Invite: I chose a simple patriotic bunting to top the invitation and then used red, white, and blue throughout. I wanted guests to understand the idea of this party and that the "blue" would be replaced with another rhyming word. I tried a spinner wheel, but that didn't look right on the invite. I ultimately decided on a drop-down menu to show guests that it could be red, white, and "BLUE" or "YOU" or "CREW," etc. I used this drop-down menu throughout many of the party details. On the invitation, I also tried to incorporate some more words that rhymed with blue such as "rendezVOUS," "VENUE," and "VIEW."
I thought it might be fun to ask guests to dress in attire for the party that rhymed with blue. I gave them some examples on the invite, but also let them know that they could just wear blue if they couldn't think of anything. Pictured above you see a boy named SUE, myself dressed with a patriotic TUTU and a HAIKU on my shirt, and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss.
We also had two guests who wore items from their recent trips to OAHU, a guest with a BLUE dress and fun HAIRDO, and a BARBECUE chef among other rhymes.
Decorations: I used a red tablecloth and white plates and created a centerpiece with items that rhymed with blue.
I started with the board from a game of CLUE. I bought red, white, and blue fake flowers and placed them in "vases" of RAGU pasta sauce, a bottle of SHAMPOO, and a bottle of Mountain DEW. Yes, I wasted the pasta sauce in that I just threw it out after the party, but I thought the jar looked better full of sauce than empty. On the table, I also had a box of TISSUE and a bottle of GLUE that I made labels for.
For place cards, I came up with a CLUE that described each guest with a rhyme rather than just listing names. Each guest had to figure out which rhyme matched with them to figure out where to sit. It was fun to come up with fun or funny short phrases for them.
With the napkin, I made a napkin ring with Red, White, and the face of PIKACHU. Kinda silly, but it rhymes with blue!
For the wine labels, I tried to think of even more blue rhymes. I designed the label for the white wine with the same drop-down menu idea from the invitations inviting guests to "chase the red, white, and BLUES away with some chardonnay." For the red wine, I came up with a simple rhyme "A rich bold HUE to bid woes ADIEU."
For wine charms, but printed off various brand logos or things that I could think of that rhymed with blue. For my dinner, these included: igloo, Shamu, Hulu, Subaru, Pooh, Yahoo, Taboo, Clue, Peru, and zoo.
Menu: The menu (notice even menu rhymes) I chose for this dinner was delicious! For these dinners I more often than not, try new recipes. I don't get to do that very much with my own picky family, so monthly dinners give me that opportunity! This dinner was no exception as all the menu items were recipes I had not tried before. I started with a blue cheese dip for Red, White, & FONDUE. If you like blue cheese, this dip was amazing. If you don't like it, then this recipe is not for you. I found the recipe at Dash of Sanity. The only change I made to the recipe was that I used smoked blue cheese instead of regular (as I love smoky flavor) and because it was a fondue, I served it with French bread cubes.
For the main dish I served Red, White & BARBECUE Chicken. I wanted to make my own bbq sauce and tried the recipe from All Recipes for Best BBQ chicken. The marinade paste and the sauce were easy to make and could be made ahead of time. The only changes I made to this recipe was that I served chicken breasts instead of drumsticks, and I used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar because that is what I had in my cupboard. My husband volunteered to grill the chicken and baste it as it was grilling. It was so good.
As a side dish, I made Red, White, & BREW (beer) potatoes. I found the recipe for these Beer Potatoes at Cookist. These potatoes were easy to make and tasted great.
Another side was a pasta salad I titled Red, White, & CORKSCREW Pasta Salad. I found the recipe for this Tri Color Pasta Salad on Food, Folks, & Fun. Having a pasta salad I could make the night before allowed me to have more time with my friends rather being stuck in the kitchen doing prep. I followed this recipe, but also added garbanzo beans.
I titled my dessert Red, White, & TIRAMISU. I went the easy route and just purchased an already made tiramisu from Costco instead of making it myself. Only challenge was getting it out of the package and having it look nice on the plate! It was really tasty though and not something I usually serve at my monthly dinners, so it was a nice change.
Party Activity/Game: Before we had dessert, we played a couple rounds of TABOO which was really fun. We didn't have teams or anything, we just sat at the table and everyone guessed. Then we took turns with who was the clue giver.
Favor: With the 4th of July later in the week, I decided my party favor would be patriotic TATTOOs. I found really inexpensive ones on Amazon.
The first ones I bought arrived and they were very dark colors, so I returned those and purchased a couple of this set of 8 sheets. The were bright and festive, and since the party was prior to July 4th, the guests could easily use them to celebrate the holiday. I used the same drop-down idea and was able to include a thank YOU and tribute to this Monthly Dinner CREW.
We had a great time at this dinner and it was really fun to put together. I got most of my ideas after looking up rhyming words on the internet and then figuring out how I could incorporate those words. The challenge was fun. Happy 4th Everyone!
