Wine Club! Formerly Known as Book Club!

We got the band back together again and re-booted our book club from last year to Wine Club! Because, come on, that’s all we did anyway was drink wine, eat food and catch up! So, let’s just call a spade a spade.

I got to kick off the first one and wanted to have everyone over to my place for a fall themed wine club! I packed the place with various sweets, treats and eats…and of course wine! As the host, I always like to have a favor for the guests to take home. I found these adorable wine charms that would be perfect for the favor! I then made little (ok not so little) chocolate suckers. Here are the molds I used. I then just melted chocolate bars down. I used Lindt for these. I did chocolate with chili and white chocolate. I did make a couple “sparkling rose” versions. White chocolate with champagne extract and pop rocks!! Remember those…yes, I am old! 🙂 Any who, they were an easy, cute and functional favor for the girls!

On to the decorations and food…

I just bought this ice-mold from Crate and Barrel. It’s the entertainer”s dream.  You can decorate with whatever you want! For this event, I went with a fall theme of apples, cinnamon sticks and rosemary for contrasting colors.  I love you ice-mold…too soon. 😉

As I always do the day before one of my events, is stage the table and set up where I want everything to go. I used my dining table for the drinks table and flickering candles for a warm glow.

Of course I had to serve my Apple Cider Sangria as the signature drink at Wine Club…duh. I also just had to make apple cider everything. So I made mini apple cider baked donuts! This is the recipe I used. Then just because it’s so darn cute, I garnished the glasses with a little donut skewer!

More donut skewers…I like the sound of that!

And just one more shot! I couldn’t resist!

I also made full sized donuts, because why not, who’s going to say no to that! But I did, and you guessed it, caramel apple cider glaze with maple!  Oh yeah and an injection of Apple Brandy!! You can get these little shot injectors from amazon here. They can go into so many things!

More sweets. Stop judging me, I have a sweet tooth and they are adorable! Super easy party treat. A marshmallow, sucker stick, caramel and chocolate candy coating.  And, because you need to balance out all that sweet, a sprinkle of sea salt.

The sweet table! My little mountain of mini donuts!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes I shared last week, only miniature. Are you sensing a theme here??

Addition of salted caramel macarons…I bought these…I mean, I can get a lot done in a day, but I am not a magician!  Sometimes, picking up a pre-made item for your party is just what you need to make your life a bit easier.

Candy or snacks that your guests can grab and go are a must.  I found this seasonal Maple Trail Mix at Target.  It’s delicious and fits in with my theme perfectly!

Here we go, some of the savory snacks!  These are the best and easy-peasy.  Dates stuffed with almond ricotta, I use Kite Hill, I love it.  Then wrapped in prosciutto, baked at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes and finished with a drizzle of honey! Sooo good!

Avocado toast, another quick and easy party app. I just used three avocados, salt, pepper, garlic, lime and mashed it up. Leave it chunky though. Those chunks of avocado are the best! I topped mine with pickled onions and radishes with a sprinkle of black Hawaiian sea salt! Yum!

A meat and cheeseboard is a must. Yes, that’s right a must! It is not a party without one. So just do it!

And it wouldn’t be a fall Wine Club party without beautiful fresh fall flowers! Courtesy of one of my guests! So thoughtful, thank you Heather!!

That’s a wrap! Our first book-club re-boot Wine Club complete!  I hope you will try some of these at your next Wine Club, or Book Club if you actually do read the book, or any party, because why not!

Happy Hosting Season!

Diane