Invite: I designed the invitation to include the movie logo and phrases/lines from the movie. Kept with a red, white, and blue theme to match the logo. The plan was to have our usual dinner and then head out together to see the new Top Gun movie.
Party Details: The table was set with a red tablecloth and some patriotic decor I already owned. I added a "Now Featuring" movie box filled with popcorn and designed a movie poster for Top Gun. I borrowed a toy airplane my friend's son made to add to the decor.
As a place card, I made military dog tags out of card stock and attached a chain. The dog tag had the last name, first name, a random number as the social security number, and a random blood type. I left off the religious preference.
I bought aviator glasses from the Dollar Tree for each guest for added fun. I placed them sort of like a napkin ring around a royal blue napkin at each place setting. They doubled as a fun photo prop.
The wine labels I designed playoff off various quotes from the movie. "I feel the need. The need for speed" with a little addition of "and red wine." For the white wine, it was "Tower. This is Ghost Rider Requesting" and instead of flyby, I changed it to wine.
For wine charms, I created flags with various character's names inside the Top Gun logo. These were easy to create and then just glue around the wine stem.
Above the drink table, my son folded some red and blue paper airplanes that I put together into a decorative banner. I also added the folded flag from my family.
Menu: It was challenging, but fun to come up with a menu for this theme. I created labels for each item.
The starter was chicken wings I titled "Be My Wingman Wings." I served them with a bit of ranch.
For the main dish we had calzones and called them "The Danger (cal)Zone." We made them with "Mav-ricotta" cheese! They were very good. The filling was rotisserie chicken, mushrooms, diced green peppers, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.
I also served a salad I love to order at Northwoods Inn. It is a mixture of Caesar salad and red cabbage salad mixed together. I named this dish "Goose Brad-Slaw." Yum.
For dessert, I made a mint chip and oreo cookie crust ice cream bars. I tied them in with the character Iceman.
Favor: Since we were hoping to go to the movies to see the new Top Gun: Maverick movie, my party favor was candy for the theater and microwave popcorn just because. I designed a tag to match the invitation. The tag included one of the famous ending lines of the movie, "You can be my wingman anytime."
All in all, it was a really fun night!
