"MMM... Mimosa Mondays" - Mimosa Bar How to and Shopping List

If you read about the vintage children's book Sip 'n See at kojodesigns, you might've got the "I'm in love with Mimosa Bar" vibe. It's true. I am.

Among the many, many fabulous Mimosa Bar features, "SO EASY" tops the list! You could add this to any brunch you're putting together- from a casual get together to a baby shower or Sip 'n See.





And to make things just a wee bit easier on you, I thought I'd put together a Mimosa Bar How To, complete with every thing you'll need to make your own Mimosa Bar (even a shopping list).





DIY Mimosa Bar wares-


-one ice bucket (mine is rather large- all five bottles of bubbley fit in there) with ice


-three or four glass dishes for fruit (we used the rectangular ones from Ikea)


-three or four glass juice bottles (again, Ikea)


-juice labels


-glasses (one per guest)





Optional- an ornate frame and a "Mimosas" pennant (I just freehanded mine on coordinating paper)


Optional- other decor (bunting, pom poms, etc.)









DIY Mimosa Bar shopping list


-champagne


-sparkling cider


-orange juice (you could make homemade, or Simply Orange works great)


-grapefruit juice (same)


-raspberry lemonade concentrate


-two pints strawberries


-1/2 lb. rhubarb


-raspberries, blueberries, blackberries (for mix ins)


-pineapple (for mix ins)


-ice





To do the night before-


-Make all juice (strawberry lemonade, strawberry rhubarb juice, etc.-all of our recipes will be posted later this month during "Mmm... Mimosa Mondays"- watch for them!)


-Pour all juice into glass bottles and keep refrigerated


-Label all juice bottles (we tied these on the night before and kept them on the bottles in the fridge overnight and they were fine- no warping)


-Chill champagne and sparkling cider


-Set out ice bucket (without ice) and glasses


-Hang your "Mimosas" sign, frame, pom poms, bunting and other decor





To do the morning of-


-Fill all the glass dishes with fruit and set out


-Fill the ice bucket with ice


-Set out the juice, champagne, and sparkling cider





Funny story- I kept making myself little tiny 'mini-mosas' (just a sip or two in size) so that I could try more of the variations. I loved the Spring Break Mimosa (with berry lemonade) and the Ruby June (with rhubarb strawberry juice)! Even better, the Sparkling Peach made for all sorts of great combinations- I liked it even better than the champagne.





Have you seen this Mimosa Bar craze? Have you tried it out? Do you love brunch like we do? Any thoughts on other juices or mix-in additions to this Bar Of Brunch-y Goodness (seriously- pass those ideas along- I WILL be doing another one of these!)?

H2O Bar

We have another party suggestion for you. (Hopefully you're not on overload yet).

 But this one really is a great example of why we started this blog:

We're about taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary,

 and let's face it, it doesn't get more ordinary than water.

But why not get creative with it?

How about adding a few things to customize the flavor of your water?

And how about setting up fun glasses to it drink out of?

And what about adding festive straws to SIP from?

...Throw in a little signage...

Then what happens?

Your boring pitcher of water

becomes a colorful buffet of "create your own" awesome-ness.

What a great add on to your thanksgiving feast this Thursday, don't you think?

We used sliced lemons, limes, and cucumbers.

Can you think of other customizable options could you put out?

(We love hearing your suggestions!)

The "Recommended by YOU" Bar at our Sips Launch Party

Saturday was our Sips Etc Launch Party!

To say it was fun would be quite the understatement.

Kirstin and I had such a good time planning and decorating and creating, and TheAdams would probably admit they had fun coming up with their contributions too.

You can see more details about it here, but I can tell you that it included lots of fun Sips- a Latte Bar, a Pumpkin Chai Martini (with a twist), an H2O Bar, and homemade cider.

And of course we had some great Bites- delicious dips, and fried pickles, and all kinds of red and white sweet treats like red velvet whoopie pies, red velvet cupcakes, Red Vines, and an assortment of other red and white candy.

Lots of these things will show up as tutorials in the coming weeks, but today we wanted to highlight one of our favorite features: the "Recommended by YOU" bar.

The invites requested that each guest (or couple) bring their favorite drink to share. It could vary anywhere between your favorite beer or wine (Moscato was Kirstin's recommendation), to your favorite flavor of Izzes (Grapefruit? Pomegranate? That's a tough one), or even Diet Coke (my recommendation). Katie even brought hot apple cider. In a percolator. That's dedication!

To prep for the bar, Kirstin made a "Recommended by YOU" sign so guests knew exactly where to put their drinks.

She also made little tags that said "Recommended by" with a space for the guest to write their name so everyone knew who brought what.

 

Guests tied their label to their drink with a color coordinated ribbon so that everyone's recommendations were clear. And of course, we had several Sharpies on hand for proper labeling!

Not only did it look great (if we can say so ourselves), but it was fun to try people's favorite drinks, and made for a great conversation piece.

Throwing parties this holiday season? 

Might we suggest that you add a "Recommended by YOU" bar to your party plan?