Fifty Shades of Fun

The excitement over the book, Fifty Shades of Grey hit our monthly dinner girls this month.  The girls requested I do a party centered around this theme, so conservative-little-me borrowed the book and started reading.  It was a lot of fun to put this party together, and the evening was a lot of fun for all of us.  It didn't have the extravagance of Christian Grey, but at least it had the inspiration!

Invite:  I created a little rhyme for the invitation wording and bought assorted shades of grey card stock to create my invitation.  I also bought sunglasses from the Dollar Tree to wrap around the invitation for some added fun.  I asked guests to wear shades of grey to the party and bring a "toy" for an exchange. 

Entry:  You can't have a Fifty Shades party without a contract can you?  I modeled the wording of my contract off the contract in the book referring to myself as "The Hostess" and my guests as "The Diners".  I tried to stick to the formal language of the contract and included sensual words for added fun.  I wrote it all on foam board and hung it from my entry door. Guests signed it before entering!

Decor: When I  think of Christian Grey, I think sophisticated as well as a bit naughty.  I wanted my decor to reflect this without being over-the-top sexual.   I set my table with a black tablecloth and tea lights (some elevated) running down the center. Along the center of the table I also had handcuffs (thanks to the law and legal teacher at my work), a copy of the novel, a whip (from my brother's Indiana Jones Halloween costume), and a grey tie (thanks hubby).

On each plate, I placed a boy's grey tie.  The boy ties fit better than an adult tie and it was great to have these in various shades of grey.  Special thanks to Clint's Tuxedos in Buena Park who let me borrow these ties for the party!! If you are looking for a great tuxedo for an upcoming event, Clint is your man!  Great selection, great prices, and a super nice guy!

As a place card, I got paint sample cards from Home Depot each with three shades of grey.  I used my Cricut to cut out the name of each guest and glued it to the bottom.  The grey napkins were tied with zip ties for another Christian Grey reference!

I used my Cricut again to cut out handcuffs to use as wine charms.  I cut them out in various shades of grey.

On the dessert table I created two candy jars with red candy (inspired by the Red Room of Pain).  I labeled the red cinnamon candies "Hard Limits" and the red licorice straws "Soft Limits" to again play up the contract wording.

I also designed wine labels to go around the wine bottles.  The first bottle we opened for the evening was labeled "Sexy" and each bottle following got a little darker word!  If you would like the template for these labels, comment below and I will send it.  It isn't anything fancy, but it added some humor to the party.

Activity:  Besides the gift exchange, I also had guest's share a fun story.  I called them Sexual Deviance cards just for fun, but the story did not have to be sexual.  We had fun guessing the writer later in the party!

Menu:  I created my menu around some of the language used in the book. I displayed the names of each menu item as if it was an email from Anastasia to Christian or vice versa following the format in the book. Both of these characters have Subject lines that are clever as well, so I tried to do that.  Again, if you would like copies of these, I can email you the template.

I started with SUBmissive Sandwiches.  These were easy to make Philly Cheese steak sandwiches.  The meat and buns were from Trader Joes.  The rest of the sandwich was Provolone cheese slices and sliced red and green peppers.

Bow TIED-UP Pasta Salad was next.  You can put anything in pasta salad, but I chose to include tomatoes, green and orange peppers, black olives, and kidney beans.  I used 1 1/2 boxes of 16 ounce bow pie pasta. Here is the recipe for the Italian Dressing I made to use:

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon oregano leaves, crushed

freshly ground black pepper

Process all ingredients in a food processor or blender until thoroughly combined.  Then add this to the pasta salad mixture an allow it to marinate.

I also served a fruit salad I called Forbidden Fruit.  These three entrees really filled us up so I was glad I did not try to serve more.  Plus two of them can be made ahead of time, so that was nice in terms of the hostess part.

For dessert, I served two cupcakes.  The first was Vanilla Cupcakes with "Whipped" Cream Icing and Strawberries in honor of Anastasia and the constant reference to "vanilla" in the book.  I found the cute grey cupcake wrappers at Michaels.

