Penny's Top Ten Tips: Autumn Activities:Part 2 With Friends

 Hello and welcome to the second part of the Autumn Activities post I did last week, however this week are ten fun things to do with other people while the weather is not at its best.

1. Dinner Party-
Inviting friends for a dinner party is a good way of chilling out while the weather is cold. Mulled wine is optional. 

2. Get Cooking-
Or if cooking is your thing then get your friends to cook a meal together for a dinner party instead. 

3. Book Club- 
Starting a book club with you friends is a good excuse to chill with a good book. Once a month, a group of us discuss a book over Skype and to have a general catch up. 

4. D and D night-
I have a secret to tell you... I love playing Dungeons and Dragons! It's my latest obsession and again its a great excuse to grab your party and go on an adventure, without even leaving your living room. (If your interested I'm a level 4 Gnome Sorcerer called Elphaba.) 
  5.Movie or Series Binge-
Watching a set of movies like the Alien franchise or binging on American Horror Story is a good way to spend time as a group. Just grab some blankets, pillows and plonk on the sofa.

6. Game Night-
Get some snacks ready, and grab that deck of Cards Against Humanity and Articulate set up for a night of laughs.   

7. Spa Evening-
Instead of having a pamper evening on your own, grab a couple of friends and have an old school sleepover style girly evening. 

8. Coffee Morning-
or tea morning if you're not a coffee lover or strapped for time. A quick catch up is nice on its own. 

9. Cake decorating-
Bake a batch of cupcakes, whip up a some various buttercreams or whipped creams, good some food safe colours and grab some edible decorations. Then simply decorate! You can all experiment with colours, different piping skills or go nuts with sprinkles.

10. Chill and Catch up-
This is kind of an obvious one, but invite your friends over, order a take-away and just catch up. This also works if you both don't want to go anywhere, just use a phone. (Pyjamas are optional.) 

Happy Baking!

Fat Friday #42 Chocolate Banana Loaf Cake

Happy Friday everyone! This week is another fail-safe recipe that is excellent for snacking on while revising or hosting a party. Actually, what made me make this recipe was a lazy attempt to make some for a D and D party. *Thats Dungeons and Dragons to you non-players* We play with a group of friends wanting to be hero's for the evening. If you want more information on it I can pop that in the another post. 

But we're focusing on this super easy banana cake which is very more-ish and was loved by the whole group during our D and D quest for the evening.

Recipe: Makes one loaf cake (Adapted from The Primrose Bakery Cookbook by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas)

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus a little extra to grease the tin)
• 250g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 250g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 bananas, the riper the better
• 175g of dark chocolate, chopped into thick chunks

Equipment:

• Large loaf tin, greased and lined with a little butter
• Bowl x 3
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Masher or a fork
• Electric hand held whisk/wooden spoon
• Wire rack 

 Method:

1.Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the loaf tin.

2.Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 

3. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing very well after each addition.
4. Mix in the vanilla extract, then the flour and baking powder. 
5.Mash up the bananas in a separate bowl and add then to the cake batter.
6.Add the chopped up dark chocolate and beat briefly.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes or until the cake is completely cooked through. 
8.Leave in the tin to cool on a wire rack. 
9. Serve warm or cold along with a D20 dice and, if your lucky, an D10 inspiration dice!

Have a great weekend!  

Penny's Top Ten Tips #3 Party Prep for a Graduation Ball (or some other special occasion!)

Hi and welcome to the third Penny's Top Ten Tips! I hope you enjoyed last weeks post. This week I'm focusing on party prep. I've been and gone to my own Graduation Ball it seems like a good idea to tell you my top ten tips for being uber organised before and on the party night itself. Of course this can apply to any special occasion or party.

1. Sleeping Arrangements...-
Ok keep your jokes to a minimum here by sleeping arrangements, I mean having a place to stay for the night. If the venue is not near home then you need to make some early arrangements for where your going to crash for the night. Find a hotel near you or stay with a close friend that you feel comfortable with, as most likely you'll be getting ready for the party here.

2. Dress Sense-
Dress for the occasion by selecting a suitable outfit-dress, playsuit or whatever. In this case, this occasion was a graduation ball, so formal and dressed to impress. Although I'm going to offer some advice here as much as a big puffy dress would have been lovely, and princessy, its sadly not practical. I knew Was going to bust out some moves on the dance floor so a long puffy dress... not so good. If your planning on dancing, short or 3/4 length dresses are perfect. The same applies with shoes, if you know your on feet (or doing the macarina) high-heels are the enemy. If you must have killer heels carry some blister plasters and a pair of roll up shoes that can get stuff into a purse for emergencies. 

