Operation: Girls Night

Here we are in what seems like week 800 of COVID-19, and I am aching for life to get back to normal or even semi normal. I miss seeing my friends in person.  I miss having my kids at school rather than at home to learn.  I miss teaching my own students at work and not through the computer.  Overall, this distance learning has me STRESSED!  With all the craziness of distance learning right now, I am in desperate need of a girls night!  Hence...Operation: Girls Night!

Invite:  We used to play the board game Operation when I was a kid.  I thought it might be a fun theme to work with for our girls night.  Turns out it was just what the doctor ordered (yes...corny joke time).  I created the invite with the color scheme to match the game (the original version).  I added some of the game pieces into the text of the invite as well.

Party Details:  Due to COVID we are still on Zoom for these dinners, so I am not doing table decorations, but I still try to add fun party details to play up the theme.  For my mini wine bottles for each guest, I purchased tweezers from the dollar store and tied them with ribbon to the top.  This was to simulate the tweezers attached to the wire that are used in the game.  

I created a wine label using "Cavity Sam" just as he appears on the game box, but with one small addition -- I added a body part/game piece.  This was the wine glass where the mouth is.  It was so small on the wine bottle I am sure most of the girls didn't even notice, but it made me chuckle!  I think I should have just included the head-shot of Cavity Sam like I did here, so it would have been more noticeable.  Hindsight, I guess. 

I don't typically serve bottled water to my guests, but one of the Operation game pieces is "Water on the Knee" so I decided to this time.  Just made a simple label and glued it over the already existing label.

For the napkin, I incorporated two of the Operation game pieces.  The pencil which in the game symbolizes "Writer's Cramp" and a rubber band which in the game is the "ankle bone connected to the knee bone."  After making the tag, I hot glued the pencil to the tag and then used the rubber band to keep it in place on the napkin.

Menu:  Several of the game pieces already go perfectly with foods, so that part was really easy.  Others I had to be a little bit creative.  After coming up with a meal that matched with the game pieces, I designed a menu on Photoshop.

I served an apple and Gorgonzola romaine salad with candied pecans and dried cranberries to represent the "Adam's Apple" game piece.  Since these dinners were picked up "to-go" style, I put the salad in zip lock baggies to keep is chilled and away from the hot food.  For the dressing, I bought the Wishbone brand of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing to represent the wishbone game piece.  I put some in a to-go ramekin for guests.

For the main dish, I smoked ribs on my Traeger grill....so easy and delicious!  I followed the 3-2-1 Traeger Rib recipe.  Of course, these ribs represented the "Spare Ribs" game piece in the Operation game.  Along with ribs, I served heart-shaped potato bites.  I make potato bites all the time, but this time I used a cookie cutter to have them shaped like hearts to represent the "broken heart" game piece.  They were too cute to actually break, but the idea is there.

I also made these cute mini baskets to hold a roll for each guest. The "bread basket" is what the game piece calls the stomach with a the game piece shaped like a piece of toast.  These baskets are a ramekin I bought 3 for a $1 from the dollar store and then a piece of red cardstock that I taped to the inside of the ramekin.

For dessert, I made meringue chocolate chip cookies, but shaped them into "funny bones" to represent that Operation game piece.  I did the shaping by hand so they definitely weren't perfect, but they were sweet and tasty.

Favor:  I like to include a parting gift or favor with my monthly dinners.  I used the "Charlie Horse" game piece as inspiration for this.  I already had a horse mold from a previous monthly dinner (Kentucky Derby), so I used that one to make chocolate suckers.  

I added a tag with a tip from Cavity Sam: Avoid a Charlie Horse and attend Operation Girls Night.  It won't cramp your style!  Pretty cheesy, but my friends are use to that from me!

The girls stopped by my porch to pick up their food and goodies for the evening.  We met on Zoom and had a great time talking, laughing, and eating this yummy food. Overall, this theme was easy to put together.  I would totally recommend it for a fun girls night (especially if you could play the game).  It makes a great theme for a medical school graduation party too!

Thanks for reading my blog!