Hostess With The Mostess

Welcome to 'The Land of Sweets' - a party table to celebrate the end of pre-school for my eldest son Fergus, as well as Christmas!

The inspiration came from the story of 'The Nutcracker' where The Land of Sweets features. I LOVE the music, and the story is very special. I also have lovely memories of seeing two different performances of 'The Nutcracker' in London with my very dear friend Elspeth.

So, when you're really into your theme, it is easy to be motivated and creative - I had a ball!

My colour palette included green, pink, yellow and blue. To tie all of the colours together, I used red and white ribbon throughout the table and made some red and white bunting.

To add a crazy touch to the table, and theme, I decided to make edible labels for the food from Vanilla Sugar Cookies. (Much to my husband's complete astonishment....!) I piped the name of each food onto a 'sweet' made from fondant, which was placed onto each cookie. Quite labour intensive, ...but would you expect anything less from 'The Land of Sweets'...!

The Christmas Tree is an essential part of the story, so I decided to make the tree from meringue swirls. I have been rather keen on meringues this year and have made them in so many colours - I just love the swirl effect, and I was thrilled with how they came together on the cone.

The Gingerbread Houses are also a favourite. I tried to imagine how houses would look in 'The Land of Sweets'. I drew some pictures and created some templates on baking paper. The decorating with royal icing and fondant was really enjoyable.