When our family bought a house, I was super excited to host events. I thought I’d be doing it on a monthly basis. Wow, was I wrong about that.

When our first daughter was born, we never had time to host anything. Then 2 years later our twin boys were born, and we had a little toddler taking over our home. I just had to keep telling myself that we’d get there.

I decided that we would throw a party for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Come hell or high water, it was happening.

The best I can say is that I did make it happen, but it was so much work; between planning, making the food and making cupcakes, it was a lot. There had to be a better way.

I had a friend who threw great parties, and she seemed like she wasn’t stressed in the slightest bit. I had to find out how she did it without wanting to rip her hair out of her head. So I decided to give her a call.

She told me that her secret was using her Cuisinart food processor to prep a lot of the stuff ahead of time. That and she didn’t make her own cakes or cupcakes. She ordered those from a bakery. I don’t know why I chose to do it all myself.

I was thankful that I only had to throw one birthday party for my twins- that is the upside to having 2 at once. That was only a few months away so I figured I had better get on with the planning.

I did a lot of research on appetizers and smaller dishes that I could serve at a kids party. There were so many good ideas and they all seemed so simple! One part was taken care of.

The next thing to do was to find a food processor. My friend recommended KitchenWorksinc where I could buy legitimate Cuisinart products. That was where she purchased hers. I decided on the Cuisinart custom 14 food processor. I was so excited to try it out.

When it arrived I experimented with a sample menu for the birthday party. I got the go ahead on all of them. I was so excited that I could prep so much ahead of time!!

I followed my friend’s other advice and ordered a birthday cake from a local bakery. That was so much easier. It was such a great idea.

The boys’ birthday party went better than expected. I only had a few things to take care of that morning, and everything else was all set to go. It was a wonderful time, and I got resounding praise from everyone.

I’m so grateful to my friend for letting me in on her secret. I’ve even started hosting a holiday party in the beginning of December. Who knew I could take all that on along with my kids’ parties? I wouldn’t be able to do it without my Cuisinart food processor.