Turn an ordinary cheese ball into a funny appetizer for your spa party. This delicious spa party food looks like a woman getting a facial. Your guests will love it!
A few years ago, my friend celebrated her 50th birthday. I thought it would be nice to throw her a spa party where she could relax and be pampered for an evening. We got massages, manicures, and pedicures, and ate lots of delicious appetizers and desserts. The party was a huge hit!
As I was dreaming up ideas for my spa-themed birthday party, an image of a woman enjoying a facial came to my mind.
I knew I could use a plastic face mask as a mold to shape food into a face. I had done it years earlier with mashed potatoes when I made an Open Face Sandwich for our Halloween party.
For the spa party, I decided to transform a cheese ball into a woman's face. Creating the face was super easy.
To make it look like a woman getting a facial, I added a guacamole mask, wrapped her head in a mozzarella cheese towel, put cucumbers over her eyes, and gave her bright red pepper lips.
It took me less than 30 minutes to create this fun appetizer. My friends thought it was hilarious and delicious too!
Let's make a spa party appetizer using a taco-flavored cheese ball.
Ingredients
Cheese Ball:
cream cheese
sharp cheddar cheese
Monterrey Jack cheese
taco seasoning
Decorations:
1 fresh mozzarella cheese roll - I used BelGioioso Unwrap and Roll Fresh Mozzarella. If you can't find that, you can use white cheese slices. Soft processed cheese like Velvetta Queso Blanco cut into slices will work best.
½ cup guacamole or sour cream tinted green - If you are using store-bought or fresh guacamole, strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the chunky bits.
2 slices cucumber
1 roasted red pepper
Supplies
food handling gloves, optional
Instructions
Line mask with plastic wrap.
Wash the face mask with warm soapy water. Dry. Line it with a piece of plastic wrap.
Fill the mask with the cheese ball.
In a bowl combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterrey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning. Stir well to combine. I like to put on some food-handling gloves and just mash it all together using my hands.
Press the cheese mixture into the face mask. Smooth out the top surface then fold the plastic wrap up over the cheese and smooth out even more.
You can, if you want, refrigerate the cheese ball for up to a week. You want to decorate it close to the time you serve it.
Unmold the cheese ball.
If you want to decorate it now, just un-mold it and set it on a serving platter.
The woman's skin will be very wrinkled. I smoothed out the wrinkles but realized it wasn't really necessary being it was going to be covered by the guacamole face mask.
Make the mozzarella cheese head wrap (towel).
Unroll the mozzarella cheese roll onto a cutting board. The two ends of the roll won't open up too flat, but you will easily be able to cut out a 10"-12" piece of flat cheese. Cut that piece in half lengthwise.
The underside of the cheese, although wrinkled, is much more smooth than the top side. Flip both slices of cheese over and make sure the top side shows when placed on the face. It will really look like a towel.
If you can't find the mozzarella cheese rolls you can use Velveeta Queso Blanco Cheese. Get a big block, and use a cheese slicer to cut long slices. It is soft enough to mold over the cheese ball.
Wrap the cheese over the cheese ball head.
Pick up one strip of cheese and set it at a diagonal across the left side of the face. Press the cheese up against the head. You want to form the cheese around the top and side of the head then cut off the excess cheese.
Lay the second piece of cheese in the opposite diagonal direction across the right side of the face and repeat the process.
Add guacamole face mask, cucumbers, and red pepper lips.
Spread the guacamole or colored sour cream over the face.
I think I would have liked my face a little better had I left more of it exposed so try to spread the guacamole in an oval over the face, leaving some of the pale orange cheese ball showing.
Place cucumber slices over the eyes. Cut lips out of roasted red pepper and place on face.
Serve within an hour of decorating if you use guacamole. Guacamole gets brown when it's exposed to air so you need to serve this soon after it's decorated.
If you don't plan to serve this cheese ball soon after you decorate it, use the green-colored sour cream instead. See pictures of that below.
Variations
My amazing readers have recreated this recipe and sent me photos of their creations. I hope you find inspiration in their ideas.
You can create orange hair using carrots or shredded cheese. If you want to go all out, you can turn your cheese ball into Medussa with pizza dough snakes coming out of her head.
My readers got creative with the head wraps (towels) using flour tortillas, Swiss cheese, and mozzarella cheese slices.
