Thrillers & Chillers: A Summer of Suspense

As a teacher, one of the great things about summertime is having a lot more time to read. To add some reading fun to our July monthly dinner, I hosted a Thrillers & Chillers: Summer of Suspense dinner party with thrilling books filling all aspects of the theme.

Invite: I created the invitation on PhotoShop compiling knife, fingerprint, and crime scene tape images I found online.  I incorporated some popular novel titles into the wording.  The Guest List, Behind Closed Doors, and The Woman in the Window were all great novels.  I asked guests to bring a new or gently used mystery or thriller novel (wrapped for even more mystery) to exchange to add more fun to the evening.

Decorations: I set the dining table like a crime scene - a  black plastic tablecloth that I drew the outline of a body with a wide-tipped paint pen. I set out some suspenseful books around the body and made yellow evidence number signs to place next to them.

I made mini evidence bags to hold the napkin.  I purchased mini ziplock bags from Michaels Craft Store and created a label on PhotoShop. The label had each guest's name as the detective and then the item collected was listed as Subject A's napkin, or Victim A's napkin, or Witness A's napkin, etc.  The date collected was the party date and the case number was 226.  Why? Because this monthly dinner is the 226th one I have hosted for these ladies!

For place cards, I made small evidence folders. I took large manilla folders and cut smaller versions out of them.  I wrote each guest's name on the top of the folder and created a Top Secret label to place in the middle. 

Inside the folder, I had funny things about each guest.  An alias, motive, and last scene phrase that matched their personality or something about them.  It was fun to read these aloud while we ate our dinner. Some of the write-ups shown here are a guest who had her last chemo treatment the day of the party, an avid wine drinker, and a junior high English teacher.

When I designed my wine labels, I searched for mystery/suspense book titles with white or red in the name.  I found Little White Lies by Philippa East and used that cover for the white wine.  I changed the author to Sharda Nay (chardonnay) for added fun, and created a new tagline - "Deceptively Crisp. Deliciously Good."   

For the cabernet, I decided to use the cover of James Patterson's novel Confessions of the Dead.  I liked the alliteration of Cabernet Confessions, so I added Cabernet to the title.  Again, I swapped the true author to a fake one -- C.A. Bernet (cabernet) and the tagline to be "Spill it All -- Just Not the Wine" to go with the idea of spilling confessions.

For wine charms, I printed out mini book covers for other suspenseful books.

Menu:  Since books were the focus on this theme, I also created my menu to be summertime related, but also related to mystery books. I served grilled hamburgers with all the fixings for guests to add on - bacon, grilled onions, cheese, lettuce, tomato.  I swapped out the word dragon for burger in the novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Along with the burgers, I served grilled vegetable kabobs with zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, and red, yellow, and orange peppers. I swapped out the word woman for kabob in the book The Woman in Cabin 10.

As one side, I made coleslaw changing the manslaughter to manSLAWter in the novel Murder, Manslaughter, and Mayhem.

The final side was watermelon.  For this, I swapped out the word woman for watermelon for the novel The Woman in the Window and added a evil looking watermelon face into the cover.

For dessert, I made chocolate mousse. We topped the plate and the whipped cream of each serving with an edible fake blood mixture made with mainly cornstarch and dye. I used my Cricut cutting machine to make mini cleavers with blood splatter to use like cupcake toppers.  The book title I used for this was Murder on the Orient Express and just swapped murder for chocolate.

Favor:  Since we were having a mystery book exchange during the party, I decided to make a bookmark as my parting gift.  I used PhotoShop to create a crime scene body outline and added some blood splatter to it.  I added the phrase "For my partners in crime (fiction). Always love our killer nights."  I used my Cricut to cut the image out as well as blob of red cardstock behind to add to the murder scene idea.  Added a string with a bead at the end.  I slid some of the favors into or on top of suspenseful books for added decor.

We really had a great time at this dinner party, and I cannot wait to read the novel I got in the book exchange. I have only a couple weeks left of my summer, so I better get reading!

Slip N Slide into Summer Dinner Party

It's June which means...it's summer time!  For teachers like me, this is a much needed break and a chance to recharge for the next school year. With the start of summertime, I decided to host my June monthly dinner with a summer theme.  After driving past a group of children having fun on a slip n slide on my way home last week, I decided this would make a fun theme for a monthly dinner.  So continue reading to check out the details of my Slip N Slide into Summer dinner party!

Invite: I used some summer clipart images including a waterpark clipart image for my invitation. I used Photoshop to change the Slip N Slide logo to include "into Summer".  Although I didn't put it on the invitation, I did ask guests to dress up like they were attending a waterpark for added fun.

Decorations: I found a new Slip N Slide at a local thrift store to use as a large table runner. Since it was new, it was really crinkled, but I just went with it.  The thrift shop also had these smaller beach balls, so I purchased two of those to add to the table as well.

For the centerpiece, I wanted to make a waterpark slide somehow. I tried numerous items from cut water bottles, to Pringles tubes, but I ultimately decided to use the tube from our small Shop Vac. In order to make it curl and stay in that position, I put stiff Romex wire inside the tube that I could mold.  

I used giant Legos we still have from when my kids were little to build a staircase and platform.  For the water under the slide, I cut up the plastic wrapping from a case of water bottles since it was blue and shiny. The pieces were small as I had to cut to avoid the wording on the packaging, but I salvaged enough to cover the bottom of the tray.

