A Hallmark Christmas Monthly Dinner

'Tis the Season for Hallmark Christmas movies!   Yep...I am a sucker for that cookie-cutter romantic movie full of Christmas miracles! This theme was pretty fun to pull off as I tried to incorporate Hallmark Christmas movie constants throughout.

Invite: For the invitation, I made sure to include Christmas plaid, the Hallmark logo, and an old red truck to fulfill some common Hallmark tropes. This in addition to the wording of the invitation.

Decorations:  Hallmark Christmas movies are all about beautiful red and green scenes, and snow accented evenings. I tried to decorate with items that went along with those concepts.  The main table had a red tablecloth with fun accents.

For the centerpiece, I used some holiday themed boxes with plaid and added decorations I either had or borrowed from friends.  These included a cute gingerbread house since the plot of many Hallmark Christmas movies includes the couple building or judging gingerbread houses.  

The red truck hauling a Christmas tree is another Hallmark staple.  The little trees and snowflake pieces on the table added to the festive wintery decor.

No Hallmark Christmas movie is complete without one of the characters baking perfectly decorated Christmas cookies, so I incorporated these into my place cards.  I bought these super cute Christmas cookies from Target.  Nope...I don't have the skills or the time to do this myself!  I placed them on a piece of silver metallic cardstock that I cut and folded to look like a mini cookie sheet.  I added a tag that read, "Mysteriously Perfect Christmas Cookie for ______" and included the guest's name.

I made a tag to place on top of the napkin that read "Napkin-ly Ever After" to play with the happily ever after ending to every Hallmark Christmas movie.

For wine charms, I cut out images of various Christmas related items prevalent in Hallmark movies - snowflake, movie clapboard with holly, a present, a tree, the truck with tree in the bed, cup of hot cocoa, and mistletoe among others.

For wine labels, I designed labels to imitate Hallmark movie titles.  "Holiday Romance in a Bottle" was for my white wine and I added a sparkly Christmas tree made out of wine bottles and glasses.  For the red wine, it was "Uncork Christmas: The Perfect Pairing in Every Sip."  I found an image of a Hallmark movie couple with red wine glasses in hand to add to the design.

Near the beverage table, I borrow a super fun lamp with Santa around a Christmas tree, and throughout the evening it played Christmas music while the "snow" spilled up and fell down around Santa.  I also had a fire going (definite Hallmark staple), stockings hanging, a Hallmark Christmas movie playing in the background, and my usual holiday decor.

Menu: If you've followed my blog in the past, you know I always tie my dinner menu in with the theme of the evening.  For this dinner, we started with a "Tis the Season Salad - 'Tossing' Away that Business Job in the City."  This was a simple appetizer salad with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red pepper pieces, and goat cheese.  I chose these items to keep the red, green, and white theme prevalent.

The main course was homemade meatballs I titled, "Mistletoe Magic Meatballs."  These were "too irresistible to stay apart."  I followed my mom's meatball recipe which was easy and delicious.

For a side, I served mashed potatoes I titled, "Let It Snow Mashed Potatoes." The tag line read, "'Snow' Special They'll Capture your Heart."  Cheesy...just like Hallmark movies.  As you may be able to tell from my menu cards, I tried to find a Hallmark movie title that matched or was similar to my menu item name.  I added the poster image for the movie to the menu card.

Along with the mashed potatoes, I served "Merry Mix-Up Mixed Veggies." The tag line read "'Peas" and thank yous lead to a one 'carrot' diamond for this local gal." 

I also served rolls with butter - "All I 'Knead' for Christmas" as they were "ready to 'roll' in for a hometown Christmas."  I had never tried these rolls before, but they were rolls from the freezer section.  I just brushed butter on the top, baked them in the oven for a few minutes, and then brushed a little more butter on the top before serving.  They were quite good.

For dessert I made a Candy Cane Oreo Ice Cream cake which was delicious. The tagline for this entree was "It's love at first bite for this sweet couple," and it definitely was love at first bite for all of the guests as we loved it.