Several used fresh red peppers to make the lips while one just shaped them out of the cheese ball.
If you make a cheese ball for your spa party, be sure to snap a picture and send it to me at beth@hungryhappenings.com. I'd love to see it!
Related Recipes
Open Face Sandwich topped with a mashed potato face served over turkey and gravy.
Slumber Party Snacks with apple kids snuggled in flour tortilla sleeping bags.
Pink Fuzzy Slipper Cookies made with peanut butter fudge and Nutter Butters.
Recipe
Decorate a cheese ball to look like a woman getting a facial. This face-shaped taco-flavored cheese ball is topped with a guacamole mask, cucumbers over the eyes, a cheese head wrap, and red peper l
- 16 ounces (2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
- 1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning (Season it to your taste.)
- 1 fresh BelGioioso mozzarella cheese roll or Velveeta White Queso Cheese sliced into long strips
- ½ cup guacamole, pureed avocado, or sour cream colored with green food coloring
- 2 slices cucumber
- 1 roasted red pepper
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Wash the face mask with warm soapy water. Dry is completely then line it with a piece of plastic wrap.
-
Stir together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterrey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning.
-
Press the cheese mixture into the face mask. Smooth out the top surface then fold the plastic wrap up over the cheese and smooth out even more.
-
Refrigerate until you are ready to decorate it before your party guests arrive.
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Remove the cheeseball from the plastic face mask and set it on a serving platter.
-
Unroll the mozzarella cheese roll onto a cutting board.
-
The two ends of the roll wont open up too flat, but you will easily be able to cut out a 10"-12" piece of flat cheese. Cut that piece in half lengthwise.
-
The underside of the cheese, although wrinkled, is much more smooth than the top side. Flip both slices of cheese over and make sure the top side shows when placed on the face. It will really look like a towel.
-
Pick up one strip of cheese and set it at a diagonal across the left side of the face.
-
Press the cheese up against the head.
-
Lay the second piece of cheese in the opposite diagonal direction across the right side of the face and repeat the process.
-
Cut off the excess cheese around the edge of the head.
-
Push guacamole through a fine mesh seive to remove any chunks of vegetable or puree avocado and a splash of lemon juice or lime juice in a food processor.
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Spread the guacamole or pureed avocado over the face leaving some of the cheese ball exposed around the edge of the face.
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Place cucumber slices over the eyes.
-
Cut lips out of roasted red pepper and place on face.
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Serve.
Storage
Store your undecorated cheese ball in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Decorate the day you plan to serve it.
Green facial mask options
If you are using store-bought or fresh guacamole, strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the chunky bits. Add the guacamole to the face within an hour of serving it or it might turn too brown.
If you need to decorate your cheese ball earlier, use green-colored sour cream instead.
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Beth Jackson Klosterboer says
Thanks for all of the wonderful comments. I'm so happy to see so many people like this idea. I've seen this recipe posted on Pintrest a lot in the past week and have gotten lots of positive comments, but have also heard from some that are bit squeamish at the thought of eating a face. Not me! Halloween is coming soon, and so will more gross recipe ideas.
Beth @ Hungry Happenings
Anonymous says
Would LOVE to see the ideas mentioned for Halloween cheese ball masks!
Tanya says
That is the coolest appetiser I have ever seen.
Erin Branham says
Well, it's a new and original idea to me! I LOVE this and want to have a spa party so I can make this - ha! Thanks for the photo tutorials - makes like so much easier. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Alison says
I just ran across this while searching for recipe ideas for a cooking demo that I'll be doing next month with the theme of "when girl's nite out stays in." This is perfect! Thank you!
birthdaypartybabble says
Hi Beth,
I love this appetizer idea and your tutorial is so easy to follow. I wanted to let you know that I've shared it on my site (on my page about spa birthday party ideas - perfect!). Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to add. Thanks so much for sharing!
-Jill
Tiffany says
Beth - Don't jealous people suck?!?! You rock!
Spirited Shannon says
THIS IS AMAZING! Thanks for sharing this great tutorial. I would have never thought of this myself, and now I'm thinkin' I might need to do a spa party sometime soon!
http://www.spiritedshannon.com
Beth Jackson Klosterboer says
So happy so many of you like this idea and I think Chris offered some great suggestions for changing it up a bit. I love the idea of a mud mask and really like black beans, too!
