Happy Grannytine's Day!

For our February monthly dinner I added a little twist to the typical Galintine's Day idea and hosted a Grannytine's Day dinner.  The girls came dressed up in bathrobes, granny glasses, cardigans and more which added a fun and silliness to the evening. It was a great chance to laugh together as even our conversations turned a little bit toward the amazing old ladies we all hope to become.

Invite: When designing the invite, I wanted to stick with Valentine's Day colors, but add in a doily and other cute granny-like images.  I kept it simple with a clipart granny holding a heart and a yarn heart with knitting needles. I added in verbiage like "supper club" and "dearie" for added fun.

Decorations: A red tablecloth and borrowed crystal vases and dishes became my centerpiece. The table runner was a white crocheted shawl that I lay across the center of the table.  I placed the crystal dishes and vases on top with simple baby's breath flowers and filled the dishes with candies that remind me of my grandmas - Werther's Originals hard candies, butterscotch circles, gum drops, Mounds and Almond Joy bars, mints, and strawberry hard candies.  I found most of these at the dollar store and/or Walmart.

For place cards, I made yarn hearts. I used an old See's candy box to cut out cardboard hearts in the size I wanted.  Then I wrapped yarn around the heart until you couldn't see the cardboard underneath.  I used hot glue at the point to help it stay and then hot glue to seal the end to the back.  I left a little extra yarn to add a tail to give the knitting look and stuck two toothpicks in the top like knitting needles.  I added the "so glad we're knit together" for added fun.

My mom happened to have just enough of these Valentine's Day napkins which were perfect for this dinner with their doily hearts.

I designed some creative wine labels in theme.  First was the red wine which I termed Prescription Strength Prune Juice. I used the same doily and grandma image from the invitation.  For the chardonnay, I wanted to play off the word "glasses" using it both in terms of eyeglasses and wine glasses.  I found an image of a grandma with a wine glass online and asked AI to use that image, but add wine glasses surrounding her. Voila!  I took the common grandma phrase, "Where Are My Glasses?" to put at the top to tie it all together.

For wine charms, I simply printed out icons often associated with grannies - yarn with needles, crossword puzzle, prescription bottle, dentures in a glass, eyeglasses, bridge cards, rocking chair, and newspaper with magnifying glass.

Menu: I wanted to have fun with the granny theme without being too harsh on grannies.  I decided to serve a casserole as my main dish. I chose a casserole that my mom made often when we were kids and one I know I liked - Ground Beef and Noodles in Sour-Cream Sauce.  I called it a "well-seasoned" casserole to pull in the theme.

I also served simple breadsticks - Breadsticks of the Golden Years.

The danger of accidentally peeing when you sneeze is not just a granny problem, but I had fun making this the title of the peas!

For dessert I made a 2-ingredient fluff (strawberry jello/sweetened condensed milk). I called this DEPENDS-ably Sweet dessert for a little old lady humor.  A friend gave me the super cute Valentine paper cups to serve them in which was perfect. A little whipped cream and a half strawberry to top them off and done.

Party Game: What old lady event is not complete without BINGO!  I designed a Bingo sheet to look like my invitation, but instead of numbers, I had grannyisms and things associated with grannies - bridge club, "Back in my Day," "Turn That Music Down," Sunday Supper, "I've Got Coupons," etc.  The free space was the same yarn heart with knitting needles from my invitation. As markers, we used conversation hearts from the party favor.

I gave the Bingo winner a puzzle! I looked for a cat puzzle or a knitting-related puzzle, but went with an old country scene instead.  Made sure it had "extra large pieces" and was only 300 pieces.

Also gave a box of chocolates to the best dressed granny of the evening.  I looked for a Whitman's Sampler because that reminds me of my grandma, but I didn't find one easily, so I went with the next closest thing.

Favor: As mentioned above, my party favor was a pill box for the week.  I filled it with conversation hearts that we used during Bingo, so the favor served two purposes.  I created a tag to go with it that read "A Daily Dose of Friendship."

Not all our ladies could make it to this dinner, but those of us that made it had a great time laughing and really getting into character.  It was a super fun theme!

Love You a WAFFLE Lot

This February, our monthly dinner took on a Valentine's/Waffle theme after a friend of mine went to a waffle restaurant, and sent me their menu as an idea.  I decided to run with it, and I kept it all waffle instead of having other breakfast style foods.

Invite: I used an invite background I saw on a blog called Just Add Confetti and just photoshopped the design and writing to better reflect my theme.  I tried to think of waffle puns to put on the invite for added fun.  Alison, the blogger for Just Add Confetti also had various other printables, that I was able to download and alter to fit my theme which saved me a ton of time because I didn't have to start from scratch.

