Red, White, and Blue Through and Through - Part I

In honor of Veteran's Day, I thought I would post two of the parties I have hosted that have been a patriotic theme.  The first party (hosted in November of 2008) was a Rock the Vote party in honor of the Presidential Elections that year, but the color scheme/patriotic theme/menu could definitely be used for Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th....any day to celebrate the good ol' red, white, and blue.

Decor:  The table was a simple red tablecloth with a red, white and blue hat centerpiece.  My mom made the hat out of needlepoint.  I placed small American flags and wooden stars coming out of it. I also placed white and blue star confetti along the table, and used white plates and blue napkins. On each plate, I made jello jigglers for decoration:

Jello Star Jigglers

 Stir 2½ cups boiling water into 2 packages (8-serving size each) gelatin in bowl for 3 minutes or until dissolved.  Pour into 13x9 inch pan.  Refrigerate 3 hours until firm.  Dip bottom of pan in warm water about 15 seconds.  Cut into 1-inch squares with star cookie cutter.  Lift from pan.

Since this particular party was centered around the Presidential Election, each place card was a voting box.  I used origami to fold a box and cut a whole for the "ballot" which had the guest's name written on it.  We also had a voting themed game which asked guest's to Rock the Vote by choosing their favorites: Coke vs. Pepsi, indoors vs outdoors, etc.  This was a great discussion starter for various topics and stories throughout the evening.

Menu:  I wanted to serve very American food at this dinner.  What is more American than fried chicken and corn on the cob!  Here are the recipes I used:

Oven Fried Chicken

 12 chicken thighs

3 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon paprika

½ cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place flour in shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Put the bread crumbs in another shallow bowl and beat the eggs in another bowl.  Dredge the chicken piece by piece in the flour, then the eggs, then the bread crumbs, until all pieces are coated.  Pour the oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Add the chicken to the dish and sprinkle with paprika to taste.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn the pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and drain on paper towels.

Mashed Potatoes

2 pounds of potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of half and half

6 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and quarter the potatoes.  Add the potatoes to a large pot with enough cold water to cover them by an inch or so. Add salt and bring the water to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. (About 15 minutes). Drain the potatoes return them to the pot and cook the drained potatoes over low heat for a couple of minutes to evaporate some of the water still in the potato. Mash by your method of choice. Blend in butter, half & half, and any other ingredients you prefer. Season with salt and pepper.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Ears of Corn

Salt and Pepper

Butter

Rub ears of corn with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Wrap completely in tin foil and place on the grill for approximately 15 minutes.

For dessert, I made a Flag Cake with blueberries and strawberries.  This is popular recipe I see in magazines all the time near the 4th of July, and I had always wanted to try it.*

Flag Cake

2 pints of strawberries, divided

1 pkg. (10.75 oz.) frozen pound cake, thawed, cut into 10 slices

1 1/3 cup blueberries, divided

1 tub (12 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed

Slice 1 cup strawberries; set aside.  Halve remaining strawberries; set aside.  Line bottom of 13x9 inch baking dish with cake slices.  Top with 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1 cup blueberries and whipped topping.  Place strawberry halves and remaining blueberries on whipped topping to create a flag design.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Makes 15 servings.

It is always the right time to celebrate American and all that we stand for.  This Veteran's Day weekend, I really want to thank all the service men and women who have fought and those that continue to fight for our freedom.

*Since I did not happen to take a photo of my cake, this photo was found on Google.  However, it represents the exact cake I made.

"B" Fun, "B" Creative...A Just "B" Party!

If you haven't figured it out already, my party themes tend to not conform to the generic/common ones.  This monthly dinner was no exception.  The party was pretty close to Halloween, but to put a twist on the generic costume party, I decided to throw a Just "B" Party.  If it starts with the letter "B", it was acceptable at this party.  This party would be a great theme for any type of gathering -- a birthday party (especially if the guest's name begins with B) or a baby shower.  The possibilities are endless.

The invitation for this party was a giant "B" I cut out of card stock in the party colors Blue and Burgundy.  The text on that back played up the "B idea..

Halloween may "B" over,
but the fun is just "B"ginning.
"B" prepared to have some fun
and "B" a little crazy
at a
Just "B" Party!
Dress up & "B"come something that starts
with the letter "B".
(bee, bus driver, biker babe, etc.)

Don't "B" afraid to get creative.
"B" bold and have some fun with it!

Hope you can "B" there for the fun!!

Decor:  With the help of the woodshop teacher at my work, I cut out a giant wooden B, painted it blue, and placed it at the entry door. I added a few burgundy and blue Balloons as well.

