All. The. Things. : Happy Hearts Day! "The" Valentine's Day Blog!

Welcome to my Official Valentine's Day Blog! In this post I will fill you in on the process I go through to prepare for a holiday! As I mentioned the other day, I prepared a list of ideas last Friday. I also told you that I was fortunate enough to receive a lot of display dishes as wedding gifts so I have a variety of things to choose from when displaying food! Here is a step by step list of what to do to make planning a tablescape fun and easy!

Step 1: Make a list of things you WANT to do. Ideas that you have seen online or in a magazine make a great place to start! Even if you may not be able to accomplish all of those things THIS time, it is good to have a Wish List! (Another neat trick is keep a file of all your lists from the past so you can look back! Maybe if you aren't able to do something this time you can keep it on the list for the next time around!) Your ideas can be as simple as wanting to add a centerpiece to spruce up your table or as complex as making your own table runner, napkins & matching place cards.

Step 2: After you make your list, you can go through your decor, craft supplies, serving pieces and your pantry and decide what is an option for THIS time! You can always get on Pinterest or Google for ideas if you don't know where to start. I have a 'Holiday Ideas for the Future' Pin Board for just that reason! It is always smart to have a list of what you WANT and what you CAN HAVE when planning!

Step 3: I would say step three is set a budget. Once you know what you are willing to spend then you can move forward with your plan. I will be honest, I am not a budget girl and it gets me in trouble. I cannot tell you what your budget should be because it depends on the type of event you are planning for! For everyone that is not me, once you decide what you are willing to spend, if anything, on extra decorations, details and food, you can move on! For this particular V-Day table I only spent money on Flowers and food things. I did not need to purchase any new serving pieces or anything. Also, since I cannot enjoy the Champagne and Ryan doesn't really like it, I did not purchase a bottle. I instead grabbed a bottle of wine from our wine cooler and used that instead!

Step 4: Plan your menu. Decide what you type of event you are going to have. A sit down Dinner, just "Sips and Sweets" or appetizers/snacks. Then at that time, locate your recipes and plan your grocery list. Make sure when you are going through your pantry and fridge to read all your recipes to make sure you have enough of each ingredient. That should be obvious but I have been that girl that has gone back to the store twice or three times before being able to complete a menu because I did not have enough chicken broth or powdered sugar!

Step 5: This is the fun part for me…getting out your decor and serving pieces! Now you know what you are going to serve and you know what the theme of your event or party is, so now you can figure out how you want to display your creations! I love going through my buffet and my cabinets and seeing all my serving pieces and getting ideas of what I can use for what food item. For this particular Valentine's Day, I am just setting up a table to photograph for my blog and to display the Sweet Treats that I am making with some friends to send with Ryan to work on Friday for his co-workers. (We are actually going out this year so no dinner menu here!) I have set the table as if we were having a romantic VDay Meal so I could take pictures for the blog!

Step 6: Get ahead of yourself! Buy anything you plan to purchase that is nonperishable early in the week of the event. I am baked cupcakes and brownies for Ryan's co-workers so I picked up my icing, sprinkles, cupcake liners and baking mixes on Monday. I also made chocolate covered strawberries but I waited until Thursday to buy the berries so they didn't get soggy! I sat down early and made my place cards as well. I had blank tags from Christmas and VDay stamps from last year so that did not cost me anything. I got out my silk flowers and my table runner and fabric and ironed those in advance. I went ahead and purchased the live flowers I used for the table on Tuesday instead of waiting. Normally I would wait until the day before to purchase flowers! (Hint: When using real flowers always trim the stem at an angle underneath running water!) I like to buy flowers at SAM's Club because they tend to be less expensive for more flowers and prettier flowers. I bought two bunches for less than $25.00 total broke them up and made 3 arrangements!

Step 7: Prepare your food! Start your day early. I woke up on Thursday morning and started baking. I used disposable heart shaped baking dishes for the brownies and normal cupcake liners for the funfetti cupcakes! I always stock up on Pillsbury brand pink Icing around VDay! Target stocks it every year and I ALWAYS buy it! Funfetti cupcakes + Pink Icing + heart shaped sprinkles = the BEST VDAY treat! I bought my strawberries and dunked them in Almond Bark to make the chocolate covered strawberries. It has taken me years to figure out what type of chocolate to buy for dunking but finally figured out Almond Bark works the best. I decided that since I had some adorable Coca Cola glasses that were favors from a friends wedding, I would used some cute straws I have to make mini Root Beer Floats! I am obsessed with the trendy paper straws so I have a lot in almost every color. I waited until the last minute to make these though so that the ice cream didn't melt all over the place!

This is where I get to feature some treats that my good friend Jennifer prepared! She sent me a photo and some recipes for her treats! Photos and links are attached below! Sadly the link for the Chocolate Cake Mix Cookie Link is broken but I will try and get the recipe for you!

Isn't she talented! I just want to jump into the computer and gobble up these VDay Treats!

Pioneer Woman Valentine's Cookies Valentine Pretzel Buttons

Step 8: While things are baking or cooling you can use this time to set the table. If you have pulled out all your serving pieces in advance then you should have very minimal work. I first laid the table runners down, then placed the chargers, plates, glasses and napkins. Then I prepared my floral arrangements. One for the Table, One for the champagne tray and one for the buffet in the back ground with all the extra VDay treats! After all your treats have cooled and been decorated then you can place them on their appropriate serving dishes and photograph your table. Again, I used the App Typic+ to label some of my photos like Jennifer did!

Step 9: ENJOY!!! At this time you can wait for your Sweetheart to arrive for your Special Valentine's Day! (One last tip-chill your wine or champagne all day and place in the champagne bucket with ice at the last minute!)