Favor: I didn't have a hot cocoa bar even though drinking hot chocolate is a staple in Hallmark Christmas movies, so I decided to use hot cocoa as my party favor.  I bought small mason jars from Michaels craft store that said "Love" on them which was perfect for this theme.  I filled each glass with the mix from 2 packets of ready-to-heat hot chocolate mix, then mini chocolate chips, then mini marshmallows, and finally crushed candy canes.  I designed a tag that read, "A Little Christmas Miracle in Each Sip."

Since this was a dinner party and not a movie viewing party, we didn't watch a Hallmark movie.  If you are planning to watch one, I would definitely suggest playing a Hallmark Christmas movie Bingo game.  There are ton on Etsy for purchase if you don't want to make it yourself.  You could also have a story starter and have guests write the rest of the storyline and give a prize to the best one.

All in all, this was a fun Christmas-y theme!

Uno Party

Who doesn't love the card game UNO? I grew up playing this game, and still love playing it with my family today.  I decided it might be a fun theme to have at our November monthly dinner, and it did not disappoint.  From decorations to food, the colorful theme was easy and fun to put together.

Invite: I designed the invitation around the Uno logo and all the colors used in the game.  I tried to incorporate words from the game into the wording of the invite as well.  I kept it simple, but an additional idea that you could incorporate with this theme might be to ask guests to dress head to toe in one of the colors.

Decorations: Of course, I tried to incorporate UNO cards wherever I could.  On the mantle above the side table, I added Uno cards to the Thanksgiving turkey in my HOME display for added fun.  

I borrowed giant Uno cards from a neighbor, and used red mini clothespins to hang them for a festive banner display.

I also used these giant Uno cards to create a small runner on the dining table on top of a black tablecloth. 

For the centerpiece, I used an Uno Attack shooter that launches cards at you in that Uno game.  I also designed an image with various Uno cards that I printed and wrapped around a vase.  I purchased a bouquet of red roses to put in the top (any excuse to buy myself flowers!).

For the place settings, I purchased paper plates and napkins from the Dollar Tree in the 4 Uno colors.  I put them on top of my white plates so they popped a bit more on the black tablecloth.

For place cards, I designed Uno wild cards with a photo of each guest in the middle.

For the napkins, I just placed an Uno card on the center of a colorful folded napkin.  They were real playing cards, so I didn't glue them or anything.

Had some fun as usual with designing wine labels.  I played off specific Uno cards.  The red wine was a WILD card that I designed to say "Wild about Red Wine."  I used a colorful Uno card wallpaper behind the center image. For the white wine, I used a yellow Draw Two card and photoshopped two white wine glasses into the center squares.  The wallpaper on this label was the same black burst that I used on the invitation with the Uno logo also from the invitation.

For wine charms I printed out mini Uno cards to tape to the front of the glasses.

As added fun, I had guests draw an Uno card to see which glass they used for the evening.

Menu:  There are plenty of colorful foods that could go along with this theme.  I used some color, but mainly used Uno cards as inspiration for my menu.  We started with a 7-Layer Dip and tortilla chips to go with the Green 7 card.

Next was Draw 2 Tacos with all the fixings.  I served TWO options (shredded chicken or ground beef) and each guest started with TWO tacos.  On the side guests could add cheese, tomato, lettuce, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream.

I served WILD rice and black beans inside a red, yellow, and green bell peppers that I called WILD CARD stuffed peppers.

For dessert, I made individual raspberry cheesecakes, but I made them upside down to represent the REVERSE card in Uno. This recipe was very easy to make, and was the perfect amount of cheesecake after we were so full.  

Favor:  As a party favor for guests, I filled a favor bag with M&M's.  I pulled out the orange M&Ms to keep them with the traditional Uno colors.  I probably should have taken out the brown ones so they looked more festive (hindsight).  I designed a tag that said "Hope UNO (you know) how amazing you are!" 

A super fun theme & a super fun game to play. Hope you are inspired to host an Uno party for your next gathering!

