Invite: I designed the invitation on PhotoShop using a Tour de France poster image I found on the Internet. Nothing super special to this invite sadly.
Entry: I knew I wanted to incorporate my husband's actual road bike into the decor, but wasn't sure how at first. I decided on this simple entry. I made a banner using scrapbook paper and my Cricut machine. For those of you that don't know about cycling, the background papers represent the 4 jerseys that the leaders of each category from the previous stage wear wear during the next stage. White with red polka dots is the King of the Mountain jersey; green represents the lead sprinter; white is the fastest overall rider under 25 years old; yellow is the overall leader of the race.
Inside Decor: I created a street down the center of my table using card stock and used my Cricut to cut out cyclists in various jerseys. I also borrowed one of those giant Eiffel Tower drinking cups they sell at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas from a friend of mine. She didn't mind me spray painting it grey, so I did.
My original idea for place cards was to shape paper clips into bikes with large buttons as wheels. After making one, my fingers were killing me, so I had to come up with another idea. I bought these plastic water bottles from the Dollar Tree and made a simple label. Not super creative, but at least it goes with the theme.
I made wine bottle labels on Photoshop to represent the theme and translated the white and red wine into French. My menu represented a few of the stages of the Tour de France, so since wine is always our first stop, it became Stage 1.
For wine charms, I used images of the jerseys of popular teams in the 2015 Tour de France.
Menu: Since the Tour de France happens all over France, I decide to serve French cuisine. Our starter was a spinach salad with French dressing. This was Stage 2 of the race. The salad was topped with red onion, mushrooms, bacon, and shredded cheese. To make the dressing I mixed a 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and two green onions finely chopped (with tops). I am not normally a fan of French dressing, but this was tasty.
For Stage 3, I served Beef Bourguignon that I made in the crock pot. I found the recipe here. It was very good. If I were to make it again, I would thicken the sauce to make a gravy before serving.
Normally I would serve the Beef Bourguignon with mashed potatoes, but since this was a Tour de France party, I served it over wheel pasta with butter. It was "wheelie" good!
I have been wanting to make crepes forever, and my original plan was to make the entire meal crepes. One of my guests recently found out she has a wheat allergy, so this changed that plan. I did make two different kinds for dessert though.
The first was a chocolate crepe. I made them a few days before and froze them. Inside, I put strawberry yogurt. Then drizzled chocolate on the top with a dollop of whipped cream, some chocolate shavings, and a strawberry.
The second crepe dessert was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! These were Lemon Raspberry Crepes. The inside is a lemon curd with whipped cream. Outside is drizzled with a raspberry sauce and then garnished with a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh raspberry. I used a different recipe for the crepe, but the curd and sauce recipe I found at Buttercream Bakehouse.
Favors: I sent the ladies home with bars a chocolate with bicycles on them. These took a while to paint the dark chocolate bike, but they were super cute. I used my husband's bike helmet as a basket to display them. The tag read:
This was a fun theme. Great if you are into cycling and Tour de France of course, but even if you aren't, try these recipes. They were definitely something I would make again for my family.
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