Bunco!!!!

Last April I started playing Bunco with great group of ladies. We take turns each month hosting Bunco night. I got to host the wonderful month of December. Now at first you might ask, are you crazy to host with a month that is so busy with holiday preparations, and the answer to that is yes, yes I am. But then again, after 10 years in the service industry, a crazy December is kind of like second nature to me. Now, when hosting, you always want to make sure you have a great variety of treats and drinks for the other ladies to get the night started off right.

I set up a little cocoa bar to help warm everyone up. I had regular hot chocolate and a white chocolate cocoa, along with chocolate dipped peppermint stirrers and Peppermint Schnapps for those who wanted their cocoa with a little extra something.

I made Cranberry Barbeque Meatballs and a yummy Cherry Butter Braid (sold by my daughter's school at fundraising time).

I also had some sugar snowflake cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms (my favorite) and Orange Cherry Tea Cookies.

For dips and spreads I made a Cranberry, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Spread (you can kind of see it in the picture there on the left) A warm Artichoke and Spinach dip, Amaretto dip and fresh made Salsa (thanks to my Mother in law). For my friends dipping pleasure I had Snowflake Ritz, Apple Slices and Tostitos.

Here's a closer look at my cookie selection.

And of course, it wouldn't be one of my parties without cake pops. Accompanying the cake pops are Mint Oreo Cookie Pops. This was my first time ever making them. They were pretty easy and I ended up hand painting on the faces with food coloring because my food coloring markers weren't working on the white chocolate.