We celebrated our housewarming this weekend with a lovely marshmallow roast & red wine toast. It was a fabulous evening and we felt incredibly blessed by our new community of friends.
Roast & Toast would be a great party inspiration for any celebration- A summer backyard bonfire for graduation perhaps or an evening roast & toast to celebrate a new engagement. S’mores will certainly sweeten anything in life that you are given to toast to this year.
(Throughout this week I will be posting a handful of custom printable projects and easy DIY items for you to recreate this Roast & Toast theme)
It’s all in the details:
We sent out matchbook invitations, including a few matches along with the party information to set the roasting theme.
A gourmet s’more bar was set up near the fire with easy access to all the roasting supplies and extra goodies.
To roast we prepared homemade s’mores using Martha’s recipe. They turned out so very gooey and scrumptious, although fifteen minutes with the hand mixer had me quite envious for a Kitchenaid.
Our bar was complete with berry fruit toppings to accentuate the s’more taste. It was agreed by all of our guests that bananas were the most superior tasting fruit when combined with the chocolaty s’more goodness.
The bar was also outfitted with an array of spices to heighten the natural s’more sweetness, sea salt lent an especially exotic flavor.
We had a boat of s’more pops ready to be eaten. Made with store bought marshmallows, melted chocolate and ground up graham crackers, these “lollipops” stuck on skewer sticks were a quick fix for those not willing to wait for roasting.
Standing tall in the back were 3 different s’more trees. With marshmallow flowers, real chocolate molded leaves and teddy grams standing in for dirt, they brought a hint of nature to our indoor fire.
We set up the dessert bar beside our dutch door which brought in that cool San Diego air as the fire heated up our living room. Next to the tree you will see a vase of mini s’mores that were out for the snacking- mini marshmallow, chocolate chips and more teddy grahams gave a tiny foretaste for the bigger s’mores to come. Our guests were also welcomed throughout the home with my favorite easy to make tiny circular welcome banners.
Above the table floated our s’more poof. I made one using these poof instructions. This was of the simplest and most economical decoration I have ever put together. Just a few pieces of tissue paper combined to form this s’more in the sky.
We set everything up right along the fireplace wall so there would be ample ability to roast (We used wire hangers that are easy to unwind) and plenty sitting space to enjoy each others company.
Above the fireplace there is homemade bunting that touts the words of our theme, Roast & Toast. This no-sew bunting was a great way to add a bit of rustic texture to our party. It is a mixture of burlap and silk fabric remnants, strung together and glued on tight. The letters are stenciled and spray painted giving it a very rustic, ready to roast above the fire look. I just love how this theme combined the elements of the rawness of a roast with the smoothness of wine making everything seem somewhat magical.
For non-toasting drinks we served ice cold milk in mugs dipped in chocolate and graham crust.
We also had plenty of coffee on hand with marshmallow stir sticks. To make- simply thread a few mini marshmallows onto a toothpick.
As an extra lovely detail, we etched in the word toast with cinnamon on all of our wine glasses.
Also as a part of our toast each wine bottle was labeled with a word we are currently thankful for. As we opened the bottles it gave us a wonderful reminder of what we were toasting together.
Our guests went home with these favors, homemade marshmallow houses attached to a wire hanger that they can twist out later to roast these treats in their own home.
We roasted and chatted and toasted the evening away. A lovely celebration of our new home and the new adventures we have begun.
blessings.