The table was set with a burgundy tablecloth and two blue pieces of scrapbook paper.  I painted a cheap charger I purchased at the 99 Cent Store and filled some vases with B items -- bumble gum balls and beads. Also on the charger, I stacked jars of bubbles, a large letter B painted blue, and a pillar candle with a B.  To make the candle, I painted thumb tacks burgundy and stuck them into the candle.  The place cards were simple blue card stock that I added a burgundy B to before writing the guest's name. 

On each plate, I also wanted to have the menu listed.  I decided to use Bingo to display the menu.  We used the beads in the centerpiece to see who won and got to hit the dessert table first!
 

Attire: Guests were instructed to dress in something that started with the letter B.  It added to the laughter and fun of the party.  We had everything from a Boy Scout to a bull!

Menu:  I always have to work the day of my monthly dinner parties, so I need menu items I can either make ahead of time or that do not involved too much prep (remember, I have 2 young kids).  For my "B' items, I served:

Barbeque Ribs
Betty's Baked Beans

(a recipe from my husband's grandmother)
Broccoli
Baked Bread

I couldn't decide on which dessert to have at this party, so I decided to create a dessert table.  I used card stock to create B ornaments to hang from branches in a vase.  I also had a Bottled Beverages pail to serve the drinks.

We had several yummy desserts on the table -- bacon brownies that I stenciled a B in powdered sugar on top, mini berry cheesecakes, frozen banana bites, Butterfinger and Baby Ruth bars, and Blow Pops in a B mug I found at Michaels. I used chocolate syrup to create a B on the dessert plates give it another special touch.  Instead of doing a separate favor for this party, I decided to make to-go bags for the guest's to take home the extra desserts and the decor from the table.  

This would make a fun baby shower party or a birthday party if your birthday boy/girl has a first name that begins with B.  Or you could choose another letter & do many of the same ideas. Either way...it will "B" a fun party!!

Try a Triathlon Party

Last October I competed in my first triathlon.  It was a neat experience, but it definitely showed me the poor swimmer that I am! Oh...and biker too!  Oh..and not that quick a runner either!  Pretty much the only thing I succeeded in doing well was the party after!! I decided to host a triathlon themed party for my monthly dinner and titled it Showdown @ Sundown.  Your invitation to a triathlon themed party could be an entry form like you would fill out to enter a race or a water bottle with the invitation details rolled up inside. I had guests dress in shirts from past athletic events they had done or running gear.

As guest's approached the door, I had a Race Expo center. I designed a race bib on Microsoft Word that I printed out for each guest.  The clipboard gave directions for racers to find their bib number on the white list, then find their bib for the race.  The table had safety pins for them to pin the bib on their shirt as if they were preparing for the triathlon.

Decor: The table was divided into 3 sections. First was a blue tablecloth with swim caps and goggles for the first section of a triathlon. Second was a black tablecloth with yellow lane dividers and a bike helmet and pedals as a centerpiece. Third was a gray tablecloth to symbolize pavement with running shoes and a water bottle.

Each place setting had a menu card and a PowerBar.  The PowerBar served as the name card with each guest's name written on it -- "Mile-to-Go Michelle, Water-Stud Wendy, etc"

I set up a water station as my beverage table.  I used a huge Gatorade judge as a cooler with ice to chill the bottles of wine.  The Gatorade cups were filled with wine and used as our cups for the evening!

Menu:  I decided to theme each course after a leg of the triathlon.

Appetizer: Ocean Swim

Shrimp Scampi Bake

1 cup butter

2 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 pounds medium raw shrimp, shelled, deveined, with tails attached

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley.  When the butter melts completely, remove from heat.  Arrange shrimp in a shallow baking dish.  Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp.  Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and opaque.

Main Dish:  Bike Course

Beef Teriyaki Wheels with Rice

1 pound beef round, cut in julienne strips

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sherry

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Cooked Rice

Cut beef while frozen (1/8” or so thick).  In small bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, sugar, ginger, and garlic powder.  Stir in meat and let marinate 10 minutes.  Thread on skewers accordion style and broil 4” from heat 1-2 minutes on each side or until done as desired.  Arrange the skewers as the spokes of a tire and serve on rice.  Makes 4 servings.

 Dessert: Run

“Running” Chocolate Fountain with Dippers

2 bags milk chocolate chips

¼ cup vegetable oil

Dippers: Strawberries, bananas, pound cake, dried apricots

To polish off the evening "race", I treated each guest to a recovery bag as their favor.  The bag contained a bottled water, lotion to massage soreness away, and a Vitamin C recovery boost! To my good friend that let me borrow her bike for the race, I gave a 6 pack of Fat Tire beer that I altered to be called "Flat Tire" -- a joke because I happened to get a flat tire during my triathlon.  That was no fun, but this party definitely was!

