Part of the fun of celebrating the holidays is getting together with family and friends, and what better way to enjoy that time together then over a holiday cocktail (or two). Mixing up a new recipe can put some ‘cheer’ into your evening!
1.) Ask an expert to mix your drinks
When hiring a professional isn’t an option, the Bibo Barmaid is the next best thing. I have been using the Bibo for the last couple of months and I love how simple it is! Similar to a Keurig the Bibo makes perfect single serve cocktails every time.
Insert one of the fix mixer flavors and place a glass with ice under the spout. The Bibo will mix the appropriate amount of water and you just have to pour in the corresponding alcohol to finish the drink. For holiday parties that means you spend more time mingling with guests and less time mixing up drinks in the kitchen!
Find the Bibo Barmaid
Bibo Barmaid | Cocktail Mix Pack
2.) Drop all the preservatives
Many mixers are full of preservatives and chemicals that make them anything but natural. Sister’s Sauce isn’t! I personally am allergic to MSG and most Bloody Mary mixers are full of MSG meaning an immediate headache, and not from drinking too many bloody mary’s. Completely free of gluten, additives or high-fructose corn syrup, Sister’s Sauce is perfect for people with any combination of food allergies.
I mixed mine up with tito’s vodka and added a couple of garlic stuffed olives to top it off. Fresh flavors including lemon, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire and horseradish make a sisters sauce Bloody Mary the rival of any bartender mixed cocktail. For holiday brunch, Sister’s is an amazing addition to the table.
Find Sister’s Sauce
3.) Pick the best brands
When you aren’t using a mixer the best drinks come from the best brands and for whiskey it’s even more important to pick the highest quality for your party. An Alabama style whiskey, serve Clyde May’s over whiskey stone to ensure the best flavor. With slight apple cinnamon flavor, Clyde Mays is ideal for the holiday season. Amazing by itself, add a shot to hot apple cider and you’ll have the perfect holiday beverage to enjoy all season long.
Find Clyde May’s
4.) Enlist some local help
If you are lucky enough to be local to Colorado, you definitely need check out the Eggnog collaboration between Dry Land Distillers and Longmont Dairy. There are two kinds of people in the world, people who love eggnog, and people who are simply wrong. If anyone says they don’t like eggnog, it’s probably more because they haven’t experienced the right eggnog yet.
All together in an easy to assemble holiday basket, the kit from Dry Land includes everything you need to mix up an unforgettable eggnog recipe that will change the opinions of even the most adamant eggnog hater. Each kit serves of to 15 guests and must be picked up at the distillery during the month.
Find Dry Land Distillers
471 Main Street, Unit B (In the Back), downtown Longmont, Colorado
5.) Add a taste of Colorado to your Holiday Drinks
One of my favorite things about living in Colorado is being able to head up to the mountains for a quick getaway. Marble Distilling Co.’s award-winning spirits let’s you bring a bit of the mountains home with you. With tasting rooms in the Grand Hyatt Aspen or Carbondale at the Distillery Inn, you can taste cocktails made in person and then order your favorites online for home.
Find Marble Distilling Co.
Over the last year I’ve joined a handful of Police Wife groups on Facebook and thanks to the amazing ladies and their sleuthing skills I’ve rounded up some of the my favorite picks gifts for Police Wives this season. If you’re a lady reading this, just leave this post up on your husband’s computer desktop so he knows exactly what you want this Christmas!
Luca + Danni
I love wearing bracelets but have very small wrists and have trouble keeping bracelets on. When I came across Luca + Danni I was excited to learn that all of their bracelets come in two sizes, specifically to help provide a better fit for women with petite wrists.
These bracelets are so much fun to personalize and fit together in stacks. I loved putting together a Police Wife set that is perfect to wear for visits to the department, pinning ceremonies, or just to show your support of law enforcement throughout the week.
Saint Michael is the patron saint of police both this bangle and the police bangle came with beautiful little prayer cards to remind you of the meaning behind each piece.
God bless our Police Officers
Keep them safe day and night.
Give them strength and courage
to enforce all that is right.
Luca + Dani jewelry is all handcrafted, making each piece slightly unique from each other. The metals are lead free, meaning there is no need to worry about little ones playing with them, and its safe for your skin. The pearl beads are Swarovski Crystals, ensuring that the color won’t fade over time as you wear them.
Shop Luca + Danni
Police Bangle | Saint Michael | Embrace the Journey | Blue Pearls | Black Pearls
Adorned and Worn Badge Gear
I’ve always been a fan of supporting small business during the holiday season and I love that Adorned and Worn Badge Gear is a LEOW owned small business. I originally came across Adorned and Worn on Instagram and I love seeing all the fun customizations available with her products. There are a couple of companies that make amazing shirts but no one else is doing this kind of customization. It really makes Adorned and Worn a unique shop to pick out gifts from!