Thanks,
Beth @ Hungry Happenings
Shumaila says
This is so cool! Love it!
Eva Taylor says
Found you on Tip Junkie's linky party...love this idea! I want to plan a spa party just to make this cheese ball!!
Beth Jackson Klosterboer says
Thanks Trish:)
Trish - Sweetology101 says
THIS IS THE BOMB..I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog so much x 1 million billion. I feel bad about the other post b/c you INSPIRE ME ALL THE TIME...I just don't have the talent or time to reproduce your wonderfulness. I hope you shake that off and know you are a cool chick.
~Chris says
Too funny! Love this idea! You could really go several ways with it - sour cream or something on top like cold cream, mashed black beans for a mud mask, etc. I'll have to remember this. 🙂
Beth Jackson Klosterboer says
Hi Bonincontrus, I am so very sorry I have disappointed you as that was never my intention. I work hard to come up with creative ideas and provide really intensive step-by-step tutorials for each recipe I make. When I pick a theme or holiday to create themed cuisine, I spend a lot of time just brainstorming ideas and do dream up most of my ideas usually as I'm swimming or riding my bike. That's not to say all of my ideas just pop into my head at the moment I need them. I search for inspiration throughout the year. I look at clip art, crafts, nature, television, etc. to find ideas. As with all of my recipes, once I figure out what I'd like to make, I do a Google search to see what similar recipes might be out there. I'm always thrilled when my idea is truly original, but more often than not it is a new twist on an idea that has already been done. In this case there were lots of cakes that used this spa party theme. I wanted to make this dish savory not sweet and felt that was a big change. I did also see the bento picture which is really fantastic, but as it is on a lot of bento sites, there are no detailed instructions for readers to use to replicate the recipe. So, yes the image of a woman getting a facial had been done in food before, but not as a cheese ball which is how I interpreted this idea.
My goal here at Hungry Happenings is to make recipes that my readers can re-create at home and to show as much detail in preparing the recipes as I think is needed to do so easily. If I use an idea directly from another site, as I did with the Rice Krispies Treat Party Hat (a twist on Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treat Witch Hat) I will say so as to not take credit for an idea or recipe. If, however, I dream up the idea or create a recipe own my own, and it just happens to be similar to another one I find, I still feel like it is my own idea to share with my readers.
Not every one of my ideas will be ground breaking or unique (of course I wish they were), but I do hope that all of my readers enjoy what I present here. I also encourage you take my idea or recipe and add your own twist to it to make it your own. I've featured several pictures from readers who took an idea from Hungry Happenings and made some changes that worked so well. I am thrilled when I can inspired someone else to be creative in the kitchen.
Beth @ Hungry Happenings
pastorrobin says
i'm planning for a ladies laugh in (fun, let-down-your-hair, fun event where a joke in hand by each woman will serve as a tirhis wonderfuk idea/recipe will be great for my event.
pastorrobin says
i’m planning for a ladies laugh in (fun, let-down-your-hair, fevent where a joke-in-hand by each woman will serve as a ticket. this wonderfuk idea/recipe will be great for my event.
REPLY
Beth says
That sounds like so much fun. I hope the ladies love this cheese ball. 🙂
Amy says
such a clever Idea. I will def. use this one someday. Thanks for sharing!
bonincontrus says
I have been following this blog for a long time but this is the first time I have ever been truly disappointed. You wrote this post as if you had this sudden idea that came out of the blue, but spa lady with avocado or green sour cream etc has been around since I was in school. Most recently it was made popular again by slashfood http://www.slashfood.com/2008/08/20/box-lunch-spa-bento/ and a link I posted on here a few months ago but is now removed.
How disappointing
Anonymous says
Oh, who cares? It's just a cute idea. Lighten up.
Tiffany says
Oh my goodness! This is fun. I really admire your creativity!
Jo and Sue says
Oh my goodness! This is so great 🙂 You have the greatest ideas. Seriously. Love this.
GG says
We just had a spa party for my 6 year old granddaughter, her sisters, and her cousins. (Ages 6 to 13) pandemic safe. They loved the face mask snack. Great suggestion!
Beth says
That is so fun! I'm so happy that you and the girls enjoyed the face mask cheese ball and stayed safe during the party. 🙂
Addie says
We had a spa party at church for the ladies and this would have been fantastic. I will have to keep this idea handy for next time. Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.