Brenda Byers, owner of GreatStitch styled this amazing tailgating apple party!  You might be thinking “How in the world do you combine tailgating with apples?”  It can actually be done quite beautifully and below Brenda gives us a details account on how she put together this amazing event filled with delicious apple treats and the tailgate from a fancy fire red truck!

Some things we LOVE from this party:
– Gorgeous cake that looks like apple basket with apples on top
– GreatStitch monogrammed pillows in the truck bed that match the decorations add comfort to tailgaters
– Array of apple desserts from apple cider topped with homemade caramel marshmallows to fried apple pie 

Additional Fall party ideas:
– Fall Harvest Party
– Fall Harvest/Thanksgiving with Layla Grace
– Rustic Cookies and Milk
– Rustic Friendsgiving Thanksgiving Dinner

Below, Brenda puts together the details of this Tailgating Apple Party:

With the sun shining brightly in the blue sky, Jenna climbed out of bed early on this crisp Fall morning. She got dressed in her new party outfit from GreatStitch, picked up her basket for apples, and was eagerly pulling her mom’s hand as they walked toward the truck. What she found was a charming tailgate full of apples!

Every apple is a precious commodity–not just a link to the past, but a testament to someone’s determination and foresight to plant a tree…and then wait, and wait some more, then work harder than you could imagine you would need to work. Pruning, thinning, fertilizing and pest control (even the bird’s can be a problem in an orchard). In the end you get these marvelous apples. I had the privilege of growing up in an apple orchard with dozens of trees surrounding our house. So when it came time to do a Fall party for our little friend Jenna, I knew we just had to do an apple themed party–and I’m so excited to share it with you.

Look how great this cake is! It looks like an apple barrel! Right down to the staples! And who made that Apple Barrel cake you ask? Why none other than the talented All Things Cake Shop.

This gorgeous truck we parked at Roses, Inc, where a whole farm is dedicated to Roses. And she ships! Miss Karen is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She had an apple tree on her farm rose farm and she let us borrow it for this party.Once we had a tree, we needed a truck. And his truck is one of the best I have ever seen. Jerry at Jerry’s Auto Glass was kind enough to let us set up on his wood and chrome truck bed. We found him at a car show that they have every Tuesday night here in Tulsa at McAlester’s on 91st and Memorial. His was my favorite!

We started looking for apple accents…I do like to add subtle hints of color and found this gorgeous hand blown glass one at Tazza Glass!

During party time it is always fun to get the mail. The first package that came was cookies! Michele at The Last Course Bakery is such an artist with her frosting! I love the way she matched our inspiration fabric (the Dress Jenna has on) perfectly!

Jenna fell in love with this apple cut out of a book! She was trying to read it! This was not a staged picture…she actually loved it that much! You can find them at Created By K Mah.

Don’t you love the joy on this kid’s face? It was one of the most fun parties we have done because of the happy kiddo! When we plan something, I like to start with the fabric first. I learned the hard way that you can’t just go out and match something. There are specific colors that the fabric world uses and you have to follow those rules or you might end up needing something that doesn’t exist! So when I found the apple fabric for this little dress I knew I hit the jackpot. How could you go wrong with apples having a funky plaid!

Anders Ruff does brilliant printables. The back to school designs were perfect for this party! She added the cross hatching like the fabric print. Plaid is everywhere this year. It’s much better I think with a little funkiness like she has done in these water bottle wraps. Printables add so much to any party!

Check out that engine! It sounds as tough as it looks!

We almost always have books in our parties. I am a book lover and believe you can learn anything as long as you know how to read. These were some from my Mother-in-law that she recently gave us. My kids have great memories of their grandmother reading to them. We also used a quilt from their great grandmother in this shoot. The leaves are stunning if you ask me!

We found these little pitchers at an estate sale and just knew they were perfect to put some caramel in to pour over the apples. It sure did come in handy!

GreatStitch is so happy to do these parties to show what our little embroidery machines can do. The big boys always laugh at us, but then when I tell them we ship to all 50 states and 13 foreign countries, and we have built this all with cash (no debt) they back up and say maybe she can do it! I’m like the little engine that could with this stuff and you all are the real heroes! Trusting your parties and happy moments to a little old lady that had a dream! We have so many people returning and becoming true friends through this business. All over this country people write and call to tell me all about their kiddos loving what we do and it makes us so happy everytime! Never ever feel badly about telling someone you love their work! Don’t wonder if it will matter. Trust me, it does!

I thought and thought about what to put on the apples. I do love a good caramel apple. I came up with the idea of using some dried apple chips on this project. We dipped the caramel in them after it was on the apple and it added a lovely layer of apple flavor.

Is there anyone that doesn’t love a good fried apple pie? And they are gluten free! Now ya’ll know I had to include my prize winning apple pie!

And what did we do with all these apples? We made apple butter! 

I love caramel marshmallows! We made them out of caramel candies and were so good layered with fried apples. They melted just enough to make it bite like it was a cloud.

Another new idea…we used Chex mix with Cinnamon on it to make a “puppy chow” mix. Just melt white chocolate and pour it over the Chex. We drizzled caramel over that. then added apple chips. Perfect snack!

Caramel marshmallows melting in the cider…oh boy. Can’t hardly stand the thought of that even now. It was so good…drizzle a little caramel over the top with those little pitchers…mighty nice!  To me it wouldn’t really be Fall without apples of some kind—apple crisp, apple pie, caramel apples, apple butter, fried apples and oh so much more. Those memories of Fall apples gave us the theme for Jenna’s special Tailgate Apple Party.

Credits:
Styling: Brenda and Rhonda Byers
Printables: Anders Ruff
Photography: Gypsy Canon
Apple Barrel Cake: All Things Cake Shop
Apple Cookies: The Last Course Bakery
Apple Book: Created By K Mah
Blown Glass Apple: Tazza Glass

Additional SOURCES to help create your own apple party:
– Small Mason Jars
– Ladder Produce Stand
– Bushel Baskets
– Apple Cookie Cutter  
– Hinge Lid Glass Containers 
– Faux Apples