3. Save Money-
As much as you want to pay for the £350 dress that you know is perfect and you'd so wear it for other occasions. No. Put that purse down and move your mouse away from the PayPal button. Look at other options, check out Ebay, Amazon, charity shops, or ask your sister really nicely to borrow that nice dress that your lusting for or do what I did- pop to a dress hire shop and check the options. Reuse jewellery that you already have to glam up your outfit. I purposely chose blue and silver as I have tons of silver coloured jewerally and I look damn good in blue. 

Dress Hired £30 from Cinderella's Lifestyle (£20 deposit which I got back) 
Shoes-Dorothy Perkins £15 (marked down in the sale from £22)
Bag- Dorothy Perkins £0 (Already had this bag and just reusing it) 
Earrings-Accessorize £0 (Anniversary rom my boyfriend 2 years ago)
Bracelet- Accessorize £12 (I think it was a little while ago I bought this.) 
Ring-Accessorize £0(Christmas present) 
Total outfit cost: £61 

4. Saving money on party prep-
If you can do the party preping yourself then you'll save mega bucks on expensive treatments like facials. If you have a beauty therapist friend who needs to practice on, be the test dummy. It will cut costs and help out a friend. If not be your own beauty therapist. Here's what I spent when I did it myself. Again like tip 3, I used make-up that I already have so I didn't need to spend loads. 

The Prep:
Body Shop Shower Gel in Grapefruit  £0 (Already had this but otherwise £4) 
Nivea Invisible Black and White Clear Deodorant £0 (Gosh I really hope you  have deodorant but just on the off chance its £1.64)
Lush Love Lettuce £0 (Free as I brought back 5 black pots into Lush- normally £6.25 but can be used for more than one facial) 
Veet Hair Removal Cream£8.99 (Great investment as its a massive bottle which will last a while)
Revlon Nail Polish in Blue Eyed Girl  £0 (Already had this-Normally £3.69)
Barry M in Silver Foil Effect (Already had this and I think it was a limited edition however Rimmel has an alternative for £3.69) 
Hair Styled £17 (I knew a professional hairdresser who was happy to offer a friends and family discount)
Lush Shimmy Shimmy £4.75 
Total Cost: £30.74 (If buying new £42.63 in total)

Make-up
Benefit the POREfessional Primer £0 (Already have this-normally £24.50) 
No 7 Beautifully Matte Foundation £0 (Already use this-but £13.50) 
Benefit Theyer Real Mascara £0 (Already use this- £19.50)
Benefit High Beam Highlighter £0 (Got this as a Christmas present but normally £19.50) 
Benefit Hervana Blusher £0 (Again another Christmas present-normally £23.50) 
Urban Decay colours £0 (Received this as a present for my birthday) 
Total Cost: £0 Spent nothing on new make-up as I felt I had enought to get me through (If buying new its a massive £100.50!! If you use the products often and they work for you its a worth while investment.) 

5. Pack what you need for the evening-
Obviously if your staying somewhere overnight pack a sensible bag of toiletries, party prep stuff etc. In your going out bag or purse you will need the following: phone, ticket, to get in venue, keys to house/hotel, hairband, lipstick/lipgloss, facepower and plasters. That is it. Don't be tempted to chuck everything in, its a hassle to worry about if you've got a purse full of make-up.

6. Have some spare money just in case-
There's nothing worse then realising you don't have enough cash on you for food and drinks out. I don't bring my cash card as it can get lost or stolen more easily on a night out. Take out the cash you plan to spend for drinks, transport home and at least £10 as emergency money. Keep this money somewhere different from your purse, so if your purse gets lost you still have some cash to help you get home. 

7. Fully charge your phone before the night-
Common sense really. I mean you are most likely going to take photos, update your facebook status, texting and the list goes on...   

8. Don't forget to eat!-
You know those people who say before a night out- "If you're having booze, eating is cheating". You know what I say to that? Screw you. I love my food too much to give it up for alcoholic drinks. You go out on an empty stomach, you get drunk easily. You get drunk easily, you look like someone who can't handle their drink. And who looks stupid now? Don't ruin a good night because you forgot to eat beforehand. Have a meal with pasta or rice to absorb the alcohol. Also milk is good before a night out as it lines the stomach and helps absorb alcohol. 

9. Stay as a group while partying -

This is a kind of safety in numbers type of hint. Stay in twos when going from place to place like restrooms or getting taxis home. In my opinion partying as a group can be a laugh as well as safe. 
  
10. Arrange your transport home-
Arrange beforehand when your planning to get home and how. Booking a head of time takes the hassle out of fumbling around for a taxi number in the middle of the dancefloor. Also its one less thing to worry about. Little hint, book your transport 15 minutes later then you normally would, just so you can round up your group or have one last dance.

Most of all, have an excellent time and remember the party prep should be fuss free and add to the excitement.

What's your favourite party tip?