How to make edible bird's nests

For a recent baby shower a cohost and my vice president of ideas, Angie, came up with the idea to make edible bird's nests filled with candy eggs as the party favor. The theme of the shower came from the bedding the mom-to-be had chosen.

Edible birds nests filled with pastel eggs were the perfect take away to go along with the theme! Upon googling, we found a fabulous recipe from Martha Stewart, of course!

This is what we learned, however. Shredded phyllo is not the same as phyllo that you find at the grocery store. Don't buy 4 packages of it! I found the shredded phyllo at Mediterranean Grocery on Park in Memphis. I bought 4 packages because I didn't read the amount on the recipe before I went. It really would have only taken one 16 oz package to make 30 nests.

The most important note is that it does not take 15-20 minutes! The first batch came out like charcoal. The second batch we did for 10 minutes and those were still a little crispy on the edges. Another tip is to not spread out the phyllo so much. The first batch we practically separated each strand and then put it in the muffin tins. After a couple of tries we figured out that wadding it up more than spreading it out, made better nests.

After letting the nests cool we added Cadbury mini eggs (the greatest candy EVER). We were lucky to be having the shower close to Easter so that we had lots of eggs/candy options! If you are having it at another time of the year, you can use Jordan almonds.

After the eggs were in the nests we carefully slipped them into cellophane bags. This is why the more compact instead of feathered out nests are better because when you try to put the feathered out ones in the bags, a lot of the nest breaks off.

Tie the bag closed and there you have it! The cutest shower favor ever:
Now I am not going to lie. These were hard to make. Once we got the hang of it, it was ok, but it took us several attempts to get it right. However, I highly recommend this project. Like childbirth, you soon forget how hard it was and are interested in trying it again! I also recommend making them at the location they need to be on the day of the shower! We made them at my house and transported them to the shower location. Once all put together they are bulky and delicate, so transportation is a little cumbersome.

The best thing is that this project was very inexpensive (if you calculate the actual cost of materials for the finished product and not the money we spent on the wrong phyllo and too many tubes of Cadbury mini eggs because someone couldn't just find a bag in the entire Northwest AR area!)

Here's the breakdown of the expenses:

1 16 oz package of shredded phyllo $3
1 bag Cadbury mini eggs $3
Cellophane bags $2.70
ribbon $1

So for an actual cost of less than $10 we were able to make 30 super cute party favors that matched the theme like nothing else could!

Party idea: 16 in the city!

For my niece's 16th birthday she did not really know what she wanted to do but knew that she wanted to rent a limo. And, not just any limo, a zebra print Hummer limo. So, that is where we started! What goes with a zebra print limo? At first we were thinking zebra and hot pink for the party theme, but then, since they were going to be riding around Memphis (the city), we thought 16 in the city! would be cute.

What says 16 in the city! like a shimmering silver background with a 3D cityscape invitation? Nothing, except coordinating hot pink herringbone and teal lined envelopes. With the invitations and envelopes created we took our color scheme from there.

The first hour of the party was going to be drinks and sweets at my house. We went with mostly chocolate treats including a chocolate fountain.The chocolate fountain was purchased from Amazon and is great for small parties/events. To dip we had marshmallows, bananas, pretzels, strawberries, vanilla cookies and Rice Crispy treats. Because of dirty drips and for added flair, the table was "clothed" with black herringbone wrapping paper. Wrapping paper is a great alternative to a table cloth for narrow tables because you can find so many different patterns to match your theme. The plates from Target matched the theme perfectly and were paired with solid teal napkins. We even found toothpicks on Amazon that matched the theme!

The second treat table featured black and white Capote mini cupcakes from Muddy's Bake Shop, black and white cake rolls, a veggie tray (not really themed, but we had to have something to cut the sweet) and a candy dish with pink and white M&Ms, black Twizzlers and multi-colored Jelly Belly jelly beans. The highlight of the table had to be the chocolate covered strawberries served on black and white herringbone playing cards. Playing cards were perfect serving pieces for the strawberries because they easily hardened after dipping but did not stick. Also, they were $.50 at Michael's, so really we had to use them for something!

The decorations were mostly Christmas decorations displayed with black curly ribbon. Because I had all of the decorations, there was no expense. The focal point of the decorations is the chandelier over the food table. Nothing says 16 in the city! like a borderline gaudy chandelier. The only thing purchased was the lamp shades. They came from Home Decor Outlet in West Memphis for $4 each. My sister hand painted them to have them look zebra print.

The drinks station was in the kitchen and featured 2 "mixed" drinks for the gals to drink in hot pink martini glasses. We chose pina coladas and blue margaritas to match the theme. The martini glasses were from Party City but can also be found here. Water and soft drinks were served in a teal drink tub from Target.

Throughout the party we confettied the food, drink and gift tables with mirrored glass disks. They looked really funky reflecting off the ceiling in the dim lighting and were a great deal for just $6.99 at Oriental Trading.

Finally after the first hour of mingling it was time for the real party to start. The limo arrived and the girls all posed.The limo came from Sterling Limos out of Southaven.

Once loaded up, the girls headed to Huey's for more snacks and alittle game of dare. Huey's was chosen because we knew it would still be crowded and would have a wide range of people eating. Any restaurant or bar (or older participants) would work. The way the game was played is each girl drew a dare out of a bag. The dares were typed up to match the theme and presented in a hot pink bag, of course. As you can see the dares ranged from "Have a stranger sing Happy Birthday to Lennon" to "Ask a stranger for a french fry." The girls who did their dare wrote their name on the back of the dare and put it back in the bag. Those entries would later be chosen for the prize at the end of the night.

At the end of the night the limo took each girl back to her house where Lennon presented them with a thank you CD which had also been playing at the house and in the limo. I always have a playlist for the party just because it sets the mood and are so much fun to do. The natural next step from a playlist is to burn the CD for your guests. It is an easy, inexpensive favor to give that the guests will love! Of course, the party girl wanted to be on the cover and chose all of the songs. Blank CDs and pink and teal jewel cases came from Walmart. To wrap, we simply tied with hot pink grosgrain ribbon bow.

At the end of the night 16 in the city! was a big hit. Thanks to my co-planner, my sister Jennifer who is a pretty good party planner and decorator herself!