40-Love … Have a tennis party!

I did, in fact turn 40 this month and I do actually love it! I don’t feel any older although I catch a quick glance in the mirror once in awhile and wonder who that tired lady is. I am hoping that once Baby Cinco starts sleeping better, I might actually start looking a little bit younger! A girl can dream…

I loved my thirties so, if anything, I was a little bit sad to leave such an amazing decade behind, but still excited to see what this next decade will hold. In order to put myself in the right frame of mind, my friends and I have been joking that I am trying to celebrate 40 days of 40. Yup. If 40 is so much darn fun, let’s celebrate it for 40 days. Why not, right? I am off to a good start so far!

Although not directly a celebration of my 40’s but, really, just because I am looking for excuses to have people over to sit on my verandahhh this spring and drink sangria, this past weekend I hosted my ladies’ tennis team to celebrate the end of our very fun tennis season. It was potluck. All I had to do was put out some cute decorations and make some sangria. The rest of the ladies brought appetizers and desserts. Such a perfect low-key party.

Coincidentally, the French Open began this past weekend – really, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for a tennis party on the patio. If you have a tennis lover in your family or you, like me, are just looking for a reason to make a pitcher of sangria and some tennis ball cookies, look no further.

Thank me later. With a quick trip to Michael’s for ribbon in tennis ball yellow and a neon yellow gel pen and black stickers, I was on my way to kitschy tennis heaven. I sacrificed four tennis balls to turn a simple plastic tray into a fun tennis ball tray. Each tennis ball got a generous dot of hot glue and then I pressed the balls, one at a time, to the bottom of the tray.

For the cookies, Julia and I made a batch of my favorite no-chill sugar cookies and then rolled out enough dough to make almost three dozen tennis balls. We cut out the dough into circles and used the side of a butter knife to make light indents in the dough to guide us with our white lines later. To make the frosting, I tinted royal icing with lemon yellow and kelly green gel colors from Wilton.

Nothing goes better with tennis ball sugar cookies than some sangria! I made 2 pitchers of sangria – one red, one white. The white was a big hit! The red is still sitting in my fridge. No love for the red sangria.

Our tennis party was fun mainly because of those who attended but I will confess that Julia and I really enjoyed getting crafty and creating a little bit of a tennis theme for all of us to enjoy while we laughed and snacked and drank sangria! If it’s too late to arrange a French Open party at your house, Wimbledon is right around the corner! Have you ever done a sport themed party for adults? Tell me I am not the only one!