a later post. So check back every day for new ideas and chances to be a part of our birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday!

Lucky You!

St. Patrick's Day is two weeks from today, and that means party planning needs to kick into high gear! One of my favorite blogs, TomKat Studio, has graciously shared some adorable printables, that can be used for anything from cupcake toppers, place cards, favor tags, invitations, buttons ... anything you want! Print them on heavy card stock at home. You can leave them square or make them into rounds, using every day scissors or a round punch. For this perfect party starter, go here to download, and be sure to check out all the adorable designs from TomKat Studios!