Cocktails & Crafts!

Tomorrow night is the beginning of either a beautiful friendship, or maybe a drinking problem.

Cocktails and Crafts!



I am beginning a monthly get-together with my girlfriends where we share cocktails and do a craft with our kids all in the name of good fun.  The idea behind C & C is that for some people, doing one craft a month is way beyond their tolerance for glue, glitter, or safety scissors.  Some people have craft anxiety.  Just the thought of relinquishing control of space, supplies, and cleanliness in general is enough to make them say, Forget it.  And some people just aren't into being crafty.  I never was, until Vermont winters forced me to find my inner mama bear (she was hibernating).  But sometimes I need something to kill time while Em naps.  Or after the afternoon nap but before dinner.  A 45 minute filler that doesn't involve the television.  And so I got crafty.

But not all parents have that inner mama or papa bear.  They just won't, or can't, get their craft on.  I know they are just wishing someone else would do it for them, so that they have the cute product to tape to the fridge and mail to the grandparents, but they don't want to have to actually make it.  Enter Cocktails and Crafts.

Here's the general idea.

• Get a group, however big or small, of people you like to spend time with
• Create a random order of who will be hosting a get-together, taking turns one per month.  I suggest you pick a solid and consistent date, like the 3rd Wednesday of the month, so people can always pencil it in and look forward to it. So if you have six friends, you will host once in a six-month period, and then you start again
• The person hosting provides a craft for the friends or for friends' kids.  If you don't have kids, you can still do Cocktails and Crafts with friends!  You can scrapbook, you can paint pottery, you can build, you can knit, you can make photobooks online, you can make Christmas presents.  It seems that once we hit the double-digits in our age, we stop doing "arts and crafts".  But we're still all artistic and are crafty in our own way.  You just may have never thought of it that way before.  Acknowledge your inner child; he or she will be happy to get out
• The other people (who are the guests and are therefore not providing the craft) provide snacky food and tasty beverages!  My tasty beverage of choice is usually a cocktail; yours may be a mocktail, a soda, a spritzer, a juicebox.  Who cares?  It's just something to put in a pretty glass and say Cheers! to your friend as you have a snack and admire your crafty handiwork.  Or clean up your kids' handiwork

The heart and soul of Cocktails and Crafts is that it's always nice to have a date, set in stone, that you can get together with friends.  And for some people, crafting is daunting, so the idea of having a crew of friends to help you through it (and a drink to help numb the pain) makes it a little less intimidating.  An excuse to be together.  And also, if you are a little anxious, think of it this way.  You only have to do it once and then everyone else has to have a turn before you do it again.  The bigger the group, the less often you have to do it.

This is going to be a monthly occurence, with tomorrow night as the debut.  If you want to have Cocktails and Crafts, please do! 

To participate:
Go to the Cocktails & Crafts tab below my header.  Just grab the html code for the C & C button there.  Please link back to me so that I can check out how it went and make any adjustments as time and experience goes on.  If you're not a blogger but want to give it a try, just send me an email or leave a comment telling me how it went.  Send a picture; be a guest blogger.  I want everyone to let me know how it goes for them.

I hope that C & C gives you an excuse to spend a cold winter night or two huddled up with friends and families, being artistic and having fun.  And don't forget a cocktail!