Thank You BERRY Much.

It's strawberry season again in our area of Myrtle Beach. And like last year, we loaded up in the car and went out to the strawberry fields to pick our own. This year we picked three stockpots full of fresh berries. That's a lot of berries. I've already canned over a dozen jars and I'm debating about doing another batch. We used the same recipe that we used last year to make this jam.

We are planning on using the jam as gifts to say, "Thank you BERRY much" to all of our friends and family who are helping our family with our move to Hong Kong. We are also using the jam as thank you gifts for our kid's teachers, whom we appreciate so much!

Strawberry Jam.

My mom has always canned produce. Fruits and vegetables. She's turned any fruit into a jam or a jelly. Guava. Strawberry. Papaya. (Looking at that list you can tell I definitely grew up in the tropics!) Today, I made strawberry jam for the first time. Throughout the whole process I would call my mom, who lives in Canada, to make sure I was on the right track. She kept using terms that were foreign to me to describe what I should be looking for. When I clearly didn't understand her terminology, she'd translate it into words I could! This was a super easy recipe that we made.

Strawberry Jam

4     Cups of sugar
2     Oranges (Zest and juice)
6     Cups of fresh strawberries (Remove the stems and cut in half)

Put an empty plate into the freezer. (You will use this later.) Dissolve sugar in a pot with zest and juice of both oranges. Make sure it doesn't boil over or burn. Add strawberries. Keep pot uncovered. Allow to boil to allow the strawberries to break down, stirring occasionally. Then let simmer for 20 minute increments. Mine actually took 60 minutes to come to the right consistency. Cook until a small amount of the juice gels on the cold plate that you put in the freezer. Another way to tell that the jam is ready if instead of one line dripping off of your spoon, two lines drip off your spoon. There's some technical term for that that my mom used! Place in your canning jars and enjoy! 

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Front Door Welcome.

 

Being the self proclaimed "branch lady", I made a welcome tree for the front door and added pinwheels and flowers made out of recycled newspaper.

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Kid Table.

There actually was not a physical table, but a picnic blanket. And on one corner of the blanket the kids had their own tea party set up. I had found a miniature ceramic strawberry tea set for four at a yard sale, and knew I had to incorporate it into the design of the party somehow.

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Sweets Table.

We had a dessert table for our Strawberry & Pinwheel party. We served strawberry shortcake in a mason jar (get the recipe here), made sugar cookies, dipped strawberries in chocolate, opened a package of Oreos and some Little Debbie cakes, strawberry flavored Whoppers, strawberry bon-bon candies, and strawberry marshmallows. I made some of the food labels using the lid of a mason jar, the rest were just made out green card-stock.

I made the backdrop of the sweets table by covering two foam boards with recycled newspaper and adding a row of pink, green, and red pinwheels.

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Cake.

We made strawberries out of fondant, cupcake liners out of recycled newspaper, and pinwheels. I also made a small cake for the birthday girl by stacking two cupcakes together.

 

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Drinks.

Our original plan was to hold the party outside, but threatening weather predictions and high humidity made us move it in. A friend gave us the picture frame and I made a pinwheel covered "E". I made custom water bottle labels using recycled newspaper and adding pinwheels and strawberries to them.

Guests drank out of green straws that I added pinwheels (made out of recycled newspaper) and garnished with a fresh strawberry. We served pink lemonade and filled our drink dispenser with strawberries.

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Food.

We served our guests brown bag lunches. Inside was a turkey and cheese sandwich that was wrapped and tied with a bow, a bag of chips, and some carrots with ranch dip. Guests drank pink lemonade from mason jars garnished with a fresh strawberry.

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.

Strawberry & Pinwheel Party - Activities.

For our two year old strawberry & pinwheel party I made the little girls floral head wreaths and ribbon wands with ribbon and flowers I picked up from the Dollar Tree. Keeping the guest list small was key to making this a successful, stress-free party. For the two boys who were at the party, I made hats out of recycled newspaper and gave them a plastic recorder to make music on while the little girls twirled.

All the kids played with the child-friendly decorations. And unplanned by me, they thought their food that came wrapped up in a brown paper bag was a present, and had so much fun opening it up and seeing what was inside!

There was a live soft bunny that was brought inside for the kids to pet, and then it was bubble time! We purchased two bubble machines and they were the highlight of the party for the kids!

Photos taken by Courtney Burge.