Inspiration: HOW TO CREATE A VALENTINE’S ‘BUBBLY & DESSERT BAR’

Happy February 1st! In celebration with the month of blossoming romance and all things sweet, let’s not forget our favorite gal pals. Creating a Valentine’s ‘Bubbly & Dessert’ Bar is a wonderful way to host a “Galentine’s” party with your besties! I mean who doesn’t enjoy sipping on a glass of bubbly champagne and indulging in some decadent desserts and deliciously rich chocolate?! See my steps below on how you can create your own ‘Bubbly & Dessert Bar’.

Table/Bar Set-up

First decide on where you would like to station your bubbly & dessert bar and have guests gather. Next, decide on your color palette as you will want to dress up your bubbly & dessert bar with a festive tablecloth. Will you be going with the traditional pink & red color scheme or something different? I had this beautiful pale pink and gold fabric I found at JoAnn fabrics and made it into a tablecloth. Pink and gold were the colors for my ‘bubbly & dessert’ bar.

Table Essentials

When setting up your bar/dessert station, take a look at the platters, bowls, cake stands, apothecary jars, dessert plates and champagne glasses you have. Depending on the number of guests will determine how many of these items you will need. Once you have what you need, you will need to figure out the placement. (Keep in mind to use a variation of height – you don’t want your dessert bar to look flat). I like to start in the in the center of the table. Once I have a centerpiece in mind, I start building from there. Since I wanted my valentine’s decorated mini cakes to be the “center of attention”, I placed them on my pink pedestal cake stand. In the pictures shown above, I placed three pink rose buds on the center of the cake stand and layered some wax flowers, creating a circular-type wreath. I then placed the mini cakes in the middle of the cake stand. By placing a few floral touches to a couple of your dessert platters, it adds a soft and delicate prettiness to it! If you own a tray, use it to display your ice bucket filled with champagne, your champagne glasses, and beverage napkins. By placing all of these items on a tray, it’s a great way to keep them all grouped together; creating a station of it’s own.

Party Decor

There are so many themed party decor out there, from balloons and wall decor, to banners and decorative accessories. I didn’t want my Bubbly & Dessert Bar to be overly themed so I stuck with one 36″ inch balloon (verses several regular-sized balloons) and tied coordinating pink and gold ribbon, cut in different lengths. I traced and cut out hearts on a thick card stock made out of gold glitter. I then placed a few glue dots to the back of each heart and adhered them to the center of the balloon. I pulled out my gold LOVE paperweight and found a sparkly crystal picture frame with a gold-foiled print at TJMaxx that reads ‘Happy Valentine’s Day. If you are a shopper of TJMaxx than you know that one day and item will be there and the next it’s gone so if you can’t find a framed Valentine’s print, why not consider a DIY? Simply find a frame of your liking and print one of these FREE downloadable printables, found here and here!

Instead of using a banner for the front of the table/bar, I used greenery and made it into a garland. To create a draped garland look, simply take each greenery stem and tie them together with floral wire and continue to add greenery until you reach your desired length. With the floral wire, I then added a cluster of wax flowers to the center of the vine. For the final decor touch, add a vase filled with fresh blossoming flowers to the top of your bubbly & dessert bar.

Champagne & Desserts

Rather than baking desserts, I stopped at one of my favorite bakeries as they carry a variety of Valentine’s themed desserts and cookies that are not only pretty & festive but delicious too! Add an assortment of chocolates and candies that any sweet tooth is sure to love, like gourmet chocolate truffles, sweet gummy lips, sour red hearts and marshmallow coconut balls. For the cocktail of choice, nothing says Valentine’s day like the pop of a freshly opened champagne so spoil your girlfriends with a fancy bottle of bubbly! For added festive touch, I used a heart-shape cookie cutter to cut out cotton candy hearts. I used a lollipop stick (you can purchase at any craft store) and in a careful rotating motion, I inserted the stick in the middle of the cotton candy and placed it on top of the rim of each champagne glass.

Cheers to love & splendor!

To shop some similar items you see in this post, check out my round-up below…