Invite: I love the Hawaiian shirt vibe of Trader Joe's so I wanted to incorporate that into the background of my invitation. I also love the recylable bags, so I added that idea to the invitation. I used a Trader Joe's logo and crafted the party details around that. For added fun at the party, I asked guests to come dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and to bring their favorite product from Trader Joe's for a fun exchange.
Decorations: Sticking with red, brown, and white for my party colors, I used a red tablecloth and white plates on the table. I added a table runner created using cut up Trader Joe's bags.
For a centerpiece, I filled a mini shopping cart with Trader Joe's products. A friend of mine who works as a sign artist for Trader Joe's let me borrow a Trader Joe's shirt that I used in the centerpiece.
To complete the centerpiece, my friend also designed the fun "Enjoy Dinner with Joe" sign with a plant from Trader Joe's.
For place cards, we each had a Trader Joe's name tag similar to what the employees wear at work. I placed them on the plate initially, but the guests added them to their Hawaiian shirts to wear for the evening once they arrived.
Around the napkins, I made a sleeve with cut up Trader Joe's bags and added a Trader Joe's sticker that the store typically gives to kids when they visit the store.
Did you know Trader Joe's has these cute packets of spoons and also ones forks for customers to use? I added just the spoons to the table for added decor.
To spice up the beverage table, I again made a table runner out of bags. I used Trader Joe's insulated bags as background decor and also made a logo sign to cover the O in my Home sign.
I designed my wine labels to match the invitation and had a chalkboard as part of the label. On the chardonnay, I played off the cup of Joe coffee idea and changed it to a cup of "Joe" as in Trader Joe. Since Two Buck Chuck wine was so popular at Trader Joe's, the red wine label played off that idea.
I used more of the Trader Joe's stickers to use for my wine charms. I backed them with black cardstock and then attached them to the wine glass stems.
Menu: For an appetizer, I decided to make a Caprese Flatbread Pizza with 5 Trader Joe's ingredients. This was super easy to make and delicious. All I did was assemble the ingredients, and bake the pizza in a 400 degree oven for 7-9 minutes. Here are the 5 ingredients used...
I used Trader Joe's pizza crust which I brushed with oil. Then I topped it with fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil. I drizzled it with Trader Joe's Balsamic Glaze after baking. Yummy!
For the main dish I served Carne Asada Stuffed Peppers over Cilantro Lime Rice. These again were very easy to make and were a big hit with the guests. I will definitely plan on making them again for my family. The ingredients I used:
Trader Joe's carne asada, tri color bell peppers, organic jasmine rice, avocados, and fresh cilantro. I grilled the carne asada on my Traeger grill. Sliced and cored the peppers to grill briefly before filling them with the sliced carne asada, avocado, and cilantro to taste. The rice is cooked in the microwave, and then the cilantro and lime juice were added for flavor. I did serve cut limes and Trader Joe's salsa on the side for guests to add if they wanted.
For dessert, I kept things easy with a 3 item dessert. The main item was premade apple blossoms from Trader Joe's. I warmed them in the oven according to the package directions, drizzled some heated up Trader Joe's caramel sauce on them, and served it with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream. Easy and delicious.
Party Activities: We played a fun game after dinner and before dessert I called 5 Words of Less. It was adapted from the Poetic Injustice game. I basically gave the guests a sentence they needed to finish in 5 words of less. For example, one of the questions asked guests to "leave a negative review of a dive bar," and they had to come up with a review that was 5 words of less. This game had us laughing so hard, it was really fun.
With each round of the game, we awarded points to the best 5 word phrases. We tallied those and used them for who picked first from our Trader Joe's favorites basket. On the invitation, I asked each guest to bring 1 item from Trader Joe's that is one of their favorites. These items were placed inside the Trader Joe's basket I borrowed for the party. This was really fun as we all went home with an item/product to try. We actually went home with more than one since most of us couldn't decide on just one and brought more than one to the exchange!
Favor: One of my favorite items from Trader Joe's is the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups....heavenly! I used these as my party favor. I cut up the Trader Joe's recyclable bags again and folded them into small pockets. I added the same Trader Joe's logo from my invitation to the front, and then filled the pocket with some of the peanut butter cups.
This was a really fun and easy dinner. The food prep was easy, the games were super fun, and with my friend's help with the decor, the party all came together nicely.
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