Pinwheel Party - Ella's First Birthday

Walking through Target a month before my daughter Ella's first birthday, my darling angel was on the verge of losing her marbles from being so tired.  I quickly picked up the closest thing I thought would interest her and handed it to her hoping it would buy me the few more minutes I needed to finish my shopping.  That "thing" happened to be a pinwheel, and Ella was captivated.  That 99 cent pinwheel saved the day. Not only that, it provided the inspiration for my daughter's first birthday party...a Pinwheel Party!

I wanted the theme to be very vibrant, but still have the little girl aspect to it. This is why I decided to make the color scheme pink, yellow, lime green, and a little touch of purple.  Of course this choice made it impossible for me to use the cheap red and blue pinwheels Ella had found at Target, but we'll get to that later.

I decided to make my own invitations with cardstock I bought at Michaels and Tall Mouse.  I used solid color paper as well as paper with pocadots.  I folded the paper to make a pocket so the invite details could be pulled out and used a brad to attach a pinwheel I made with cardstock. The live version is much better, but this photo at least gives you the idea.

I elicited the expertise of my mom to sew Ella her party dress.  I even found pocadot fabric make the pinwheel on the front.

The party was outdoors, so I wanted pinwheels to decorate the lawn and tables. I looked online, but pinwheels were either not my color scheme or just way to expensive for my taste.  I decided to make my own. There are several websites that show you how to make pinwheels with easy instructions.  For mine, I bought 3/8" dowel poles from Michaels which I cut into 12" sections and painted with the colors of the party.  My husband drilled a hole at the top, and I bought a thin dowel pole which I used to hold the pinwheel. A wooded peg/bead (that I painted as well) was attached to the end of that.  While this looked great, the pinwheel did not spin, and I wanted them to be able to twirl at the party. I ended up cutting a straw to fit over thin dowel.  This is slippery enough to enable the paper pinwheel to spin.  I placed these pinwheels in the grass bordering the party as well as on the tables.  I found the vases in my party colors at Michaels as well.

I decided to serve cupcakes and made mini pinwheels in the same colors as the larger ones. I attached the pinwheels to colored toothpicks. I also make a cake for my daughter to dig into (it's tradition right?).  This was a plain white cake, but I designed a pinwheel out of frosting on the top.  Above the cake table is a banner I made using my Cricut.  It was a windy day, so it blew letters around a lot.  If I were to do this again, I would use thicker cardstock and affix it to the ribbon.  For this one I only just hole punched it and fed the ribbon through not thinking about the weather.

To thank everyone for coming to celebrate with us, I made chocolate pinwheel suckers in the party colors.  Super cute, but very time consuming.  The contrast color I painted on which took a long time. I also had bubbles for the kids to play with at the party.  The pinwheel napkins I randomly found at Target.

This was such a fun birthday theme and although it took time to hand make all the pinwheels, it really did not cost that much. It made a great theme for my little girl. I think it would be a great theme for a baby shower (just change color scheme for a boy) as well.  Maybe with the saying, "Cannot wait for the wind to blow you into our lives" or something cheesy like that.

Cookin' Up a Top Chef Themed Dinner

Interested in hosting a dinner party, but not worried about doing ALL the cooking yourself?  Then host An Episode of Top Chef themed dinner!  This was an amazingly fun dinner for everyone and super tasty too!  If everyone only has to bring one thing and its their specialty, then of course the menu is going to be amazing!  For the invite to this dinner, ask guests to sign up for which category they would like to enter (appetizer, side dish, or dessert.) I had 3 slots in each category, so I could make sure I had each category equally represented.  I also asked guest's to email me the recipes so I could create a recipe book for each guest as a parting gift.  I provided the main dish.

Decor: I used a black tablecloth and made a centerpiece out of a stack of cookbooks, a cloth chef's hat (purchased at Party City), and a green pepper and onion.  Basically anything cooking related. I also created a sign modeled after Bravo's Top Chef logo and listed the "Cheftestants" as well as the date of the party as the episode air date.  At each place setting, I created "Rate the Plate" sheets for each course in which guests were to score each dish.  I also made chef hats out of white poster board and tissue paper which I wrote the "Cheftestants" names on as placecards/ party hats...so fun!  You can find tons of tutorials for this online.

Menu:  Since the focus of this party was yummy food, I'll get right to the recipes...

Appetizer:  Rustic Roma Calzones

 1 package shredded Mozzarella cheese

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Pepperoni

1 tube Pillsbury pizza crust

Spray baking sheet with Pam.  Spread pizza dough and roll it out and cut it into squares.  Add mozzarella, pepperoni, and spaghetti sauce. Fold the dough into a triangle and roll up the corners.  Bake at 425 degrees for 9-13 minutes.