Decor:  I kept the decorations fairly simple for this dinner.  I set out a red tablecloth on my outside dining table, and made a centerpiece that looked like a retro spinning order stand.  

To make the stand, I just used a small cake platter I already owned.  I set it on top of an upside down cereal bowl and hot glued some small white clothespins around the side to hold the "guest checks" that I designed as menu cards for each of my menu items.  On top of the cake stand I baked some waffles, and then added a Cupid's Diner sign to the middle.

On both sides of the order stand, I had a waffle cone vase of red roses. I filled the bottom of the mason jar with white chocolate chips to keep the waffle and the roses in place.  After the party, I moved the roses to regular vases with water, so they'd live longer, but they were cute and perfect for the theme in the large waffle cones.

The rest of the roses, I just added to a vase and put waffles in front of it.  I placed it on the drink table.

I used smaller waffle cones for my napkin holders. Just rolled a napkin to put inside with the silverware.  Simple.

For placecards, I made red heart-shaped waffles and added a fondant initial to the top.  I used a red velvet cake mix instead of waffle mix.  I added an additional egg and a quarter cup flour to the mix before baking to stiffen them up a little bit.  Although these were just decor, and not food, my own kids ate the extra ones, and they really liked them.

I also like to come up with funny ideas for my wine labels.  For the red wine, I created an image with a happy-faced waffle and a happy glass of red wine with the words "Better Together."  The wrap of the label had the Cupid's Diner logo with "a waffley good brunch" logo on it.  For the white wine, I used the diner guest check idea, and created a guest check that read "Will you be mine wine?"

For wine charms, I cut up a Stroopwafel cookie.  If you haven't had these, they are a toasted waffle cookie filled with caramel.  I cut a triangle wedge of the cookie, dipped the end in colored chocolate, and then used a skewer to make a hole in the cookie so I could tie them onto the glass with ribbon. Super cheap and easy to make.  They lasted through the party, but the cookies are soft, so they definitely weren't made to last long term.

Menu:  Of course waffles were a part of every course for the party, and I made a Guest Check to go with each item as a menu card.  

We started with a green salad with tomatoes, feta, and Italian dressing.  I served these in small waffle bowls.  The guest check read, "You're so Romaine-tic! Lettuce be friends forever."

For the main dish, I served Chicken and Waffles.  I made the waffles with a normal mix and got a bucket of chicken legs and thighs from the grocery store to save myself time.  I never do that, but life is crazy with work and softball/baseball practices, so that was my excuse!  I served these with my grandmother's homemade waffle syrup which made them extra tasty.  The guest check for this one read, "I like you a waffle lot! Promise I'm not pulling your leg!"

For dessert, I used my heart-shaped waffle maker to make strawberry waffles using strawberry cake mix.  I topped them with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.  Although these were really tasty, the pink was difficult to see after they have been cooked and have the toasty brown look.  The guest check for these read, "You're a Berry special friend."

Favor: I made favor boxes with a waffle look for my parting gift.  I found a template for boxes online and Photoshopped a waffle background to the template.  These took a while to cut out and assemble, but they were cute.  I put two Stroopwafel cookies inside each box.  I ended up cutting the cookies in half and wrapping them in a cake pop bag inside, just so they would fit.

This was another great party theme.  The food was good, the decor was fun and easy, and all of us had a "waffley" great time as usual visiting together!

We Love Pinterest!

I hosted a Pinterest party for our monthly dinner this month, and it was so much fun!  We had a menu created from Pinterest recipes, a Valentine craft inspired by Pinterest, and a gift exchange of Pinterest inspired items!  February was the perfect month for this theme because the red and white of the Pinterest logo fits with Valentine colors, and I could not be happier with how it turned out!

 

Invite:  I first told guests about this event 2 months ago, and I let them know that they would be asked to bring a Pinterest item they create for a gift exchange.  This could be a recipe they made, a scarf they knitted, a craft item they made, whatever they chose to create.  Giving them advance notice helped because my friends are some busy ladies and this gave them time to plan.  I also sent a PicCollage reminder 3 weeks before as another reminder, and then of course this invitation.  I made this invitation on PhotoShop and combined Pinterest with Valentine's Day images and colors.

Inside Decor:  Red, white, and black were my party colors - the Pinterest colors. I set my table with simple items I already owned, but added a bit of a Valentine/Pinterest touch.  

I found a red and white striped dry-erase board at a garage sale to place under my centerpiece (the red hearts are just scrapbook paper confetti).  I already owned the Valentine table runner. I bought some Valentine's ribbon and wrapped it around my cake platter, candle, and vase.  Created a mini heart banner for a white pitcher I borrowed from a friend, added a red heart to a chalkboard sign I made, and filled a heart dish I purchased for $2.50 at Target for red and white gumballs I stole out of our family's gumball machine!