This is the softest shirt. After working all week and wearing business professional clothing the first thing I want to do over the weekend is get into my most comfortable clothing. This t-shirt is officially my new favorite! With long sleeves to cut out the chill its perfect for the winter months keeping your arms covered and warm all season long.
I talked a bit about the customization options and this distressed hat is a great example of how personalized you can make your gifts. Choose from five different badge shapes and include your husband’s badge number to make a hat that is uniquely your own.
For coffee lovers, you can show your support of the thin blue line with a customized coffee cozy. Each crochet sleeve is handmade to order and can be personalized with either a badge number or left blank.
Planning to do all your shopping on Black Friday? Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY to receive free shipping on your order.
Important note: The deadline for ordering apparel and receiving it by the holidays is November 26th. Accessories can be ordered up until December 6th.
Shop Adorned and Worn Badge Gear
I’ve Got His Six T-Shirt | Customized Badge Hat | Coffee Cozy
Erin Condren
Juggling a law enforcement schedule is a full time job. Between rotating 12’s, extra duty and trainings, I need to write everything down to remember where my husband is and when I need to know he won’t be able to attend family gatherings over the holidays.
For Police Wives, Erin Condren’s LifePlanner is a lifesaver. Each planner comes with full year of both monthly and daily breakdowns to keep track of everything going on in your life.
One of my favorite things about Erin Condren products is that while they do planners like no one else on earth, they also have a ton of amazing stationary accessories to make staying organized super easy. The sticky note tabs and to do list divider snap right into the coils of my LifePlanner so I can keep all the tools I need close at hand. I’m a huge fan of using colorful pens when I write which means I have a ton of pens to keep track of. This leather carryall clutch fits all my pens and is so soft to touch. I can toss it into my work bag or purse and keep everything I need to stay organized close at hand.
As much as I wish I had beautiful handwriting and could create my own bullet journal, it’s just not going to happen. Each planner has a sticker set right in the back or you can order additional stickers to make creating beautiful weekly layout’s so easy.
When Drew first started in Law Enforcement I would pack his lunch before he went on shift. Now our schedules don’t line up for that to happen all the time but when I can, I like putting together a meal for him to enjoy. These compliment cards are an awesome addition to a homemade meal. Each has a blank space on the back allowing you to write a personal note and let your officer know you are thinking of them throughout the day.
Shop Erin Condren
LifePlanner | Planner Stickers | Compliment Cards | Highlighter Pack | Metallic Quote Clutch
CrockPot
When I’m making dinner for just myself, the last thing I want to do is spend hours in the kitchen. Starting dinner the CrockPot before I head to work in the morning means all I have to do it open it up and serve at the end of the day. I usually make big portions so leftovers can go be turned into lunches that Drew can take with him to work.
There are a couple of features of this specific CrockPot that made me choose it instead of one of the more standard models. This is the Single Hand Cook and Carry CrockPot, which means I just need to lock the lid down and I can carry it where ever I want with just one hand. With a law enforcement work schedule if I’m headed to a party or potluck the odds that I’m going by myself is high and keeping a hand free to carry other things is always a bonus.
The timer allows me to start a meal in the morning and leave it on high for a certain amount of time. Meals that cook quickly will automatically switch over to warm so nothing burns. Curious about what kinds of CrockPot meals I like to cook? You can check our some of my favorites in my CrockPot Recipe section.
Shop CrockPot
Interested in other Police Wife Life posts? Check out my pick for best blackout shades for night workers!
Disclaimer: I received product samples to help facilitate the creation of this guide. All thoughts, opinions and writing are my own.
When planning a baby shower, pinterest will quickly lead you down a rabbit whole of inspiration for decorations. My aunt and I both collected up a few of our favorite ideas and worked with the entire family to bring them to life. I’ve talked about the amazing food and floral arrangements from Safeway over the last couple of days and today I wanted to share how all the woodland baby shower decor came together.
My cousin decided not to find out the gender of her baby till they are born which meant everything at the shower would be be gender neutral and a woodland theme was the perfect inspiration for creating a backdrop that could be perfect for celebrating both a little girl or a little boy.
In this photo you can see a few of the DIY projects that we’ll dive into including the gift table teepee, woodland candle luminaries and the wooden cutout forest. We also put together a woodland onsie station where guest could decorate their own onesies for the mom-to-be.
DIY Woodland Luminaries
I came across a tutorial on how to make luminaries for the holidays and thought this might be a fun project to try as a part of the decorations for the cake table. This was such an easy and fun DIY to work on. First I purchased a bundle of woodland animals from the Silhouette studio and cut out a set that would fit the various recycled jars I had rounded up. Next I applied the cut vinyl to the jars and spray panted the color on. It was really just that easy.
