I was so fortunate and excited to be a part of a special invite-only Holiday Sparkle Party here in town this past weekend (at the very fabulous Vault Lounge), for a tasting of Missouri sparkling wines paired with specialty cupcakes prepared by the pastry chef at Bleu.
You might think it an easy task to eat, drink and rate desserts and sparkling beverages. But it’s not. I had to eat tons of cupcakes and drink lots of wine. It was grueling WORK, but someone had to do it. Who am I kidding!? It was amazing fun and a great event to meet other local bloggers and Twitter’ers. Is that the plural?
Now about those cupcakes…
The cupcakes in the last picture are actually a dark chocolate with chocolate ganache and BACON bark. Not normally a fan of bacon, I had a bite and although it tasted fine, the thought of bacon in a dessert was a little too much for me, I would have preferred a salted toffee or caramel instead. When is the weird bacon craze going to be over?
Our hosts, Kate from Capturing Como and Danene from Missouri Wine Girl.
No event would be complete without swag and boy did we ever get swag. A bag filled with tons of goodies including Patric Chocolate and Les Bourgeois Brut, samples from Makes Scents and many other treats and guess what!? I got an extra one for ONE LUCKY READER!
That’s right! Finally, our first giveaway! If you couldn’t make it to the event, you still have a shot to win your very own swag bag. It is stuffed to the gills full of not only the goodies I listed above but many more and the giveaway starts….right…NOW!
Here are the Details:
TO ENTER: Leave a comment with the word SPARKLE in it and tell me…How do you make your holidays SPARKLE?
GIVEAWAY ENDS: Tuesday, December 21st at 9:00PM CST
PRIZE SHIPS: In USA only.
TO WIN I NEED: A valid email address to reach you!
LEGAL STUFF: One entry per email address is allowed. Winners will be selected using a random number generator and announced Wednesday, December 22 before 12:00 PM CST.
Good Luck!
How do I make my holidays SPARKLE? I guess in lots of ways, we always put up all our sparkly vintage ornaments, lots of sparkling twinkle lights on the trees and banisters, even sparkly sugar on the oliebollen we make every Christmas morning.
(I wish I could have made it to the Sparkle Party! Sounds like it was a blast!)
Our Christmas, it glistens, both morning and night;
it sparkles with ornaments, and twinkling fairy lights.
It radiates the warm glow of wine goblets, filled to the brim;
and shimmers and sparkles on candies and cakes, sugar-trimmed!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
My son makes the holidays SPARKLE, with his unemcumbered excitement about everything Christmas — lights, presents, decorations, snow, food — oh, and his insistence on putting red and green shiny sprinkles on everything we’ve made lately!! 🙂
I make my holidays sparkle by spending it with family and friends and sharing stories from the past year and years past.
Our holidays with Sparkle even more this year with the addition of our first grandchild, Savannah Rose. We can’t wait to experience the holidays through her eyes.
What a fun giveaway!! My adorable nieces and nephews are what make Christmas sparkle. There’s nothing like the excitement that children bring to make Christmas seem so very special.
We make our holidays SPARKLE by traveling to see our families. Every year we drive to either Illinois or New York from our home in Texas. Since we live far away, we don’t see our families very often, so the chance to visit and celebrate with them is really precious.
I make the holidays SPARKLE at my home by putting up lots of SPARKLING christmas light on the outside of the house and the inside. The kids also love to make homeade ornaments that SPARKLE by using heaps of glitter. BUT the biggest SPARKLE of all comes from the kids eyes on christmas morning!!
Lots of SPARKLE here in MN: Glittered branches and doily snowflakes bring the snow indoors. Made sparkling sangria, yum. Will have to try some Missouri bubbly at New Years! Merry Christmas!
I make the holidays SPARKLE by adding glitter to nearly every holiday decoration I own and making plenty of cookies to put anyone in a diabetic coma. Getting SPARKLEy things for Christmas also helps make the holidays SPARKLE. 🙂
I make my holidays sparkle by spending with friends and family, and eating lots and lots of FOOD! 🙂
I make my holidays SPARKLE by wearing clothing with sequins to parties! Oh, and eating as much delicious food as possible.
gdblogger1 at gmail dot com
I try to make my days sparkle by making every moment worthwhile!
I usually start the holidays the day after Halloween when I inevitably douse myself with glitter at every chance I get while unwrapping the nine millionth glittery snowflake ornament. Needless to say I SPARKLE pretty much every day I go to work, you know, because of all that glitter floating around. I usually have a run-in with some Christmas-y Lush product that’s a bit heavy on the glitz as well. Tis the season.
I’m making my holidays SPARKLE by having a nice dinner soirée with all my friends and exchanging food and recipes. We are trying to keep things mainly vegan and vegetarian as well this time around. Also, I get to go to NYC for a bowl game with my college, so I’m super excited for this once in a lifetime experience! It’ll definitely make my holidays sparkle!
Stars in the winter sky SPARKLE. The icy cold night with some snow left SPARKLES. Christmas itself SPARKLES with the light and glory of our Lord’s birth. And our grandson brings SPARKLE to our lives this Christmas season as always. Watching the SPARKLE in his eyes and face will be my present!
What a fun event! We make our holidays sparkle with lights and ornaments on our tree!
I make the holidays SPARKLE by giving to those who are in need more than I. This is the second year I have adopted a family and it feels great. Everyone can do so by hitting up their local Salvation Army.
Happy Holidays To ALL!
Mandy
iamthemandy.com
I make the holidays SPARKLE by enjoying time with family and putting up SPARKLY Christmas lights!