Something Blue

Today we have a special treat. Let's welcome Guest Blogger, Mrs. V, a Midwest Maven from Madison, WI. A wife and mother herself, Mrs. V is here to share all the blue details of her adorable Sip-and-See... Mrs. V-- take it away!

Hello! First, I must send my most sincere thanks to The Mrs. for allowing me to pose as a guest writer for “Life as a Wife.” I am an avid reader and one of her biggest fans! Secondly, my apologies for the tardiness of this post, as my sip and see was almost one month ago.

I was extremely excited to be able to bring the sip and see concept to the Midwest as not one of my girlfriends (and fellow wives) had ever heard of it before and the birth of Baby Nicholas was the perfect occasion. Luckily, I had help from Between the Sheets, Co., who quickly designed my invitation and from there, the planning began.

We decided to honor the “Sip” part of the sip and see and hold the event over the cocktail hour. Beverage choices included Blue Moon Beer and a Blue Lagoon cocktail (Martini Glass: ½ shot vodka, ½ shot Blue Curacao, topped with lemonade and a cherry) along with a non alcoholic choice of lemonade.

For decoration, I decided to stay simple and adorn the house trim with blue balloons,

and an arrangement of flowers was also added to the porch table.

Guests were encouraged to sip right away as they were greeted with Blue Moons at the door.

On to the inside of the house. A fellow wife, Mrs. S, shared with me a darling idea of how to spruce up a fireplace, using diapers and a fun, blue patterned paper. Easy peasy!

Additional centerpieces included a blue patterned runner from one of my favorite little kitchen stores, Times Remembered, in Pella, IA,

and a simple bouquet of white roses:

The last, and perhaps most important detail, was the menu!

Sticking to the theme, as any good hostess would do, I served items that could be described as blue, mini or baby, including:

--A beautifully arranged vegetable tray, complete with fresh asparagus, yellow, red and green peppers, baby carrots and blue cheese dip

--Blue tortilla chips and yummy Salsa Lisa salsa

--Mini spirals with spinach, cheese, ham and turkey

--Blue ribbon pecan pie bites

--Lemon cookies with blue sprinkles

--Assorted mini cheesecakes

**A special thanks to my lovely friends, Mrs. E. and Mrs. D for helping with the fare provided during the event!

I was also thrilled to use an idea from Real Simple, which re-purposed paint samples into name cards.

Lastly, to honor Baby Nicholas’ Mama, Mrs. E., who has a deep Dutch heritage, I threw in an exquisite, authentic Dutch Gouda made right here in the United States. You can visit http://www.frisianfarms.com/ to learn more about this dynamic duo of Dutch brothers from, Pella, IA. For one last touch of Dutch, and to clear everyone’s palate, Mrs. E. and guests were treated to a tin of Wilhelmina Peppermints.

Again, thank you so much to The Mrs. for allowing me to write about my very first sip and see. Almost everyone who was invited commented on the concept and said they themselves would one day like to host a sip and see. I do believe I may have started a trend here in the Midwest! Until next time…

On behalf of Life as a Wife, thank you, Mrs. V!*

*Editor's encore: Let's get another close-up of Mrs. V's fab patio:

love it :)