Even More Hollywood Glamour on a Shoestring Budget

Now that you have awesome wall and table decorations, you only need a few more things to complete your Hollywood event: a way to make your guests feel welcome and something to make them remember the night.

What better way to welcome your guests than to make them feel like movie stars? Lay out a red carpet and line it with adoring fans and camera toting paparazzi. Because no one wants real paparazzi crashing their party, here's a quick and easy way to bring the "fans" home.

Paparazzi Decoration

You'll Need:

• Black butcher/roll paper
• White chalk/pencil/crayon
• Scissors
• Red ribbon
• Aluminum foil
• Cereal boxes
• Glue
• A friend to help

How To Create:

1. Cut pieces of butcher paper long enough for a person to lay down on.
2. Work a friend to complete this step. You will lie down on the paper, and be traced by your friend with white chalk, crayon, or a pencil. You can be traced with your arms up in the air, like an applauding or cheering crowd, like the silhouette on right in the above image. You can also be traced with your hands behind your heads to create photographer paparazzi, like the silhouette on left.
3. After being traced, cut out your silhouettes.
4. For the silhouettes traced with hands behind their heads, the next step is to add flash bulbs. Create a stencil of a flash bulb out of an old cereal box. Draw a multi-pointed shape onto the box. The shape doesn't have to be perfect, and the flash bulbs don't all have to look alike. Cut out the shape, and cover with glue. Paste to a sheet of aluminum foil. Trim off any extra foil, or wrap extra around the back of shape. Then paste the bulb shapes onto the silhouette faces, as if the person were holding a camera and taking a picture.
5. Affix to the walls and tack a red ribbon in front of the silhouettes to create the illusion of a crowd watching your guests pass by.

You brought your guests in style, so you should send them out the same way. Here are some ideas for movie themed favors to send home with your stars.

• When I think of movies, I immediately think of popcorn. Gourmet popcorn can be expensive, sometimes starting at as much as $20.00 per container. A quick search of AllRecipes.com gave me list of gourmet popcorn options ranging from chocolate to caramel to nacho flavored popcorn. Make up a batch of your own special popcorn and package in a white paper bag for guests to munch on later.
• Personalized awards are a great favor, and can add extra entertainment to the party. Oriental Trading carries a wide selection of mini trophies that can be purchased in bulk. After purchasing the trophies, use a gold or silver paint pen to personalize the awards to your guests. During the party, present the awards in Oscar Night fashion.
• No time to make a favor? No problem. Most large retail stores like Target and Wal-mart now regularly stock movie theater candy. Purchase an assortment of candy like Junior Mints, Sour Patch Kids, Mike & Ikes and Twizzlers. Pair with a bag of microwave popcorn and $5 movie rental gift card and you have a great gift. This option will be a little more expensive than the others, but will be a big time saver.

You're all set for a great Hollywood event! From start to finish, your guests will receive the star treatment. Even better, you'll have thrown a terrific party without breaking the bank because Hollywood style doesn't have to cost a Hollywood fortune.

Tried and Tested Recipe: Sorbet Bombe

I found this recipe in the new Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine, Summer Edition. The recipe is for Sorbet Bombe, a do-it-yourself "cake" made of sorbet. It looked delicious in the magazine, so I gave it a try. This is a great recipe not only for a wedding reception but for your next summer barbecue or afternoon tea, too.

I've included the recipe here with a few notes from my own experience:

Ingredients:
Serves 8 to 12 (from one 10-cup mold)

• 3 pints peach sorbet
• 2 pints coconut sorbet
  I chose to use mango and raspberry Ciao Bella Sorbet that I found at Harris Teeter. I also used a three cup mold for my first try at this recipe. Using a three cup mold, I only needed a pint of each sorbet flavor.

Directions:

1. Soften peach sorbet by beating in a mixer bowl until smooth. Immediately spread into bottom and up sides of a 10-cup mold or bowl. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
   I don't have a hand mixer, so I used my stand mixer instead. Word to the wise, use the cover when beating the sorbet. Also beat the sorbet in small batches before transferring to the mold. The stand mixer heats the sorbet very fast and causes it to become overly melted quickly. To counter act this, I put the mold in the freezer while I beat the second batch of mango sorbet (about 10 minutes). In total, I need two batches of mango sorbet for cover the outer layer of the mold.
   
   
2. Soften coconut sorbet in mixer; pack into center of mold; smooth top of bombe. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze overnight, or up to 1 week. (To create a layered bombe, measure the amount of water your mold will hold to determine how much sorbet you will need. Spread the first layer into bottom of mold and smooth; freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Then add the next layer, freeze again, and repeat.)
   For the second layer of my bombe I used raspberry sorbet. I followed the same process as in Step 1. I found that, because I had froze the sorbet between batches when putting in the mango, I didn't need to freeze the mango layer for a full hour before adding the raspberry. About 20 minutes was all it took to harden the mango enough to add the raspberry sorbet. I also added an extra layer of mango sorbet to the very top of the mold. I wrapped mine in foil, then in a gallon size plastic zip bag to prevent freezer burn.
   
   
3. To unmold, dip mold in hot water to slightly melt outer layer. Invert onto a cake stand, and remove mold. Serve, or return to the freezer for up to 8 hours.
   
   
4. To serve, cut into slices with a knife (if necessary, dip knife in warm water for easier cutting).
   I had a hard time unmolding my bombe. The outer layer melted too much, causing the outside to look runny and not show the mold design. I needed to serve part of my sorbet to guests immediately, so I cut and plated each piece and popped each plate back in the freezer for five minutes. The plates had a little extra sorbet on them, so I wiped that off with a napkin and served. My guests loved it and never knew it was supposed to have design.
   

Image and recipe courtesy of http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/sorbet-bombe.