TGIF!!!! All caps, all enthusiasm – trust me on this. It’s been crazy trying to get everything put back together after the pumpkin party, and then my sister’s graduation + party, and then you know, working 40 hours a week + everyday life. As an added bonus, Joe got rear-ended on his way home from work one afternoon, after I bitched and moaned to anyone who would listen about my frustration with our traffic this snowbird/school season the entire week before. Karma? Or just a perfect example of my point? I’ll let you decide, since my brain is french toast. Also, Jones broke out in a rash and I went on a perfectly neurotic research rampage trying to cure his itchy while also trying not to visit the vet for one whole month. I’m currently planning our niece’s birthday party, getting our annual Thanksgiving weekend camping trip together, and looking forward to a couple birthday sleepovers and celebrations soon. Needless to say, there isn’t a free weekend in our calendar until January. Is your life like this? Is this normal? I don’t even know. It’s all good stuff, so please don’t think I’m complaining. It’s just, hot damn!
As promised, here’s the info on creating your own popcorn bar for the next party or movie night. This was such a hit at our Pumpkin Party, and it was SO easy (other than burning myself making popcorn before-hand, but that just = battle scar!).
Non-Food Supplies:
brown paper sacks
labels for the bags with mix-ins
mini clothespins for labels (optional)
marker to label guests bags with names
scoops or spoons for mix-in bags
scoops for popcorn
large bowl for popcorn
napkins
seasonal decorations, tablecloth, etc
popcorn maker, oil & measuring cups (optional)
Food Supplies:
popped & un-popped popcorn
mix-ins we used: m & m’s, peanuts, Reece’s peanut butter cups, mini marshmallows, candy corn, cheese balls, snack mix, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, raisins
toppings we used: cinnamon, sugar, parmesan cheese, Lawry’s seasoned salt, sea salt, pepper, jalapeño, melted butter
How To Create Your Own Popcorn Bar:
- Pop some popcorn before guests arrive and store it in an air-tight container. I made three batches in our 5.5 Quart stock pot before the party, and one batch in our handy-dandy popcorn machine. Which, BTW, is really quite small. I was expecting more than a couple cups of popcorn per use out of that bad boy. It became more of a prop than anything. **this amount of popcorn was perfect for our 60 adult guests and 15 kids**
- Make your space festive with the tablecloth & decorations.
- Set out one bucket/large bowl full of popcorn that you’ll refill with the popped popcorn when supplies get low. Place a scoop inside.
- Put each mix-in in it’s own brown paper sack with a scoop and label it.
- Have a sign listing the toppings for people who get overwhelmed by too much stuff.
- Set out empty sacks with a marker nearby for guests to label their bags before they scoop.
- Sit back and watch the kids (and drunk adults) go bananas.
Had we a larger budget, we’d have used an apple picking bucket lined with linens for the popcorn bowl. Had we more time/energy to decorate, we’d have put out some of the hand-made decorations from last year, and covered the labels on our toppings with cute ones instead. Who am I kidding? When I say “we”, I absolutely mean “I”. I definitely would have hung the bunting I made before the party but forgot all about when the final countdown went down Probably would have elevated the mix-ins bags and popcorn maker a little differently too, but hey. It was all put together by the time the little guests arrived, and they could have cared less what the popcorn was in and what the table was decorated with. So in my eyes, victory! In Joe’s eyes, I could have thrown all the Popcorn Bar supplies at the kids execution style and he would have considered it a success 😉
Have you done a popcorn bar before? Share the details! We’ll definitely be doing this again, maybe even for Christmas. It just too much fun and way too easy to do it only once! Hope you guys have a great weekend! I’ll definitely check in soon with some garden plans, I swear!
