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!

Duct Tape Dinner

My daughter used to love making bags and purses out of duct tape years ago.  I recently came across one of them as I was spring cleaning, and it gave me the idea of hosting a duct tape themed dinner.  There are so many creative things you can do with duct tape, so it made crafting the party details super fun.

Invite: Found the image of colorful rolls of duct tape online and crafted my invitation around that.  Invited guests to "stick" around for a night of fun, and the evening really did turn out to be a lot of fun catching up with my best girl friends.  

One fun aspect of the party, was that I asked guest to arrive with an accessory made out of duct tape.  We had hair bows and flowers, and many guests had earrings or bracelets.  There are a ton of tutorials online for all kinds of things from easy to more time consuming.  It think it only took me about 5 minutes to make my braided bracelet.

Decorations:  Of course the decorations were either made with duct tape or were duct tape rolls.  For the table, I took a plastic light blue tablecloth I already owned added stipes of colorful duct tape down the middle that I purchased from Amazon.

For the centerpiece, I made roses out of duct tape.  I used plastic straws as stems that I wrapped with green duct tape, but I would suggest using pencils instead.  Maybe because I used bendy straws, but the roses were not as strong as I think I would have liked.  I followed a tutorial for making these on Pinterest.  I rounded the edges of mine.  Some tutorials don't have you do that as it was an extra step, but I think it made them look more like real roses.  I added duct tape around the vase, and placed a couple rolls of duct tape leaning up against the vase as well.

I also made bowls out of rolls of duct tape to hold small snacks.  To make the bowl, I cut a piece of duct tape that fit across the roles diameter.  Then I flipped the roll over and placed a cupcake liner inside the roll.  The duct tape held it in place and the cupcake liner helped the snacks stay inside.  

I served light snacks: goldfish, M&Ms, chex mix, Reeces Pieces, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered almonds.  If you stack the rolls, make sure some of the heavier snacks are not the bottom.

For place cards, I printed the guests names on card stock and then decorated each edge of the folded place card with patterned duct tape I already owned.  I tried to think of creative duct tape related slogans to put before each guest's name.  Some examples were: Duct Tape Diva (name), Sticky Situation Solver (name), Adhesive Admirer (name), Stick Together Champion (name), Wrap Star (name).

I used another patterned duct tape for napkin rings.  I cut toilet paper rolls the height of the duct tape and then wrapped it with the duct tape so the napkin could slide out easily and not be ruined.

For wine charms, I used various colors of duct tape to make flags.  Simply wrapped the tape around the stem, lined up the edges and stuck them together. and then cut a wedge at the end.

I designed my wine labels on Photoshop to match the theme as well.  For the white wine, I created the saying, "Stick with Wine: The Duct Tape of Life" and photoshopped the two of the rolls of duct tape from my party invitation around the stem of a white wine glass.  The background behind the middle image was standard grey duct tape with added photoshop details.  For the red wine, I found the saying online, "Wine is like duct tape, it fixes everything" and created a label around that slogan.

Above the beverage/appetizer table, I also make a simple banner with duct tape and string.  Took me no time at all to make.  For my HOME sign, I replaced the O with two rolls of duct tape.

Menu: As usual, I tried to incorporate the party theme into my menu as well.  We started with chips and salsa which I called an Adhesive Appetizer.  I served the salsa in a ramekin that fit in the center of a large roll of duct tape.

For the main dish, I served Wrap & Roll Burritos.  Guests put what fixings inside their burrito they wanted, wrapped and rolled them up, and then I grilled them to get the outsides crispy.  I served: ground beef, cheese, refried beans, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, olives, and guacamole.  I made flags like the wine charms on toothpicks for guests to use to mark their burrito.  That way they didn't get mixed up when I was grilling them.

With the burritos, I made Sticky Cilantro Lime Rice.  I've made this for multiple dinners and it is always a crowd favorite.

I went easy with the dessert and purchased a Cinnabon Cinna Ring which is a ring of pastry topped with Cinnabon's famous cream cheese frosting. I designed a label "Duct Tape Dessert" for the middle to make it look similar to a roll of duct tape.  I usually hand make all aspects of the meal, but it was nice this time to just have a dessert already done as it just needed a quick heating up.

Activity/Craft: With May being the month of Memorial Day, I decided to have a craft that guests could make while we chatted and waited for everyone to arrive.  

