Many of you may not know this about me but by trade and skill I am a licensed Massage Therapist.  My spirit has always been attracted to all things that heal and nurture others.

Naturally my undergraduate studies were toward occupational therapy but soon I realized after I did my clinical hours in a hospital setting my heart was not in it.  Being the free-spirit that I am, the thought of such bureaucracy rubbed {yes pun intended} me wrong.

Having a life changing tragedy in my younger years when my brother died led me to seek the very thing that helped me get out of pain and eliminate the possibility of surgery – Massage and Chiropractic care! It just so happens I ended up marrying a talented doctor years later {wink}!

Massage therapy relaxed my TMJ (temporomandibular joint} and allowed me to open my mouth after months of clinching my jaw from the stress of my brother Bryan’s death.  I felt a kindred spirit with this type of care, and so I ended up at a technical school to obtain my license as a career shortly after I had such great results.

What does this have to do with food?  I am getting to that I promise! I have had some great experiences traveling the world working with top athletes and celebrities for 18 years now. Sounds glamorous but I promise it was hard work and diligence.

One of the spas I had the pleasure to work at was the famous {even more so now} Mar-a-logo Spa in Palm Beach, Florida. My boss the Donald, was very good to his staff……I could go another route with this post but I dare not with the political “roar” these days.

Just the word “spa” evokes a deep breathe in (which I inherently took after the “roar” above} and a drop in the shoulders as you exhale but the vision of the spa bill might stop your heart and give you agita!

How would you like to feel as though you are at a spa, eat the delicious spa food and still have your paycheck to deposit on Friday?! No more gastric distress; just breathe and relax because I have your DIY Spa-rty!

My daughter was turning 11 and wanted a Spa themed party!  I could hardly wait to use my expert skill and get planning with Pinterest, which of course was my go to Spa-rty organizer!

 

 

The menu was kid-friendly, the décor was DIY tissue paper flowers, swag white fabric, candles, aromatherapy and spa music.  We planned activities for the girls like making their own blend of an uplifting or relaxing aromatherapy sprays,  homemade oatmeal masks with a hot towel to exfoliate gently.

I had a friend work with the girls at the second station doing nail art from Jamberry!  Surprisingly, I think this was a favorite among the girls because of the fun designs from folk art sugar skulls to geometrical designs!

The third station was a rose, vanilla lavender or honey milk fizz ball foot soak of their choice {from Whole Foods Market}.  We also scrubbed their feet with a personal foot brush and lava rock rub.

After the girl’s feet were smelling like a rose they went to the last station to get delightful foot massages and hot parrifin hand wraps.  The dollar store was my go to for the cute caddy baskets, files, loofa sponges, brushes etc. that the girls used.

 

 

Online I found a wholesale sites for the slippers, head bands and blue glass bottles for the aromatherapy sprays. All the girls brought their own robes to get cozy but I had a special one embroidered with Adriana’s name on it from the same company.

For the Spa menu I made my simple Creamy Tomato Soup, mini sandwiches with chicken curry, smoked salmon and cream cheese. Believe it or not, Adriana requested these foods but was also very keen on making sure she was conscience about her friends who had food allergies.

We had Applegate’s organic hotdogs cut into bite sizes and cut up vegetables like cucumbers with humus piped on top! You can see the menu was easy and healthy and happily we didn’t have any leftovers.  In fact, I had one girl scraping the serving soup bowl for more!

 

 

Dessert was simple too because I used my chocolate fountain, that I bought from Bed Bath and Beyond!  I added Enjoy brand chunks of chocolate and let the girls dip strawberries, bananas and {clean} marsh mellows in the beckoning flow of chocolate!

Once the word got out that the chocolate fountain was brimming all spa etiquette was abandoned and when the strawberries disappeared pretty decorated fingers were now adorned in chocolate! The term finger lickin’ good comes to mind here!

Instead of a traditional Birthday cake I used my favorite go to Simple Mills Paleo boxed cupcake mix {I used mini liners} and used Frosting Queens strawberry frosting to finish them off! I did use natural food coloring to enhance the frosting color of pink!

 

 

With a Spoonful of Health,