In honor of Christian Grey and the red velvet bedding in the Red Room of Pain, I served red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting.  I also added a chocolate handcuff to the top.  To make the handcuffs I melted chocolate chips, put the melted chocolate in a zip lock with the corner cut, and then pipe/draw the handcuffs onto wax paper.  I put the paper in the refrigerator to harden.  Then just peeled off and placed on the cupcake before serving.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1 (1ounce) bottle McCormick Red Food Color

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (16 ounce) box confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.  Set aside.  Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Mix in sour cream, milk, food coloring, and vanilla.  Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended.  Do not overbeat.  Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes.  Remove from pans; cool completely.  Frost with icing.

To make the icing: Beat cream cheese, softened butter, sour cream and vanilla extract in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Pipe onto cupcakes.

Favor:  I made cake pop Ben Wa balls for my favor since they are a fairly significant part of the book. I used the same vanilla cupcake batter I used for the cupcakes to make cake balls.  I then melted white chocolate to dip them in and to hold the black licorice in place.  After this set, I used Wilton's Silver Spray to give them the metallic look.  I placed these in a favor bag with a tag playing up the "inner goddess" reference from the book.  Again, if you want to host this party and want this template, just email me/comment below!

We had so much fun at this party just laughing and chatting about the book. It was definitely a fun party to host and the girls had a great time!

Thanks again for checking out my blog...

Laters Baby!

Labor Day with the Ladies

Happy Labor Day! I'm finally getting around to posting our Labor Day with the Ladies party I hosted in September of 2009. I don't have very many photos to show you for this party (it was before my blogging days), but some of the details are here.  I also will admit, this was not my best party in terms of the creativity side...but it was a fun one, so I wanted to post anyway.

Decor:  I set the table with a red, white, and blue theme -- blue tablecloth with red and white napkins.  I made a time clock as the centerpiece wrapping a box in wrapping paper, adhering a clock to the front, cutting a slit, and placing a time card with the theme for the evening on it.  Next to the clock I put a chef's hat a pilot's hat simply because I already owned these pieces.  Anything you have that is work-related would do.

As a place card, I created time cards with each guest's name on them.  I found an image on Google and then added a text box with the guest's name as well as added the date of our party to the dates already on the image. Simple.

Attire:  I asked guest's to dress up in career attire for this party, and it was so fun.  The creativity was super cute!  I dressed as a Zoo Keeper.  The girls dressed in everything from Miss Universe to doctors, coaches, waitresses, etc.

Menu:  I stayed with a typical dinner menu for this theme, but tied in the Labor Day theme through picket signs I stuck in each entree.

Grilled Chicken with Honeydew Salsa

1 1/3 cups finely diced peeled seeded honeydew or other melon

¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro plus ¼ cup cilantro leaves

¼ cup finely diced red onion

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons finely grated lime peel

1 teaspoon finely chopped seeded Serrano chile (I left this out)

4 boneless chicken breast halves with skin

Combine diced melon, ¼ cup chopped cilantro, red onion, lime juice, olive oil, grated lime peel, and chopped Serrano chile in medium bowl.  Toss to blend flavors.  Season melon salsa to taste with salt and pepper.

Spray grill with nonstick vegetable oil spray; prepare barbeque (medium heat).  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Grill breasts until skin is crisp and brown and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.  Slice chicken breasts and arrange on plates.  Top with melon salsa and cilantro leaves.

Zucchini and Tomato

Sliced Zucchini

Cherry Tomatoes

Season with salt and pepper.  Cook zucchini in small about of olive oil on stove.  Add tomatoes at the last minute & only cook briefly.

Fruit Salad

A normal fruit salad.  This one included watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, green grapes, and banana.

