Celebrating April 6th

I've been hosting themed monthly dinners with my friends for 8 1/2 years, so some months I have difficulty deciding on a theme. This month was one of them.  Even with Spring Break to try to and figure it out, I was struggling and just couldn't find one that inspired me.  So Saturday night (before the Monday party), I typed "April 6th Holidays" into my computer to see if there were any holidays that fell on that day.  To my surprise, there were several, and they were so hilarious, I decided to go with it and incorporate them all into my monthly dinner!

Entry Decor: I picked two of the "holidays" to represent in the entry. For "Plan Your Epitaph Day" I made a tombstone out of wood and created a calendar with April 6th circled and the holiday.  For Army day, I covered a crate with my brother's old Marine jacket and an American flag I already had.

I also made this sign for the door to represent Army Day. I made it out of foam board and scrapbook paper.  Luckily one of my students is a really good artist, so she helped me get Uncle Sam just right.

Inside Decor:  For my centerpiece, I randomly decided to try to make a cake out of beer cans and Twinkies to represent New Beers Eve and National Hostess Twinkie Day. Actually LOVE the way it came out as it was perfect for this party!  To make it, I cut a 2-liter soda bottle just above the label.  I turned it upside down to lay in the center and placed 8 beer cans around it (they fit perfectly).  I then taped the Twinkies to the bottle to make them stay in place. Lastly, I added a thick ribbon around both layers and stuck a bow I bought at the Dollar Tree to the top of the bottle.

Also on the table, I place vases with caramel popcorn in them for National Caramel Popcorn Day.  I made flags for each of the holidays I was representing at the dinner to stick inside.  I made the flags on PhotoShop, they are all pictured at the top of this post.

As a final touch to the centerpieces, I borrowed two cars from my kids' toy box and made Z's with my Cricut to glue to toothpicks and stick out the windows.  These represented Drowzy Driver Awareness Day.

I used camouflage napkins to represent Army Day.

For the place cards, I made tombstones out of foam board and used my Cricut to put each guest's name on them.  I left a blank spot of guests to write their own epitaph for "Plan Your Epitaph Day". These were some of them....they gave us a good laugh.

I made wine bottle labels also themed around "Plan Your Epitaph Day".  As an English teacher and Hemingway fan, I love that I was able to incorporate one of his quotes.

For wine charms, I used beer bottle caps to represent New Beers Day.  My husband drilled a small hole in the cap, and then I threaded the string through.  Simple.

Menu:  We started out for a green salad with bacon, egg, and tomatoes. I paired it with Sorry Charlie Day only for the alliteration!

For the main dish, I served Beer Can Chicken to represent "New Beers Eve".  I had never made it before, but it was very tender and super easy.  I followed this recipe.  We cooked it on the grill.

I also served tater tots...what adult doesn't love an excuse to eat tater tots!  These represented "National Tater Day".

For a vegetable, I cooked up three green veggies to represent army green for "Army Day". I cooked green beans, asparagus, and broccoli.

For dessert, I made strawberry shortcake using Twinkies.

Favor: Anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite snack is popcorn.  I couldn't pass up National Caramel Popcorn Day, so I used this as the inspiration for my parting gift.  The popcorn boxes I found at Michaels.  I created the tag to thank guests for "poppin" into the dinner party.

We had a fun time celebrating random holidays for April 6th!