It is never fun to have the flu, but it sure was fun to throw a flu themed dinner party! This flu season was no joke, and it went around our house and made us miserable. When it was monthly dinner time, and we were finally all healthy, I decided it would make a fun theme, and it did not disappoint. It was a great evening of laughter and fun with with my girlfriends.
Invite: I found this cute image of a girl with the flu and designed my invitation around that. Tried to pull in some flu-related terms like "sick" of winter, "coughing up" fun, and "spreading" great company. I asked guests to come in pajamas or comfy clothes like they would if they had the flu. The girls loved this idea.
Decor: This was a super easy theme to decorate for because I already had so many flu-related items in the house. For the centerpiece, I used tissue boxes in matching colors and added fun sayings to the front of them.
I also set out Theraflu medicine boxes and Halls cough drop bags.
Along the table, I also spread cough drops like confetti.
For placecards, I made thermometers out of cardstock using my Cricut. Instead of a temperature, I put the guest's name and used a font that mimicked the typical font on a thermometer.
Next to each thermometer, I crafted a card to match the designs on the invitation. Each one had a different saying that pulled in flu-related terms.
As usual, I designed wine labels to match my theme. For the cabernet, I found a Flu Fighters logo that had two syringes meeting at the top, and used Photoshop to replace the syringes with wine glasses and the company logo with the sick girl image from my invitation. I changed the wording to say "flu fighters favorite." For the chardonnay, I created a symptom checklist with white wine filled glasses instead of check marks. I went with the saying "Sippin' Through the Symptoms" to pull in some alliteration.
Just for fun, I filled some fake syringes with wine. I already had these from my Fake an Injury theme monthly dinner back in 2012.
For wine charms, I found various images related to the flu and fighting the flu.
Menu: Home sick often means a bowl of chicken noodle soup, so I decided to have fun with this idea with my appetizer. I served a "dose" of chicken noodle soup using the mini plastic measuring cups that come with cough syrup.
I heated a single can of soup and poured it into these for a fun shot or "dose" for each guest.
Have you heard of the BRAT diet? The BRAT diet is a bland diet that is easy to digest, and it is recommended for during the stomach flu. The letters stand for Banana, Rice, Apple, and Toast. I incorporate each of these as a menu item although I didn't go in order of the acronym.
T = Toast, so I made Toasted Bruschetta as an appetizer. I cheated a purchased a jar of pre-made bruschetta from Trader Joes. I sliced a loaf of french bread, broiled it briefly to toast it, and spooned the bruschetta on top. I added some Italian seasoning on the top of each. Easy and delicious!
A = Apple. We had an apple, walnut, and goat cheese salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing from Trader Joes.
R = Rice. For the main dish, we had rotisserie chicken and wild rice.
B = Banana. I made a Banana Cream Pie for dessert. I used this recipe from Cincy Shopper. For how easy it was to make, I was surprised how tasty it was. We all really enjoyed it.
Favor: As a take home gift for guests, I had three items. I had gift bags for guests to put them in with a tag on top that I designed to match my invitation. It read "It's Flu Season. Friendship is the Best Medicine."
A neighbor gave me empty pills bottles that I designed a label for using PhotoShop. I added the warning labels to the label design like you see on some pill bottles. My warnings were a glass of wine icon with "Should be Taken After Girls Night" and a smiley face icon with "Known Side Effects Happiness." I filled each bottle with Mike n Ike candies.
A second part of the favor was a mini packet of tissues.
The final part was a mini bottle of hand sanitizer. I designed a label for it with the sick girl graphic from my invitation and a saying that read "Sanitize to Be Flu Free and Fabulous."
Although a bit of a random theme, it was all in all a fun and funny night. Hope you all stay healthy this flu season!