Cream Puffs with Vanilla Pudding

Heat to a rolling boil in saucepan…

1 cup water

½ cup butter

Stir in all at once…

1 cup sifted flour

Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture leaves the pan and forms into a ball (about 1 minute).  Remove from heat.

Beat in (one at a time) thoroughly…

4 eggs

Beat mixture until smooth and velvety.  Drop from spoon onto ungreased baking sheet into mounds 3 inches apart.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes until puffed, golden brown, and dry.  Allow to cool slowly.

Cut off tops with sharp knife.  Scoop out any filaments of soft dough.  Fill with vanilla pudding mixed with whipped cream.  Replace tops and glaze with chocolate.

The great part about this theme was the dressing up.  It is so easy for guests to find something to dress in related to work...the possibilities are endless. If you are throwing a Labor Day party today or in the future, consider adding just this aspect to your party.  It definitely adds a little bit of fun to the party!

Also...if you want the Word document of the time cards just comment below.

Fast Food Fun

Our culture's obsession with fast food made it into my monthly dinners when I hosted a Fast Food Fun theme back in 2011.  The idea came to me as I was trying to think of a monthly dinner theme and menu.  A friend of mine said, "Why don't you just get a bucket of KFC this time and save yourself the craziness; You are 8 months pregnant!"  The thought was appealing for all of 10 seconds, and then my crazy brain became overloaded with ideas to go with the KFC, etc. theme.  I thanked my friend for her inspiration as she rolled her eyes at me!!  Although it took some work running around town to ask fast food restaurants for various items, I did really enjoy hosting this theme.  Most of the chains were very friendly and willing to give me what I needed for this party, and the decor was super easy.

Invite:  I designed a french fry box on Microsoft Word using a Google image and a bit of editing.  You could keep the front as the McDonalds logo, or alter it to fit your last name, etc. I kept the back of the fry box plain.  Then I cut card stock to look like french fries, and wrote a party detail (date, time, etc.) on the bottom of each fry. The cardstock "box" is glued at the sides.  The fries were just placed so that guests could pull them out when they received the invite.

Decor:  Most fast food restaurants have red and yellow as their colors. (Random Fact: Did you know this is because these colors have been proven to enhance hunger/increase your appetite?)  I decided to stick with similar colors for my dinner.  I used a red tablecloth to cover the table, then folded a black tablecloth to make a runner down the middle.  A few pieces of yellow rectangular card stock were placed on the black to make it look like a street. I also added a few toy cars of my daughters to make it look like they were driving on the street.

As a place card, I made tall sign poles like you would see on the side of the road as you passed a fast food restaurant. I used alliteration with each guest to choose the establishment and included this in the sign logo.  I printed them on card stock, cut them out, and attached them to the top of black straws I picked up at Baja Fresh (I think).  I stuck this "pole" into mini play dough containers (set of 5 for $1 in the Target dollar bin). Make sure you put the logo and the front and back or it may look funny.

Samples of the establishment logos.

I had a student who worked at Jack in the Box, so I wrote a letter to his manager asking to borrow 12 of their black trays with paper accompaniment.  He agreed to loan them to me, so I used these at each place setting. I placed a crown I got free from Burger King on each plate for guest's to wear throughout the evening as well. I used red napkins at each place setting, tied a white ribbon around them, and attached a tag that matched the restaurant on their "sign".  All images were free on Google.

Activities/Games:  I had two simple activities for this party.  The first was Happy Thoughts make Happy Meals.  I got a happy meal container from a local McDonald's for each of my guests, sliced a slit in the front, and attached a paper with their name above the slit.  I made little note cards and asked guests to write down "happy thoughts" for each guest and place it in their designated Happy Meal.  It was rather sweet to read these later especially since they were anonymous.  Everyone needs a little positive energy and compliments every now and then!

The second activity was a Name that Fast Food Slogan game.  Guests had to guess the slogan for each of the fast food restaurants....Finger Lickin' Good....Where's the Beef?...etc.  It was fun to talk about the correct answers after everyone had played.

