So. Hosting. It is something I love to do. Have people over. Entertain.

Make one word sentences.

But, quite often, I spend so much time making the food, that I forget about the serving aspect of it. You know, making the food look good so people will want to eat it. The other night at my pajama party, I actually served my salad in my giant aluminum soup bowl. All of the pretty bowls were trapped in the cabinet in a cluttered pile-up of randomness. I opened the cupboard and saw that the bowl I needed was wedged underneath the trifle-bowl-I-have-never-used-to-make-a-trifle-with-but purchased because it-was-on sale-for-$15-and-Rachael-made-a-trifle-on-“Friends”-and-maybe-one-day-I-would-too. Without beef. Except I haven’t. And probably won’t.

Joey would be so sad.

I looked at that mess and quickly shut the door on it.

I dug out my stockpot, dumped my bag of salad in it and called it a night.

And it was fine.

Really.

But I wish I had done something more.

Leading me to this post.

Why did I not come across this before? Well, I can blame thank Ollie. The only reason I found this was because Ollie ate an entire plastic candy cane filled with white chocolate peppermint hershey kisses (not the plastic part) when he climbed into a chair and reached over and grabbed it from the side table. Who knew he was such an acrobat? Seriously, he even left the empty candy cane on the table. I could not believe he could achieve such a feat. I was trying to decide if he needed to go to the vet. Or join the circus.

He ended up being a perfectly fine dog without any other death-defying talents. But I came across an idea while searching for his agent cure.

Jenni, Jenni, Jenni, get a hold of yourself. What idea?

Okay.

Here it is.

Candy serving trays. Yes. Candy serving trays!

Have you ever heard of anything so wonderful? I used mine for all of my small serving bowls during Christmas Eve dinner.

I found the idea on the blog Tutto Bella.

You just line a baking sheet with parchment paper. And arrange your candy into a simple pattern.

My daughter did this one.

This is my son’s.

And this small sad affair is mine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I did eight minutes and twenty seconds. ; )

Remove from the oven. Let cool one to two minutes. Trim any unevenness carefully with a pizza cutter. This will still be extremely hot. Be careful! Don’t touch it with your bare hands. Let cool completely. Voila!

I think doing this with butterscotch candies or other thin hard candies during the year would be very cool, too. I might try it for a birthday party.

Had you heard of this before? Have you ever seen anything so simple? And cool? I am in love with this project. I wonder if I could create a stockpot for next year’s salad. That sounds just about as good as a beef trifle.

I am sure Joey Ollie would agree.

* I shared this on Savvy Southern Style.

And My Romantic Home.