We made patriotic wreaths out of duct tape.  I bought the red, white, silver, and blue duct tape at the Dollar Tree.  The flag duct tape I purchased from Walmart, and the 12" foam rings I purchased from Joann's.  I found the idea for this at DIY Candy.  Duct tape is so sticky, this wreath is definitely a challenge and you have to be okay with wrinkles, but when it's finished, it is really cool looking.

Favor: As a parting gift, I used a raisin box that I covered in colorful duct tape.  I emptied out the raisins and cleaned the inside of the box to get rid of the raisin smell, and then I filled the box with M&Ms. Why a raisin box you ask? No reason other than I wanted that size of box & I didn't want to spend a ton of money and raisin boxes are cheap. I used the owl duct tape from the napkin rings and a solid yellow duct tape for one pattern.  The other was the patterned duct tape from the place cards with a solid orange duct tape. I painted a small clothespin for the top and made a tag that read: "Thanks for being like Duct Tape - Strong & Reliable."

This was a fun theme to work with, and if you are crafty, it is pretty easy to pull off. Hope you enjoyed this post and try a duct tape party of your own with some of these ideas!

 

Oh Snap! A Photography Party

A friend of mine and I were talking about a fun photography assignment she has done with her high school English students.  It sounded like something I might want to assign to my students, so I kept thinking about how I might incorporate it into my curriculum.  All this talk about photography got me thinking about photography as a monthly dinner theme, and I decided to run with it!

Invite: I designed the invite on Photoshop with various camera images I found online. I wanted to keep it simple, but still have graphics that represented the theme.  Even added in some photography lingo to the bottom with "capture" and "flash."

Photography Challenge Activity: When I sent the invitation, I also included a photography activity for guests to do in the week leading up to the party.  I asked guests to take and email me photos representing 4 different categories of photography.  The 4 categories were: Rule of Thirds, Symmetry (bird's eye view/worm's eye view), leading lines, and framing (frame within a frame).  I sent an email explaining the definitions of these and providing examples, so guests knew the technique of the photo they were going to take.

Once I had all the photos from the Photography Challenge, I printed them out and organized them on foam boards from the Dollar Tree to display on easels like a gallery.  It was fun to chat about the different photos and see what guest's came up with in the 4 categories.

Decorations: I purchased a plastic teal blue tablecloth for the table as that was the closest color I could find to the invitation.  The table was set with white plates with black small plates in the middle.  For the centerpiece, I asked around to friends and a photography teacher to see if I could borrow old cameras.  As you can see in the photo, they came through!  I used photo boxes I already owned to elevate some of them on the table.

I cut cardstock to represent old camera film to place on the table under some of the cameras.

I designed my place cards to look like polaroid snapshots.  I found the dimensions of a polaroid online to set it up. I added a photo of each guest that they had posted on their Instagram or Facebook account.  Then included their name and a couple words about the photo.

For my napkins, I used my Cricut cutting machine to put out photograph film in black and folded a black napkin to weave in the middle.

I designed my wine labels trying to combine photography terms with wine terms. For the red wine, I went with Shutter & Sip: Uncorking Memories.  For the white wine, it was "Lens & Libations: Framing Good Times."

I used the same images of cameras from the invite, plus some others, for the wine charms.  I printed the images out and taped them to the wine glass stem.

Menu: Since the Photography Challenge involved techniques of photography composition, I decided to stick with this idea for my menu.  We started with a "Rule of Thirds Salad."  For this salad, I used 3 different types of lettuce - iceberg, spinach, and romaine.  I placed the lettuce on a large rectangular plate  so each variety took up one third of the plate.  Then I added all the toppings (tomatoes, cheese, cucumber, & sunflower seeds) to the far right corner to visually represent the rule of thirds in photography.

For the main dish I served rotisserie chicken. The chicken represented the "bird's" eye view of photography.

I served grilled vegetables as well.  I grilled them on skewers and then lined them up to represent "leading lines" in photography.

I served twice baked potatoes or PHOTATOES as I called them.  I served them inside of a frame to represent "framing" in photography.

For dessert I made chocolate mousse that I layered with raspberries.  This represented "depth of field" in photography with its layers.

Party Favor:  Just for fun, I gave each guest a box of Macaroni and Cheese.  I printed a large photo of a camera to glue to the front of the box with a speech bubble that read "Say (mac &) Cheese!"  Easy and the guests got a kick out of them.

As usual, this was a fun night with friends, and the theme related decorations and touches only added to that fun.  Totally recommend this theme for a simple gathering or even a get-to-know-you (with photos) get together.