For place cards, I made VIP waterpark passes.  I gave each guest a fun alliteration name (Mai Tai Maria, Jetstream Jennifer, etc) as well as an award-like slogan (Slide Selfie Star, Siren of the Swim Up Bar, etc).

I found some paper napkins that looked similar to a beach towel and folded them.  I already had these super cute Adirondack chair place card holders from a wedding shower I went to a long time ago, so I used them to place at the end of each napkin for added fun.

I designed the wine bottle labels to go with the theme.  For the red wine, I found a clipart image of a boy sliding on a Slip N Slide, but I couldn't find a girl, so I used Photoshop to add a girl's head, and colored in the torso to be a full bathing suit. I also edited the Slip N Slide logo to be SIP n Slide instead and added Cabernet to the bottom.  For the chardonnay, I called it a Lazy River Reserve Splash-o-nay.  A bit cheesy, but fun.

I had to get creative for my wine charms. I found some colorful bendy straws that had a long bend portion and could stretch out to 13" total.  I wrapped these around the stem of the glass and cut the excess to look like waterslides. I used the blue plastic wrapping from water bottles (same as I used on the centerpiece) to wrap around the base of the glass.

Menu: We started with an appetizer of chips and guacamole.  To make it fit with the theme, I called this the Big Guac Drop to Chipwreck Cove. I made a small waterslide out of a water bottle cut in half to put the guacamole on it.  I used a Lego pirate ship to add to the plate for the "chip-wreck".

For the main dish, each guest put together a Chicken Bowl with whatever fixings they wanted.  This became The Big Splash (Chicken) Bowl waterslide.  I cooked pollo asada, brown and white rice, black beans, fajita veggies, and roasted corn (all from Trader Joes). We also had sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and salsa.

The chicken bowls were filling, so I didn't serve much else.  Just watermelon flat on a a plate for Wave Pool Watermelon. If you are handy, you can carve the rind into waves, but I didn't make the time for that.

For dessert, I wanted to serve something you could get at a waterpark, but that I could also incorporate into a waterslide name.  I decided to make funnel cakes which I called Funnel of Fun.

Favor: I purchased small bottles of SPF chapstick to give as a parting gift.  I made a tag on Photoshop using an image of a sunscreen bottle that I added text to.  SPF became Slide, Play, Float to fit with the theme.

It was a small gathering, but we had a good time laughing and eating together.  Another great dinner party and theme!

Better Late Than Never Dinner Party

Our monthly dinners are generally the first Monday of every month, but this month, I fell ill and then had surgery scheduled for the following week, so I thought we might have to cancel.  It has been 18+ years of never missing a month, so this devastated me.  Luckily, I felt well enough to host, so we had a belated dinner.  To have a little fun with this lateness, I decided to theme the dinner around it with a Better Late Than Never party.

Invitation:  I designed the invitations with clipart images of various styles of clocks.  I added a few time-related words in the wording as well.

Decorations: I wanted several small clocks as a centerpiece.  I used 2 of my own and borrowed the others from neighbors.

The Wonder Woman clock (my teenage daughter's) was a fun addition.  I love the variety and colors in the clocks that I used.

Thank you to all my neighbors to loaned me clocks for the evening.

I used a variety of wristwatches for napkin rings.  Some were heavy and flattened the rolled napkin, so I used some wooden pieces inside the napkin to prop them up.

I am a teacher, so one of the first things I thought about when I came up with this theme, was tardy passes.  I decided to use this idea as my place card.  I had a lot of fun coming up with short reasons for guest's to be late, matching the reason with each guest's personality, hobbies, etc.

I used the tardy slip (or sip in this case) idea in designing my white wine label as well. Chardon-Me, I'm Late instead of pardon me for the chardonnay bottle.  Never RED-y on Time for the red wine.

For wine charms, I cut out some of the images of clocks from the invitation as well as others I found online making sure I had a variety of types of clocks.

I also added a clock image to the display on my mantle.

Menu: Due to my surgery, I needed to come up with a menu that I could handle in my short spurts of energy.  One of my guests also offered to cover the appetizer, so she brought all the ingredients and quickly assembled them upon arrival.  Decided to call these Procrasti-nachos to go with the theme.  Delicious.

For the main dish, I served a Baked Lemon Thyme Chicken which was very good.  I found this recipe in my quest to use thyme to go with my time theme. I was able to make the marinade early in the morning and let it marinate throughout the day, so when it came time for the party, there was little else to do besides put it in the oven.

Baked veggies were the side dish for the party.  One of my guests came early to help with sliceing and preparing the vegetables.  We used zucchini, red, yellow, and orange peppers, and mushrooms. I went with alliteration in naming this dish - Very Late Veggies.

I also used frozen rolls for ease.  Just baked these with butter. Titled these ROLL-in In Late.

I also used frozen rolls for ease.  Just baked these with butter. Titled these ROLL-in In Late.

Although it took a bit more effort to make creme brulee for dessert, I decided I wanted to do it.  Since I am off work after surgery, I had the ability to make these earlier in the day as well.  These were delicious, and I would definitely make them again.  I called these Creme Delay-ee.

Favor: I wanted to keep the parting gift simple, so I purchased packs of Now and Laters from Walgreens.  I designed a tag that read, "Thanks for coming NOW...even though the party's a bit LATER than expected."

I am happy that I was able to host this gathering and not miss a month's dinner even through life's health challenges.  Grateful to have such amazing friends that helped out as well.  It was a fun theme, great food, and of course outstanding company!