Party Idea: A DIY Dipping Station

While I’m still relatively new at the entertaining game, if there’s anything I’ve learnt for certainty it’s that food is king. Whether you order from the best Thai place in the city, create an epic charcuterie spread (like my family did here), or whip up your world famous what-have-you that everyone raves about, there’s nothing better than gathering with good people over delicious eats. And while, on a day to day basis, I prefer to keep things simple, every once in a while it’s fun to take your party to the next level with a food feature of sorts. Enter: our dipping station. When Gaby and I were brainstorming fun ideas to elevate our girl’s night in party a while back, we came up with this simple idea that ultimately ended up being the party show-stopper. It was tasty, interactive, and truly didn’t take a whole lot of effort to whip together. Perfect for our girl’s night in, a shower, or heck, even a wedding, it’s these little details that tend to go a really long way. With photos from Heidi Lau, grab our cheat-sheet for creating a dipping station of your own below. And head on over to Gaby’s blog, The Vault Files, to read all about how we created the adorable palm frond signs to accompany it! 

ps – a DIY popcorn bar is another crowd pleaser

 
::WHAT WE USED::

.Hot fudge
.White chocolate (melted)
.Homemade dulce de leche 
.Vanilla bean marshmallows (we used I Love Puffy Love)
.Donut holes (we picked ours up at a bakery)
.Pretzel sticks
.Homemade pizzelles (though you could easily use store bought cookies of any variety)
.Shredded coconut
.Coloured sprinkles
.Edible confetti (picked up at Michael’s)
.Crushed oreo crumbs

::TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN DIPPING STATION::

. Keep the decor minimal, but impactful. For our tropical-themed dipping station, we spray painted pineapples, and tucked extra palm fronds and foliage in unassuming areas. In addition, we wrapped white and gold twine around the dips, and used small wooden boards (picked up at home sense!) in lieu of plates 

.For beauty factor, pay attention to height, scale and texture. We placed the dips on a cake stand, made sure to use white bowls of different sizes, and threw in a slate cheese board to display our cookies for a hint of texture. We also balanced the height of the cake stand with a simple bouquet of flowers in our party colours. Doing so adds interest, and makes the whole scheme feel intentional and properly pulled together. 

.Create simple DIY signs (you can grab the tutorial for our palm frond versions on Gaby’s blog right here!)

.Ensure your dishware co-ordinates, not matches. Much like pulling together an outfit, stick to a colour palette to keep a cohesive feel, but use various vessels for interest (we stuck with black, white and hints of gold here)

.Consider sweet and salty components. While a dipping station is naturally geared towards those with a sweet tooth, we made sure to add some pretzel sticks so that not everything felt overly saccharine. I weirdly feel like plain potato chips could work well here too? 

.And last but not least, try to set everything out before your guests arrive, keep everything on display, and ensure napkins (or plates) are easily accessible so they’re encouraged to dig in right away.

Photography: Heidi Lau | Marshmallows: I Love Puffy Love | Design & Styling: Lark & Linen and The Vault Files