The lesson I learned with this project is that real candles do make the jars to hot. For safety I recommend you use battery operated lights instead of the ones I used, all of these were blown out immediately after taking these photos.
Tabletop Teepee Decoration
I am obsessed with how adorable teepees for kids are. For the gift table there was no reason to make a full size, functional teepee but having one with a bit of height created a space for the little bear to sit. To make this teepee I used 3 yards of fabric, 3 large wooden dowels, and 2 yards of cord. I cut the cord in half and used half the cord to hold the dowels in a teepee shape. Next we took the fabric and draped it around the frame, again tying the top off with the cord. Clothing pins folded the fabric doors back inside.
This wasn’t the most sturdy or functional teepee but it worked perfectly for the decorations!
Wooden Shower Cut Outs
My aunt is an amazing wood artist and she made both the trees for the gift table and a stork with a darling baby hedgehog for the entrance of the house. The hedgehog was taken directly off the shower invitation design and I can’t get over how sweet his little face turned out.
Woodland Shower Guest Book
This was another incredibly easy project to put together. The art itself is a quote printed by Office Max on 16×18″ card stock and the stamps and stamp pads came from Joanne Fabric. You could do this with virtually any quote and make a custom piece of artwork to hang in a nursery.
Onesie Decorating Station
Decorating onesies for the new baby is a fun project for everyone to work on and makes the perfect shower gift after the party is done. We used heat transfer vinyl and cut out a variety of woodland patterns for guests to choose from. We set up an iron and a stack of onesies and everyone was able to personalize their design during the party.
Other Woodland Shower Goodies
I didn’t make either of these two last items but they are both so adorable that I needed to share them!
My cousins mother in law made this adorable little guy out of cheese, olives, and nuts. He was just so sweet it was almost hard to cut into the guy!
I’m obsessed with banners right now and this beauty was made by a gal right here in Denver. This is the second banner I’ve ordered from her and I am always in love with the quality and uniqueness. These guys are each about 10 inches tall and cut from heavy card stock. You can find more designs like this on Let’s Get Stamping.
This was such a fun party to put together and I can’t wait to meet my new little cousin in just few weeks! You can see the rest of the party and learn how Safeway helped bring it all together on my posts about Safeway’s easy catering trays and Safeway’s Floral Arrangements.
Virtual baby showers are a great way to get together family and friends no matter their location. Check out these ideas for virtual party games and get planning today!
I’ve always been a huge fan of the quote ‘I’d rather have flowers on my table than diamonds on my neck’. When we started brainstorming what we wanted to do for my cousin Jeannie’s baby shower, I knew we needed some beautiful floral arrangements to pull the look and woodland theme of the party together.
For me personally, the month of October was chaos. I worked on five different recipe segments for Channel 2 and I’ve been wildly prepping holiday posts and other recipes. As much as I love DIY and making a ton of decorations by hand (you’ll see what I did make my next post), I just couldn’t DIY another thing.
Last spring I attended an event at the Safeway headquarters were they showed us all some of the amazing things each local store can put together. I was blown away by the beautiful flowers at that event and with my crazy October schedule looming I knew that I could trust Safeway to put together some beautiful arrangements for the shower.
Safeway has an amazing team of in-house floral designers and you can go into any store to order custom arrangements. When I was in high school even remember working with the floral designer (ironically at the SAME store these came from) to design a special boutonniere for my prom date.
For Jeannie’s baby shower, I talked with the Safeway’s floral designer and shared a bit of our vision for the party decorations. With a woodland theme we would be using rustic colors like cream, brown and greens throughout the rest of the room.
I absolutely love the vases she used to put these together. The bark coated vases brought in the woodland shower theme perfectly and helped us pull the decor throughout the party together.
All of the flowers were stunning and smelled amazing. Each arrangement contained a similar set of flowers including hydrangeas, roses, daisy’s and deconstructed sunflowers. The sunflowers were a particularly creative way to pull brown colors into the display. To obtain that look the floral designer actually removed the yellow colored petals so only the brown center of the flower remained. It created such a beautiful and fun display.
I love how easy it was to order these arrangements and was so impressed with how everything came out. Not only were they beautiful the day of the shower but they stayed beautiful for nearly two weeks after.
More party highlights are coming your way throughout the week! Looking for other party planning tips? Check out my review of Safeway’s Catering Tray’s that we used to make this party completely stress-free!
This post was sponsored by Safeway. Safeway provided catering samples and floral arrangements to inspire this post.
Welcome to My Bliss