Menu:  We had homemade fast food items at this dinner of course. All items were served on the Jack in the Box tray without plates.  We started with hamburgers wrapped in Carls Jr. Famous Star paper wrappers.  The burgers were plain, and I placed all the lettuce, tomatoe, etc. on the table for guests to "have it your way"...okay that's Burger King's slogan, but you get the idea! Below are all of the menu items with how they were served...

 

Hamburgers

(wrapped in Carl’s Jr. Famous Star paper)

Ground beef molded into patties

Bun

Cheese

Fixins: Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, etc.

Bistro-Style French Fries

 (served in In n Out fry buckets)

2 pounds russet potatoes

Oil

Salt to taste

Slice 2 pounds russet potatoes into fries, transferring to a bowl of tepid water as you go.  Heat 2 inches of peanut or vegetable oil, shortening, lard, or a combination of fats in a deep wide pot over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees.  Drain the potatoes and dry well.  Add half of the potatoes to the pot and fry, stirring gently, until they soften and blister, 3 to 4 minutes (do not let them color).  Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining potatoes.  Transfer to the freezer until firm, at least 1 hour.  When ready to serve, reheat the oil to 375 degrees over medium-high heat.  Working in 4 small batches so the oil stays hot, fry the potatoes until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to afresh paper towels to drain.  Season with salt.

Cole Slaw

(served in KFC bowl)

3 cups shredded cabbage

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon celery seed

Stir dressing together until sugar is dissolved.  Add cabbage and mix.  Serves 4.

Taquitos

(served in Del Taco bags)

Frozen taquitos bought at Costco served with guacamole

Blizzards

(served in Dairy Queen cups)

Vanilla Ice Cream

Choice of Reeses or Snickers

Put vanilla ice cream in blender and add desired candy.  Mix (don’t blend) until desired consistency.

Dairy Queen and KFC made me pay for the cups/spoons/bowls I got from them, but all the other restaurants gave them to me for free.  The recipe for the french fries was awesome.  I recommend making these if you have the time.  The Blizzards were easy and a crowd favorite. 

The evening was a lot of fun, and the food was easy.  This theme takes some pre-planning to get the suppliesfrom the restaurants, but if I could do it 8 months pregnant...I'm sure you can! :-)  If you would like the Name that Slogan document or the Happy Thoughts tag, comment below with your email,a nd I will send it to you.

Thanks for "driving through" this post!! 

Nighttime Fun with Daytime Soaps!

Now that it is summer for many of us, that means the occasional lapse into daytime television.  We all love to avoid drama in our own lives, but so many women love to obsess over the drama of soap operas! This is why I decided, in July of 2009, to have a little fun with this idea.  My monthly dinner theme became: Nighttime Fun with Daytime Soaps!

Invite:  I created a simple postcard-shaped invite with the party details using the Days of our Lives logo.  I used a little television lingo to fit with the theme in my wording.  As a fun addition, I asked guests to come prepared to divulge a dramatic moment from their own lives that the writer's of daytime soap operas could use for their next script.  It was fun to hear everyone's stories, and since we are all close friends after years of these dinners, no one minded sharing!

Decor:  I set the table with a black tablecloth, and incorporated as many daytime soap operas as possible into my centerpiece...

• Camping Lantern for Guiding Light
• Hourglass for Days of Our Lives
• Vase with Photos of my guest's children attached to sticks for All My Children
• Globe for As the World Turns
• Stethoscope for General Hospital

I also included a Soap Opera Digest magazine as part of this centerpiece.

The funniest decor aspect was these place cards I made for each guest.  I found photos on Google images of soap opera couples.  Then replaced the female stars face (not hair, etc). with my guest's face.  These were hilarious!! *Note: these are scanned, so the picture is not very clear...sorry!