I dressed up my dinner plates by topping them with these red heart-shaped paper plates I found at Michaels.  I cut the white Pinterest logo out with my Cricut machine to place in the center.  We used these plates for our first course of the dinner.

I also added the pinterest logo to the napkin.

I had fun creating these placecards.  At first, I looked up DIY place cards on Pinterest and thought I might create something inspired by Pinterest.  However, I decided instead to make my place card directly Pinterest themed.  I created a fake Pinterest board and called it Amazing Friends.  I just used random numbers for "pins".  I went through my photos from past monthly dinners, and I made the main photo a single photo of my guest, and the two side photos group photos with the featured guest in them.

To cover up the place card stand and add a little fun, my daughter and I quickly crafted these yarn puff balls in the party colors.

I already had mantle decor for Valentine's Day, so I put these up.  To add a bit more, I created this easy heart banner out of cardstock.  After cutting strips of red, white, and black, I stapled them together in a heart shape.  Super quick and easy.

I created simple wine labels that combined the Valentine and Pinterest theme.  I usually like to come up with something clever for my wine labels, but not this time.  Just stayed simple.

For wine charms, I found these metal circles etched with various words in the scrapbook section at Michael's.  I used my Cricut to create a slightly large red circle behind them and tied them to the stem of each glass.  I chose the etchings that were related to our theme (xoxo, love, create, heart, etc.) although some were other kinds of words (faith, happy, etc.)

I love using Pinterest for crafts, so I wanted to have a simple, quick craft that guests could create as they arrived and chatted.  This craft was perfect!  I set out all my wine corks for guests to use to create a wine cork heart as a Valentine display.  

All the supplies were set on the table - corks, glue guns, heart template, red paint, and a paint brush.  Guests used the heart template to line up the corks in a heart shape before hot gluing them together.  Then they painted the top of the corks red, and they were done!  You can make your heart template any size.  Just make sure you have enough corks for all your guests to be able to do it.  My template used 24 corks for each heart.

Menu:  It was easy to find a menu for this dinner because there are a TON of recipes I have pinned over the years and always wanted to try.  I paired some of these recipes with Valentine's related menu items.  We started with a simple spinach salad with strawberries cut into hearts.  It also had blueberries, toasted almonds, and feta cheese.  I served it with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing.

For the main dish I made a simple smoked Tri-Tip on our Traeger grill.  I always love the Traeger because I don't have to babysit the meat while it grills, and I can put it on a leave.  Plus, we love everything we cook on the Traeger! So yummy!  I made two of these tri-tips and just refilled the tray when this one was finished.

Lately I have been loving brussel sprouts and I haven't served them at a monthly dinner yet, so I made these roasted parmesan sprouts.  They were tasty.

I also made these cute heart-shaped potatoes.  To be honest, I didn't really follow the Pinterest recipe on this one as I make potato bites often for my family (just not in hearts).  These were simple to make, but it does take time to cut the heart shape out with a cookie cutter.  Make sure you place the cut potatoes in water so they don't brown while you get them all cut out.

For dessert, we had a simple chocolate caramel fondue that I found on Pinterest.  I used my centerpiece heart bowl to hold the chocolate and surrounded it with strawberries, bananas, angel food cake, and vanilla wafers. I had to incorporate chocolate into the menu as a chocolate dipped strawberries are a favorite Valentine treat!

Party Activity - My favorite part of the night was the Pinterest gift exchange!  I had the guests wrap their creations, and we drew numbers for choosing gifts.  Like at Christmas time gift exchanges, we decided each creation could be stolen one time before it was "frozen."  These girls came up with some super fun and crafty gifts.  These are just some of them.  Top left is a guide to writing cool fonts with a metal tin and the supplies/items to create as you learn those fonts.  Bottom left is a WIFI sign to put up in your home.  On the right is a cute Valentine decor sign made with buttons!

Here are some more from the gift exchange. Left is what I made - a giant wooden welcome sign I painted. Top right is individual sugar scrubs that are hearts!  Bottom right is chocolate dipped Oreos and pretzels made to look like cute little bees. Yumzzzzz!

Favor:  Speaking of chocolate dipped Oreos, I made these dipped Oreos to look like the Pinterest logo for guests as a parting gift.  I piped the "P" on the front in white chocolate.

Another great night with my closest friends.  If you have girlfriends like mine that love a good night out and a little Pinterest, this is a fun party. Mix up this party however works for you...leave out the gift exchange and ask guests to bring parts of the meal.  Or just do a craft with your meal.  So fun!