My husband works for a web agency specialising in the food and drink sector. He has been swanning around lots of different food fairs recently and I have been rather envious of the interesting people he has met! He has discovered this wonderful company called LittlePod who specialise in Madagascan vanilla. Beautifully packaged they completed our rum experiment! Last March we visited my cousin and her family in Oxford for her birthday weekend. Her husband had left a vanilla pod and coffee beans in the bottle of an old bottle of rum, allowing the flavours to infuse the spirit.

We have been meaning to try our own ever since and meeting LittlePod gave us the final ingredient! We added a few cinnamon sticks to add a hint of spice. My friend also gave out favours at Christmas, mini bottles of clementine and vanilla infused vodka. I think we will try that next!

Our rum will get it's taste test at the end of January when we are hosting a belated New Year's celebration complete with our favourite cocktails!

What flavours would you put together?!

There is something about fairy lights that makes everything just that little more magical isn't there? I found this miniature old dresser in a shop in Southbourne and before I had even asked the price, I said I would have it! Luckily it was very reasonable!

I wanted to use it as a photography prop but it is actually quite heavy to lug around and the sliding glass door could be easily broken in transit, so it has been sitting pretty, but quietly in the dining room waiting for a new purpose.

On New Year's Eve it came to life! Our new mini bar!

I found two large cider jars for £1 in the local charity shop which I want to use for pink and blue lemonade at my sister's baby shower but make great light holders either side of the dresser.

I draped some bright white fairy lights over the top of the glass shelves (smashing one of my champagne saucers in the process - luckily not my Granny's) and then set about filling up my little bar.

The thing about cocktail ingredients is that you always have to buy too much and it seems really expensive. I would only ever drink a few combinations so I don't see the point in having a fully stocked bar that never gets used.

Here are my Mini Bar Must Haves:

• A measure - If you want to enjoy an evening of cocktails you need to measure the spirits or you'll all be drunk by 9pm and you won't enjoy the whole evening
• A strainer - my husband loved mojitos but I don't like all the bits
• A twisted spoon with a flat end - use this to make layers. Pour a liquor like Creme de Cassis at the bottom and then cava on top to create a pink pool. We did this for our Jubilee cocktails
• Monin sugar syrup - use it in your cocktails or to rim your glasses
• Angostura bitters
• Brown sugar cubes - put one in the bottom of a brandy or whiskey based cocktail to take the sting out of the spirit
• Paper Straws - because they make everything you drink look nicer!

Optional extras:

• Lemons, limes, clementines sliced and frozen
• Tin of sliced peaches in juice
• Ice cubes made from coffee - try them in a glass of Baileys - delicious
• Pomegranate seeds
• Grenadine
• Candy Floss - fill your glass then pour over a glass of Prosecco, a treat for your eyes and your lips
• Rock Candy.

Spirits to I like to have in stock; Vodka, Brandy, Whiskey, Schnapps, Baileys. Cava and Prosecco. Champagne is lovely, but in a cocktail not worth an extra £15-£20!

Do you have a cupboard somewhere with bottles that have gotten dusty?!

Dust them off and try our New Year's Eve cocktail menu!

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know I am going to be an Auntie this year!

But before the baby arrives, there is first going to be a baby shower! How exciting!

I met all my sister's close friends on her hen weekend in 2010 (I will post some photos next week so you can see what we got up to and it's a hint of what's to come for the shower) and I am really looking forward to seeing all her work, as well as old and new friends in March to celebrate her baby shower.

I have been collecting things for months and there was only one theme we could have. The baby is affectionately known as Baby B (as in bee) as their surname begins with B and their house is known as The Beehive!

Etsy is like a bumble bee paradise. What's even better is, with my brother living in America I have a US shipping address. We are going to visit him and my sister in law in February and I think I will end up with a suitcase full of party bits for the shower and the boy's birthday parties (Circus and Doctors) this year!

I want to send the invites out in the next week and looked into printing my own from printable files you can buy from Etsy. It's a great way to get a super professional look if you are not a photoshop pro.

I toyed with all sorts of ideas, had several conference and Skype calls to Mum who is co hosting and eventually settled on a sweet but modern honeycomb design on heavy linen lined card. They are quite the modern design couple so I am going to incorporate different elements of the other designs into the buffet table in paper treat bags, striped paper straws and table linen.

I have bought an ink stamp set to pretty up the envelopes and will use the stamp on the food labels and party bags.

There is a surprise envelope in the girls invitations with an activity for each of them I have made, a request and a prepaid envelope (I'll fill you in next week) back to me.

My sister is a big supporter of this blog so I have asked her not to peek this week! She has been very anxious through her textbook pregnancy with first time nerves and she really deserves to be spoilt, especially as she will have to return to full time work, shortly after the baby is born. Mum and I can't wait to spoil her rotten!

If you have any honey ideas please share them! I've been jotting down a list of games to play too but any suggestions would be lovely!

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