Dessert Swap Party (and Cleaning Up a #HappiMess)

Fall and cooler weather inspires BAKING to me, so over the weekend, I hosted a little dessert party with some friends!  We sampled sweets and swapped recipes.  Oh my goodness – it was a great time.  It was fun and delicious and it was wonderful to try some new recipes and see my friends and family.  I set up a bite-sized spread, and my guests brought their own favorite desserts to share, too!

It was a great time.  But it was a lot of baking and mixing to get ready (and I’ll be sharing recipes in the coming week or so!) Now, I may not love to cook, but baking has a special place in my heart.  It’s something I always got to help with when I was a kid, and my daughter LOVES to help, too!  If there are tasks that she can do, she pulls her chair up to the sink and washes her hands, and then drags it over to the counter to help in the kid-proof area. ;)

She’s “helping” juice key limes for one of the desserts here.  That’s one sticky job, haha!  But I want her to feel welcome in the kitchen (in a safe way, of course) because even years later, it’s time from my youth that is special to me.

A little bit of kid-mess is nothing, anyway, when you compare it to the rest of the baking mess…

Yeah.  Dessert prep generates a LOT of dirty dishes.  It’s so worth it, though, and my Delta Touch2O Faucet is awesome for cleanup.  And ALL this mess meant enjoying a fantastic day with people I love – the dishes are a small price to pay for the memories!

I also put together a cookie decorating station for the kids, so that they could enjoy making their own desserts, too!  My daughter was thrilled to show everyone how it worked by decorating like ten cookies herself, haha.  I baked them and iced them white, and let the kids add the details.

I set out pre-printed recipe cards near the desserts to make it easy for guests to grab one if they happened to like it.  (The pumpkin roll, especially, was a hit!)  I baked things in mini-muffin pans and served them on bite-sized appetizer plates.  That way, everyone could try just a bite or two and still have room to try it all!

The very animated woman in this photo is my mom.  (And yes, she’s always in the middle of a story like this, haha.) :) I think we probably spent the entire party in the kitchen chatting and hovering over the desserts.  (Is that bad? No? I didn’t think so!)  She’s graciously blocking the sight of dishes piling up in the sink behind her, but that’s just going to happen while I enjoy time with my guests!

There’s always time for clean up later, and of course, Delta Faucet is there to help.  I’ve had one of their Touch2O faucets in my kitchen for a little over a year, now, and it works great for cleaning up a #HappiMess – you know, the mess that comes from time well-spent!

My #HappiMess is baking with family.  What’s yours?

Why do people treat mess like it’s a bad thing? It’s actually the evidence of a life well lived. When you’re out there making, creating, doing and playing, embrace your #HappiMess and let Delta kitchen and bath innovations help clean up so you can do it all again tomorrow.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Delta via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Delta.