Welcome to Adulthood - Celebrating 18 Years

It's hard to believe, but this October, we celebrated 18 YEARS of monthly dinners together!  Yep... that is 216 dinners happening once a month over the past 18 years.  These have been such a blessing for me as they are a chance to catch up with girlfriends in our busy schedules & strengthen friendships.

To celebrate this milestone, I decided to theme my dinner "Welcome to Adulthood" and plan the decor and meal around everything you can do when you turn 18.  It was a lot of fun to plan.

Invite:  I created the invitation on PhotoShop with a fun sign with the theme on it.  I added images along the bottom of various things you can do once you turn 18 - join the military, play the lottery, vote, get a credit card, buy cigarettes, and buy fireworks.

Decorations:  I set the table with a black tablecloth, and then added items to the centerpiece that you can do when you turn 18 much like I did on the invitation.

To represent being able to VOTE, I used some flags and a hat decoration from my fourth of July decorations.  I also included a local ballot packet from the upcoming election under it.

I found some toy handcuffs to go with 18 as the age when you can be taken to JAIL.

I printed out an image of some fun and silly tattoos for when you can get a TATTOO without needed parental consent.

I hate cigarettes, but it was fun to make these pretzel and candy ones to represent 18 year olds being able to purchase CIGARETTES. I got thicker pretzel sticks, and used white and red candy melts to cover them to look like cigarettes.  I used some black sanding sugar mixed with some regular sugar to dip the red tip.  For the ash trays, I filled small dishes with crushed oreos mixed with sugar.

Also in the centerpiece I had some cans of spray paint, some fireworks, and a jury summons.

For place cards, I made name badge stickers using PhotoShop and added a little tag on top for guests to CHANGE THEIR NAME which you can legally do when you turn 18.  We had guests change their name to everything from Princess Consuela Banana Hammock from Friends to childhood imaginary friend names.

For napkin rings, I wrapped some camouflage scrapbook paper around the napkin and designed a tag for each branch of the military since a person can JOIN THE MILITARY at 18.

Designing wine labels is always a lot of fun.  For the white wine, I created the label to show a waitress serving white wine.  At 18, you can serve alcohol.  I just changed it to serving white wine.  For the red wine, I designed a wine-related image that looked like a tattoo.  At 18, you can legally get a tattoo without parental consent.

I made simple wine charms for various other things that you can do once you turn 18.

Menu: It was a little bit of a challenge to come up with menu items related to the theme, but I think I pulled it off.  I started with an appetizer of humus and pita bread as well as taquitos and salsa.  At 18, you can get a Costco card, so I served these appetizers in white cupcake wrappers in small portions like they do for samples at Costco.

Next I had a green HOUSE salad to represent that you can purchase a HOUSE at 18.

For a main dish, I made chicken parmesan.  I will admit, this one was a bit of a stretch to fit with the theme.  I was originally planning a GUILTLESS grilled chicken to tie in with 18 year olds being now called for Jury Duty and having to determine guilt in court cases.  Of course, switching to a chicken parmesan instead of just grilled chicken kinda took away the healthy eating idea with that that yummy cheese and sauce!  Oh well...it was delicioius.

Along with the chicken parmesan, I served spaghetti, but I served the blended sauce in a blood bag since 18 year olds can DONATE BLOOD.  I bought these bags from Amazon.  Since they are typically intended for drinks, I did blend the sauce a bit to make sure it could easily come out of the opening.

For dessert, one of my friends helped me by bringing delicious cupcakes from her work (Small Cakes in Huntington Beach).  

They were a beautiful pink and white with white edible pearls on top.  I added a diamond ring to each cupcake purchased at Party City.  These represented that you can GET MARRIED when you turn 18.

Favor: I tried to pull in more things that you can do when you turn 18 with my party favor.  I matched up various candy with these things, so each guest chose which candy they wanted to take home.

I designed the favor tags to match the invitation and the rest of the party details.  

What an amazing 18 years of fun it has been with these friends.  Although these monthly dinners are a lot of work, I love doing them to be able to spend this one night with my closest friends.  Hope you enjoyed my post!