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Coffee, Canvases, (and Cupcakes!) Party

This post was sponsored by Dunkin’ Donuts as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. All opinions and ideas are my own.

Coffee-and-Canvas-GIF

Coffee.

It’s what makes the world go ’round. Or…at least it seems that way sometimes. When I think of coffee, I think art, socializing, relaxing, baked goods (you know, because pastries and cakes just go with coffee!) When I heard of the NEW Dunkin’ Donuts’ VANILLA CUPCAKE flavored coffee….oh. my. goodness. Party in my mouth. I had to share with others.

So I threw a party. A “kaffeklatsch.”

My party ended up being smaller than expected (shout out to the ice storm and weather state of emergency), but we had a blast!

We had everything a perfect coffee party needed:

  • CUPCAKE coffee
  • Actual cupcakes (and other delicious baked goods)
  • Painting
  • Friends
  • My very “entertaining” kids (every party needs a little bit of wild, right?)
What goes better with coffee than cupcakes, friends, and art? See how we threw a Coffee and Canvas party with the new Dunkin' Donuts vanilla cupcake coffee.
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The Coffee

I absolutely love the new Vanilla Cupcake coffee. I added a dash of sweet cream creamer because I wanted some “frosting” on that cupcake. Be still my heart. It literally tasted like a cupcake! We enjoyed drinking the coffee during the party. It was the perfect guilt-free social drink and kept us warm with the chilly weather outside.

This coffee flavor is one of the many in the Dunkin’ Donuts Bakery series and is now available in supermarkets nationwide! You can find a retailer near you on the Dunkin’ Donuts website. Seriously, it is so good. I got this new programmable coffee maker (I needed a new one, so I bought this Black & Decker one and it works great!)

The Theme

It’s a new year. It’s 2016! Can you believe it?! I am still having trouble writing the correct year when I fill out dates. Looking back on last year, I can say that overall it was wonderful. I am looking forward to seeing what this year brings and I want to start it the right way! To encourage my guests and myself to have a great outlook in 2016, I threw a sweet “Coffee and Canvas” party with a purpose.

Coffee and Canvas Party Instruction 2

Since our focus at this party was coffee, I tried to tie everything in with that. We drank coffee, painted coffee, and talked about making sure our “cup is full” of food, fun, family and friends, and faith.

 

The Favors

These favors have flavor! I wanted to send my guests home with something to remind them of the party and of the party’s message, so I gave everyone a bag of this cheeky coffee with a handmade paper straw flower.

Coffee and Canvas Party Favors

I just cut out the printable flowers, taped them to the paper straws, then glued a construction paper leaf near the middle of the straws. When all was said and done, I taped the straw flower to the bag of coffee and tied a piece of string around it.

Download Your Free Full Cup Flower Gift Tags Printable

The Food

I wanted to indulge my friends with delicious desserts while still making healthy choices, so I whipped up a few quick treats like the lemon pastries (you guys have to check out the recipe here. It only has 5 ingredients!) You can find more recipes at hungry-girl.com.

Coffee and Canvas Party Sweets

We also had these yummy cupcakes and chocolate treats! Continue reading and you can get a free exclusive download of the chocolate treats recipe and just wait till you hear what I did with the cupcakes!

Coffee and Canvas Party Desserts

The Food

Oh man, were these treats delish! Here’s what my table spread included:

  • Dunkin’ Donuts’ *delicious* Vanilla Cupcake flavored coffee
  • Sweet cream creamer
  • Lemon Pastries (super simple recipe here)
  • Cupcakes
  • Chocolate-Covered Bananas

So. You have to hear what I did with these cupcakes!

Coffee and Canvas Party Cupcakes

 

 
Confession: I did use a box mix; however, I used a new kind that only has your typical flour, sugar, and leavening agents and not all the extra gunk. Okay, I was just lazy and didn’t feel like measuring. I also went ahead and purchased the frosting from my local grocery store’s bakery, but you can make your own.

The cupcake batter and frosting were ORANGE flavored. That’s right. I simply added a few drops of my Wild Orange essential oils in there for flavor. You can use extract too, but I definitely prefer the flavor and benefits of the essential oils.

Then I made a basic homemade cranberry sauce, let it cool, then added it into the scooped-out center of the *baked and cooled* cupcakes.