Menu:  Wanting to stick with the theme as usual, I made a menu card to list all the entrees as well as let guests see how I altered the names to fit with soap operas.  Our menu was:

The "Bowled" and the Beautiful Spinach Dip

(served in a bread bowl)

All My Chicken

(aka my recipe for Gourmet Chicken)

Young and the Restless Baby Vegetables

(baby carrots and baby peas)

As the "Salad" Turns with Guiding "Lite" Ranch

General Hospital Dessert

As you can see the dessert was Cheesecake bars that I cut and shaped to look like band-aids.  The red "blood" is a bit of cherry pie filling. 

Favor:  As a parting gift, I made Soap Opera Soap for each guest.  All you need for this is a bar of soap, the photo you wish to use, glue, and paraffin.  Cut out the photo (mine is the image of a cover of a Soap Opera Digest) and glue it to the front of the soap so it covers the brand name.  Then melt the paraffin and dip the soap in it to create a glossy cover and permanently adhere the paper to the soap.  I dropped these in a clear candy bag tied with a ribbon and attached a tag that read "We shared our Soap Opera Drama; Now Cleanse Your Mind of the Filth!"

Thank You Card:  At the party, one thing I did was take a photo of each guest acting out a dramatic face.  I made a collage of all of our faces and crafted a magazine cover to represent our evening in a funny way.  This can serve as the front of your thank you cards for an added laugh!

Overall, this is a pretty silly theme, but great for a girl's night party.  It definitely brought out some laughs with the place cards, the poses, and the drama stories that were shared!!

Game Night with the Gals

My family used to play a board game every time we got together for dinner.  I love them. I honestly think they help contribute to building family bonds with the laughter and friendly competition they invoke. They make a great excuse to have people over for a party too.  Our monthly dinner party had a few other quirks to make it extra fun...

Invite: This party was back in 2008, so my decor and invite were a lot simpler than they often are now.  Invite your guests with some sort of game.  I created a crossword puzzle with the party details and mailed it to guests.  Other ideas would be to cut up your invite like a puzzle, and guests would have to assemble the puzzle to figure out the party details.

Decor:  My decor started on the walkway leading to my door.  I drew large Monopoly squares on poster board and laminated them to avoid footprints. I placed these on the sidewalk leading up to my door and saved a few for the walls inside my house.

My tablecloth was a Twister board with a red tablecloth under it. I also used the Twister spinner as my centerpiece, but you could use any game or a collection of game pieces. If I were hosting this party again, I would add several other parts of games to the table to create more of a centerpiece.

For a place card, I decided to create Sculptadors from the game Cranium. I bought molding clay from Michaels and sculpted items that represented each guest. I did not include their names on the sculptures, and it was a game for guests to guess which one represented them. 

Party Activity/Game:  You could play any board game for this party, but I chose to play Taboo (which is always hilarious), and a short round of Cranium.

Menu:  At each place setting, I had a menu card.  I scrambled the letters of each menu items as a game, so guests had to unscramble them to figure out what we were eating. I wanted items that were simple in case we needed to eat while playing games.  I also did not want to be in the kitchen cooking.  I wanted to be a part of the games, so this impacted my choices of what to serve.  I started with a simple green salad.  We had slices of watermelon that I attempted to cut to look like puzzle pieces.  As the main dish, we had baked "hot potato" to play off the title of a game. I made Chili to place on the potato or as a side soup.  Guests could also add whatever they wanted to their potato - broccoli, cheese, etc.  You could make a game of this instead and do what I did at my Toy Story party which was to create Mr. Potato Heads.

For dessert, I made a Hangman Cake.  We played Hangman to figure out the message on the cake. I just piped on the letters and the body parts as guests made their guesses.  Simple.

For a favor, I found travel size Connect Four games in the dollar bin at Target.  I wrapped these in a cellophane bag with a tag that read, "Thanks for being game to party tonight.  Let's Connect Four another game night soon!"

This party as a lot of fun. I didn't have to purchase much either because I had all the games already.  As a teacher, I also had access to a laminating machine, so it made the Monopoly pieces easy to create.  Hope you are inspired to host a game night of your own!