One of our most popular products during the summer time is the our cooler bag.  Great for the mom on the go – and stylish, too.  We recently set up a display of these.  Check them out below and let us know what you think.

Word to the wise: we’ll be giving an amazing deal on these bags next week to everyone on our e-mail list, so if you aren’t already getting our special offers, be sure to go to our home page and subscribe!  You can also like us on Facebook to get the special offers.

You don’t have to go into the store to check out our cooler bags and beach bags.  Of course, we have a whole display set up in-store, but you can also browse our cooler bags through them online.

Not sure where to start?

This blog will walk you through where to look.

1. First choose a pattern for your party.  We have thirteen different graduation patterns in all, including patterns for the colors green, orange, purple, red, blue and berry!  We also have a black and white pattern as well as some more colorful choices.

2.  Now you can mix and match your pattern with our solid color tableware.  For example, if you’re hosting a party, you can save a lot by getting a value pack of cups matching the school color.

3.  Look through our graduation decorations section and get what you need to really make the space look the way you want it to.

4.  Our graduation gifts and graduation favors are a great way to ensure a memorable evening.

Planning on baking something for the graduation party?  Be sure to check out our graduation baking supplies!

Check out this new display we have set up in the store:

In addition to party favors and accessories, we help you throw the perfect bash for your grad by stocking a huge selection of tableware colors.  You’ll be able to make the whole party fit into the school spirit.  Check out our selection of graduation party supplies to see more.

We’re going to make a couple more candies for you.  We have the cute balloon and party hat.  I’m going to make the orange hat and the yellow balloon.  We’ll start off with the red for the bottom fringe for the party hat as well as for the little top.

I take my melted chocolate to start.  When you’re working with your chocolate, when it starts to harden as it cools, just pop it in the microwave for 10 – 15 seconds and it will be nice and creamy for you again.

I’m just painting the mold.  I have the bottom fringe done.  Now we’ll do the little ball on top in red as well.

So we have our cute, cute little party hat.  We’ll fill in the back of that with orange.  I’m taking the spoon and working that orange chocolate up into the ball up to the top of the hat.  Give it a tap to take out the air bubbles.

If the chocolate spills out, smooth it with a knife.

Before I put the sucker stick in, I’ll show you how to do the balloon.  The balloon has circles on it that you can make any color you want.  It’s indented so it shows you exactly where to go.  I’ll fill the main color of my balloon yellow, so I’ll do any other color than yellow for my accents.

So you can see – I have the circles painted, and then on the back, it’s pretty much flat.  I’m going to fill this with yellow chocolate.  I just need to get the stem of the balloon.  This is where the paint brush comes in handy for those small spots.  You can take the paint brush and get into those small areas.

Now that we have the candies done, we want to make these suckers, so grab your sucker sticks.  This candy mold is different because it doesn’t have a complete place for the sucker stick.  Make sure the stick is far enough in the chocolate so you don’t worry about them coming off.  Give the stick a twirl to get it covered in chocolate and secure.

Now that our chocolate candy melts have been in the freezer for 7 minutes, we’re ready to take them out.  I’ll give you a word of caution: sometimes when you’re ready to take them out, be ready because they’ll be ready to come out and if they hit the hard counter they’ll break.  You may want to put a dish towel down.

Now if you have any rough edges, just use the heat from your hands to smooth out any imperfections.

I’m going to show you how to put a filling in your candies.

I have a homemade peanut butter cup mixture.  You can go on our site to get the recipe.

We’re going to put chocolate in the mold and then add our filling.  Instead of having to pinch off each filling ball, just roll it into a log and then cut it into the right size.  That way it will go a lot quicker.

Then roll them out.  Test one: yes, that will fit better.  You may think that doesn’t look like a lot of filling, but you have to have chocolate all around it as well.  I like to put a little chocolate in the bottom of each mold.

Then you can take your paint brush and work the chocolate around the mold.  Here again you want to look for any weak places in your chocolate.  If you feel like you need just a little more chocolate, that’s an easy fix – dip more on your paint brush.

Basically we make the shell, then add the peanut butter mixture, and then top it with chocolate.

Like I said, remember to hold it up to the light.  If you see any weak places, you can fix those before you put your filling in.

Take your filling pieces and drop them right on top of the chocolate.  You don’t want to press the filling because you don’t want to see the filling from the bottom.  I have my pieces of filling here.  You have your chocolate shell with your filling.  Then come on top of each piece with your chocolate.

Just give it a tap to take out the air bubbles so you have a nice smooth piece of candy.  Then we put it in the freezer for 7 minutes.

