I hosted a Pinterest party for our monthly dinner this month, and it was so much fun! We had a menu created from Pinterest recipes, a Valentine craft inspired by Pinterest, and a gift exchange of Pinterest inspired items! February was the perfect month for this theme because the red and white of the Pinterest logo fits with Valentine colors, and I could not be happier with how it turned out!
Invite: I first told guests about this event 2 months ago, and I let them know that they would be asked to bring a Pinterest item they create for a gift exchange. This could be a recipe they made, a scarf they knitted, a craft item they made, whatever they chose to create. Giving them advance notice helped because my friends are some busy ladies and this gave them time to plan. I also sent a PicCollage reminder 3 weeks before as another reminder, and then of course this invitation. I made this invitation on PhotoShop and combined Pinterest with Valentine's Day images and colors.
Inside Decor: Red, white, and black were my party colors - the Pinterest colors. I set my table with simple items I already owned, but added a bit of a Valentine/Pinterest touch.
I found a red and white striped dry-erase board at a garage sale to place under my centerpiece (the red hearts are just scrapbook paper confetti). I already owned the Valentine table runner. I bought some Valentine's ribbon and wrapped it around my cake platter, candle, and vase. Created a mini heart banner for a white pitcher I borrowed from a friend, added a red heart to a chalkboard sign I made, and filled a heart dish I purchased for $2.50 at Target for red and white gumballs I stole out of our family's gumball machine!
I dressed up my dinner plates by topping them with these red heart-shaped paper plates I found at Michaels. I cut the white Pinterest logo out with my Cricut machine to place in the center. We used these plates for our first course of the dinner.
I also added the pinterest logo to the napkin.
I had fun creating these placecards. At first, I looked up DIY place cards on Pinterest and thought I might create something inspired by Pinterest. However, I decided instead to make my place card directly Pinterest themed. I created a fake Pinterest board and called it Amazing Friends. I just used random numbers for "pins". I went through my photos from past monthly dinners, and I made the main photo a single photo of my guest, and the two side photos group photos with the featured guest in them.
To cover up the place card stand and add a little fun, my daughter and I quickly crafted these yarn puff balls in the party colors.
I already had mantle decor for Valentine's Day, so I put these up. To add a bit more, I created this easy heart banner out of cardstock. After cutting strips of red, white, and black, I stapled them together in a heart shape. Super quick and easy.
I created simple wine labels that combined the Valentine and Pinterest theme. I usually like to come up with something clever for my wine labels, but not this time. Just stayed simple.
For wine charms, I found these metal circles etched with various words in the scrapbook section at Michael's. I used my Cricut to create a slightly large red circle behind them and tied them to the stem of each glass. I chose the etchings that were related to our theme (xoxo, love, create, heart, etc.) although some were other kinds of words (faith, happy, etc.)
I love using Pinterest for crafts, so I wanted to have a simple, quick craft that guests could create as they arrived and chatted. This craft was perfect! I set out all my wine corks for guests to use to create a wine cork heart as a Valentine display.
All the supplies were set on the table - corks, glue guns, heart template, red paint, and a paint brush. Guests used the heart template to line up the corks in a heart shape before hot gluing them together. Then they painted the top of the corks red, and they were done! You can make your heart template any size. Just make sure you have enough corks for all your guests to be able to do it. My template used 24 corks for each heart.
Menu: It was easy to find a menu for this dinner because there are a TON of recipes I have pinned over the years and always wanted to try. I paired some of these recipes with Valentine's related menu items. We started with a simple spinach salad with strawberries cut into hearts. It also had blueberries, toasted almonds, and feta cheese. I served it with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing.
For the main dish I made a simple smoked Tri-Tip on our Traeger grill. I always love the Traeger because I don't have to babysit the meat while it grills, and I can put it on a leave. Plus, we love everything we cook on the Traeger! So yummy! I made two of these tri-tips and just refilled the tray when this one was finished.
Lately I have been loving brussel sprouts and I haven't served them at a monthly dinner yet, so I made these roasted parmesan sprouts. They were tasty.
I also made these cute heart-shaped potatoes. To be honest, I didn't really follow the Pinterest recipe on this one as I make potato bites often for my family (just not in hearts). These were simple to make, but it does take time to cut the heart shape out with a cookie cutter. Make sure you place the cut potatoes in water so they don't brown while you get them all cut out.
For dessert, we had a simple chocolate caramel fondue that I found on Pinterest. I used my centerpiece heart bowl to hold the chocolate and surrounded it with strawberries, bananas, angel food cake, and vanilla wafers. I had to incorporate chocolate into the menu as a chocolate dipped strawberries are a favorite Valentine treat!
Party Activity - My favorite part of the night was the Pinterest gift exchange! I had the guests wrap their creations, and we drew numbers for choosing gifts. Like at Christmas time gift exchanges, we decided each creation could be stolen one time before it was "frozen." These girls came up with some super fun and crafty gifts. These are just some of them. Top left is a guide to writing cool fonts with a metal tin and the supplies/items to create as you learn those fonts. Bottom left is a WIFI sign to put up in your home. On the right is a cute Valentine decor sign made with buttons!
Here are some more from the gift exchange. Left is what I made - a giant wooden welcome sign I painted. Top right is individual sugar scrubs that are hearts! Bottom right is chocolate dipped Oreos and pretzels made to look like cute little bees. Yumzzzzz!
Favor: Speaking of chocolate dipped Oreos, I made these dipped Oreos to look like the Pinterest logo for guests as a parting gift. I piped the "P" on the front in white chocolate.
Another great night with my closest friends. If you have girlfriends like mine that love a good night out and a little Pinterest, this is a fun party. Mix up this party however works for you...leave out the gift exchange and ask guests to bring parts of the meal. Or just do a craft with your meal. So fun!
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