AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Archive for April, 2011

Graduation is an exciting time for both the graduate and his or her family. If you are throwing a graduation party and want to announce your child’s accomplishments to your friends and extended family, you’ll want to know how to word your announcements and invitations.

Here are some guidelines to get you started.

First, you’ll want to use as few words as possible. Graduation announcements and other formal invitations are usually short snippets of information written in a lovely font.

They are designed to be printed on attractive paper, usually on one side of a card. So, you want to contain your words to only what is necessary.

Clearly convey the name of the graduate, being sure to use their formal name and that it is spelled correctly. Then tell the degree they’ve earned, the school they graduated from, and the date and time of the party.

If you don't want anyone to bring graduation gifts, be sure to say so. However many graduates appreciate the chance to start off with a few necessities and money gifts. Here is an example of graduation invitation wording you could use:

This wording is short and sweet and to the point. You will now want to select a printer. You can find many wonderful printers online who will turn your cards around and deliver them quickly. Select a site that specializes in invitations so that you know you’re getting quality. Ask for samples in the mail first if you’re at all unsure of the printing quality.

Online printers are now vying for business, so they will have some great deals. You can often get your invitations printed in full color for less than blank invitations, that you’d have to hand write, would cost.

Select a theme for your invitation that suits the party’s style. Going for a formal dinner? Go with a formal paper and font. Having a beach party? Then it’s perfectly fine to send an invitation with umbrellas and flip flops on it. Choose a casual font. And be sure to ask everyone to bring their bathing suits if there will be swimming.

Your invitations should be a breeze to create online. You select the colors, paper and quantity and they arrive in your mailbox days later. Just be sure to order in enough time so that you won’t be fretting about if they will arrive in time to send out for the party. Give guests as much notice as possible, as more than one graduation party is usually going on during this very busy season.

Check with your graduate, of course, to see what type of party they’d like. Often, you can mesh two different styles together to create a party that the graduates, as well as the parents can enjoy. You might consider serving catered food, but make it a fun buffet where kids can come and go as they please. Have music that suits everyone’s tastes by hiring a DJ or plugging your graduate’s mp3 player into speakers. You can download songs you all like so that everyone has a great time.

Send out your invitations with the perfect wording and watch the RSVP's start coming in. It couldn’t be easier.

More on Graduation Parties:

• Congratulations Card Message Ideas
• Great Graduation Gift Ideas
• Planning an Awesome Graduation Party
• Graduation Party Favors

Very few of us ever have really fresh coffee.  For all their claims of being “good till the last drop” (to be fair to Maxwell House, this applies to nearly all commercial blends), ground coffee loses some of its best flavor after just a week.  If you think of how long your coffee has been sitting on a store shelf, and before that on a truck, you can imagine that “fresh” coffee is hard to come by.  Why not roast your own?  When you transform green coffee beans into your own fresh brew, you will finally get a chance to taste coffee at its very best.  Commercial blends can be delicious, and they are more than adequate most of the time.  If you want to serve something more special or treat yourself, roast your own coffee.

Does roasting your own coffee require a lot of specialized equipment?  Is it difficult to do?  Many people don’t even consider roasting their coffee because it seems like a complex or time-consuming process that is hard to do at home.  Coffee comes to us as aromatic grounds, but it starts as a small red fruit.  Wet processing removes the outer skin and the pulp, as well as the inner parchment skin.  Then you have the green coffee beans that will become a delicious brew.  You can order green coffee beans from any number of vendors online, and it resembles a dry bean.  It stores beautifully for a long time but when it is roasted, it comes alive with aroma and flavor.

Before the 19^th Century, people roasted their own coffee beans at home; today, it is much easier because we have the advantage of modern technology.  You can use a commercial coffee roaster, your stovetop, your oven, or even a popcorn popper.  Whatever method you use, you need to make sure that the beans can be heated to 370 - 540° F.  They must be vented because the beans produce smoke.  A good reason to invest in a coffee roaster may be because the beans have to be rotated and move constantly.  During this process, the outer skin is shed, and this can be messy.

Let’s talk about roasting coffee beans using your gas or conventional oven.  This has to be able to heat up to at least 450°F.  The benefit is that you can roast a larger quantity of beans.  The taste of oven roasted coffee tends to be rich and complex, but it is easy to create an uneven roast.

Here’s what to do:

• Go to a kitchen supply store and find a flat baking pan with a raised lip.  The pan should have very small holes spaced closely together.  You can also make your own if you are willing to sacrifice a good baking sheet.  You can drill holes about ½ inch apart; make sure the holes are small enough to prevent the beans from falling through.  You will also need a metal colander with holes small enough to prevent the beans from slipping through.
• Preheat your oven to 500 to 540°F.
• Put the green coffee beans in the pan.  Arrange the beans so they are in a single layer and close to each other in the pan.  Use enough beans to cover the surface of the pan.
• Put the pan on the middle oven rack and roast for 15 to 20 minutes.
• If you want to roast them longer, you will need to bring up the temperature.  You can smell when they are getting close to done because the odor changes from a wet grassy smell to a coffee smell.
• Once you have roasted the beans, put them into a metal colander.
• Toss the beans in the colander to remove the chaff.  This also helps the beans cool a bit faster.

Every oven is different, so your roasting time may be less or more, and you should plan on making at least a few batches to experiment.  BrewOrganic has a color chart to help you determine when your beans are done.

Having fresh coffee, real fresh coffee, is worth the time and experimentation it takes to achieve the perfect roast. Not to mention, it's perfect for those gourmet coffee gifts!

Attempting the Air Popper Method

More on Coffee:

• Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake
• Add a Unique Coffee Bar to your Reception
• Coffee Talk