We’ve taken our chocolate peanut butter cups out of  the freezer.  They’re nice and shiny.  They’re really not frozen; they’re just quick-chilled.

If you want to put these in a box of chocolate, we have these great peanut butter cup wrappers that fit the candy perfectly.  I hope you enjoy making these candies!  Thank you.

Today I’m going to talk about molding chocolate candy in Party Time’s different candy molds.

I’ve just picked a few molds out today, and I have some already made here into the chocolate pieces.  We have solid chocolate.  You can see here I’ve painted the candy molds, which are really easy and cute as candy pieces.  I’m going to show you how to make these today.

You’ll see here I have my different candy chocolate melted.  It’s really easy to do.  Start off with a quality chocolate.  I have milk chocolate here, and then I have the different colors.  All the colors taste like white chocolate, but they’re colored so you can make the cute pieces.

Some of the molds come with ideas, which make it a little easier.  You don’t have to worry about being an artist when you’re painting the molds because they are indented, which gives you a guide.

Let’s start with making a basic chocolate piece of candy.

This is a candy mold.  You don’t need to prep it in any way except make sure it’s good and dry.

I like to use teaspoons because they’re long and small and great when you’re making candy.  On a mold like this, it really doesn’t take too much chocolate.  You just put your chocolate on here.

The thing about it is you want to tap the mold when you’re finished filling.  When you tap the mold on the counter, it smooths the back and releases air bubbles, which makes your candy smooth on the front as well.

Check to make sure you don’t need to add any more chocolate.

If the chocolate comes out of the mold, you can smooth it with your finger or scrape it with the back side of a knife.

Now we’re ready to go in the freezer.  The candy takes about five minutes in the freezer.  You’ll notice that it’s nice and shiny here because it’s sticking to the mold.  Once you put it in the freezer, it will release from the mold and appear a little dull.  That way you’ll know it’s ready to come out.

While that’s freezing we’ll go ahead and make one of our cute candy ice cream cones.

We start with our candy mold here.  We paint using these paint brushes that don’t lose their bristles and are food safe.  Those work great.  Paint the mold.  Now you don’t have to worry about making the pink solid through the back.  Look at our finished sucker – pink on the front, chocolate on the back.

Once you think you have it painted enough, hold it up to the light.  Any light showing through is a weak place – add more chocolate in those areas.

Now we want to take our milk chocolate and just put it directly on top of your pink chocolate.  Take your spoon here and kind of move it around just a little bit more.  Then you want to give it a tap.

Now to make a sucker, we have our sucker sticks here, and on this candy mold there is a place for the sucker stick.  Give it a nice twirl so that the stick is encased in chocolate.  Now you have it nice and smooth on the front with no lumps or little air bubbles.  Here again we need to put it in the freezer for about five minutes so it will release from the mold.

Our first candy that we molded is ready to come out of the mold.  The way you can tell you can turn it over, and if you tap it and it doesn’t come out, it’s not ready yet.  It still needs to freeze for another five minutes.  If you force it, it won’t come out right.  So just put it back in the freezer a few more minutes.

Now the candy molds will come out easily.  You can see how nice and pretty and shiny the candy pieces are.  We also look out our ice cream cone.

Notice there are no air bubbles.  Remember: tapping the mold will release the air bubbles.

We have all the supplies you need for candy making, including candy making chocolates, candy molds, candy wrappers, and more.  If you’re interested in hands-on instruction, one of our candy-making classes would be a good fit for you.

We want your Easter time to be enjoyable and stress-free.  So come on over to Party Time and stock up on everything you need in one trip: baking & candy supplies and chocolates, Easter decorations, even themed tableware if you’re hosting a get-together.

And please share with us your Easter party.  We’d love to share your photos on our blog or on our Facebook wall!

As the weather gets hot, it helps to have the hottest accessories to keep up.  We’re also featuring hats and a full line of Luau party gear.  If it’s summer fun, it must be Party Time!

Whether you need gear for the beach or just for the mall, you’re sure to find something that you love at Party Time.

Show your LSU pride during the LSU basketball and baseball seasons with this unique line of gear you’ll be full court pressed to find anywhere else!

Geaux tigers!

These are high-quality brushed aluminum  dishes and displays that have already proved irresistible to caterers, and are sure to be a hit for your entertaining needs as well.

You will not believe the prices.  We don’t these dishes on our website yet, but come into the store and check out our full display.  The pictures don’t really do them justice.

Looking to do your own catering?  In addition to these pitchers, bowls, dishes and serving spoons, we also offer a full line of disposable tableware for your guests.  Our premium solid color tableware is very nice; your guests might feel bad about throwing away their plate and utensil when they are done!