I topped these cranberry orange cupcakes off with the flavored frosting and I piped it to look like flowers. Hopefully I will be able to whip up some tutorial videos for this in the near future. They looked beautiful, but I wanted to add an extra little touch–I sprayed a little edible gold spray on one side to give them a “sun-kissed” look, then sprinkled on a little clear edible cake sparkles for a dew look. I added a few sugar pearls to some as accents.

Coffee and Canvas Party Treat Table

These were so perfect with the cupcake coffee!

 

The Decorations

If I had to pick a style I love, I’d say it’s a “shabby chic” or “country chic” style. I stuck with that for my Coffee and Canvas party and included sleek white cake plates, paper doilies, ruffly flowers, a pink pail, and even served the cream and sugar in a glass milk bottle and mason jar.

Coffee and Canvas Party Cream and Sugar

Since this was a painting party, I wanted to display a sample of the painting for everyone to see before we started, so I added that to the table for a pop of color. In my party kit, I was sent some pink paper decorations, so I hung those up as well.

Coffee and Canvas Party Straws

I went with a pink and orange color scheme to match the Dunkin’ Donuts color scheme.
 

The Painting

I wanted to do a painting that fit absolutely seamlessly with the party theme, so we painted a coffee mug with the color scheme of pink, orange, and brown. On the bottom, I had everyone reference the Bible verse that says “my cup overflows” (I will talk about this more later.)

Coffee and Canvas Party Guest Painting 1
Coffee and Canvas Party Guest Painting 2

For my set up, I found some little art easels (they were actually chalkboard decorations, but they fit my little canvases–you can always set the canvases directly on the table) and set those around the table.

Coffee and Canvas Party Table Setup 2

I gave everyone a small, square canvas with a paper plate, some brushes (thin, medium, and a thick wide one), a paper towel, and a mason jar with water to clean the brushes.

Coffee and Canvas Party Table Setup

If you’ve been around here a while, you probably know I am obsessed with painting canvases (see some of my tutorials here), so I talked everyone through each step and walked around and helped. If you don’t consider yourself an avid painter, keep it simple! Follow a video tutorial online, make up your own as you go, or just let everyone get creative.

Coffee and Canvas Party Instruction 1

Didn’t their paintings turn out awesome?!

Coffee and Canvas Party Guests

They don’t need to match–each piece is unique. See the difference between my sample and my party piece?

So, how did I incorporate the message on this canvas into my party theme?

Coffee and Canvas Party Paintings
Coffee and Canvas Party Paintbrushes

The Message

The quote going around right now, “You can’t pour from an empty cup”, is so true. While we sipped our cups of coffee and admired our gorgeous coffee mug paintings, I talked about this and how the verse went along with it.

Now, I don’t know how I feel about the “put yourself first” that is going around with the quote. In my opinion, it’s more a reminder to take care of yourself also. That aside, I pointed out that with God, our cup already overflows. I challenged my guests to not look to their own strength and provision, but to God’s. On our own, our cup is empty. We are running on low fuel. However, when we trust God’s provision, He provides “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20.)

So when you are struggling or running out of strength. Stop a moment, put God first and remember His provision, then remember to take care of yourself through that provision.

This party was so much fun and was such a great reminder for the start of the year. We were able to eat treats, drink some delicious coffee, get creative, have some girl time, and leave with a better outlook.

What will you paint at your party? Will you make any of these treats? Let me know in the comments!

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7 Comments

  1. This looks like so much fun! Wish I lived closer so I could come :/

  2. This is such a fun idea to get together with friends, folks from church, school etc! With my hubby being from Germany – I know exactly what a kaffeklatsch is!! I have been to a few when we were in Germany – definitely an idea that needs to hop across the pond so I am excited to see your post. Dunkin Donuts coffee has always been one of our faves – I wish we still had one close by! But I am psyched to know I can find it in the stores now!!

    • Thank you, Sarah! Yes, it was so much fun! I had a friend from base and a friend from church. Loved our coffee painting and talks! Our location is a ways away, so I’m glad I can get them in store too in between our trips there!

  3. What a super fun party! Wish I would be invited to something like this! lol Who doesn’t like coffee? The cupcakes were beautiful.

  4. Pingback: DIY Bible Bag for Kids Easy-Sew Tote Bag Pattern

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