Appetizer:  Pigs in a Blanket

Mini Hot Dogs

1 can crescent rolls

Cut crescent roll dough into small strips.  Wrap strip around  hot dogs and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake in 350 degree oven until dough is slightly browned.

Appetizer:  Goat Cheese Brushcetta

French Baguette
Goat Cheese
Bottled Bruschettas from Trader Joe's

Slice bread and lightly toast in oven. Spread goat cheese on toasted bread and top with a spoon full of brushcetta.

Main Dish: Poulet a la Marguerite

9 chicken breasts

16 ounce whole berry cranberry sauce

8 ounces French salad dressing

1 envelope onion soup mix

Mix cranberries, French dressing, and onion soup together.  Place chicken side by side in a 9 x 13 pan and spray with cooking spray.  Spoon sauce over chicken.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1½ hours.  Remove foil near end of cooking time.

Side Dish: Taco Soup

1 lb.  ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

Taco seasoning packet

1 can of black beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can corn

1 can crushed tomatoes

Small jar of salsa

Ground the pound of ground beef, add onion and taco seasoning packet.  Mix the remaining ingredients in a large pot or crock pot. Add the cooked meat mixture and simmer for at least ½ hour.  Optional garnishes: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro chopped olives
(optional) serve with corn chips

Side Dish: Grandma’s Amazing Cheesy Potatoes

6 White Rose (may be called White New Potatoes) Potatoes , Boiled (Cool and Shred course)
2 cups cheddar cheese (grated)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup green onions (chopped)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups sour cream (room temp.)
2 tbsp. butter melted (dot on top)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add the cheese to the potatoes first, then add other ingredients.  Bake uncovered 25- 30 minutes or until center is hot. I usually make a double or triple batch for the family.

Side Dish: Vegetables with a Dijon-Basil Dressing

Hariot Covert thin green beans

1 red pepper, sliced into strips

Button mushrooms. Quartered

Dressing:

(in blender)

4 cloves of garlic

1 bunch basil leaves (20-25 leaves)

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper to taste

Boil green beans.  Saute peppers and mushrooms in olive oil.  Drain after cooked. 

Blend and drizzle in olive oil until it becomes a thin consistency.  Pour over vegetables.

Dessert: Magic Cookie Bars

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs

½ cup margarine, melted

1 cup chopped walnuts

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

¾ cup butterscotch chips

1½ cups flaked coconut

1 1/3 cups sweetened condensed milk.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  In a 9 x 13 inch pan, pour in melted margarine. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs evenly over the margarine. Next place the chopped nuts over the crumbs, and spread the chocolate and butterscotch chips over the nuts. Add the coconut over all, and pour the milk evenly over the top.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Cool at least 20 minutes then cut into desired sized bars.

Dessert: Chocolate Dipped Oreos

½ package melting white chocolate

10 oreos

10 chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler on the stove.  Drop oreos one at a time into chocolate to coat.  Use tongs to remove oreos and drop on wax paper.  Refrigerate.  Melt milk chocolate & swirl on top of oreos with a spoon.

Dessert: Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch

Use leftover melted chocolate from previous recipe

2 large spoonfuls of Peanut Butter

¼ cup mashed peanuts

3 caramels

Melt and mix together all ingredients.  Put on wax paper & refrigerate.  Then drizzle with chocolate & refrigerate again.  Break into pieces before serving.

After we were full as can be and scores were tallied, we announced the winners.  I made ribbons in each category for the winners.  Everything was delicious though...I would make any of these recipes again for sure!

Added Touches for a Disney Dinner

To celebrate the 3 year mark of hosting my monthly dinners, I decided to throw a typical 3-year old birthday theme in October of 2009.  I looked up common themes for 3 year old parties, and Disney was top on the list.  Hence, the Mickey Mouse theme which I titled Three Years of Fun.

Decor:  I used a red tablecloth and Minnie Mouse stuffed animals as the centerpiece. (I chose Minnie because these dolls were given to my daughter when she was born, so I didn't have to purchase anything). I wanted it to really look and feel like a little kids party, so I bought the Mickey party plates, cups, and party hats from Party City. I blew up red, yellow, and black balloons to have at the front entrance.  The place card and the Mickey head on the napkin are actually paint swatch cards from Home Depot!  There is a Disney Cricut cartridge that can make things like this, but I don't own it, so I improvised.

Home Depot swatch!

Menu: Serving an elegant meal would not have fit with my little kid theme, so I decided to do something typical, but spice it up a bit...hence, Mickey Mouse hamburgers! I just shaped the burgers with Mickey ears before I grilled them and then used pickles and olives for the eyes, a tomato for the nose and ketchup for the mouth.  I served these with my mom's recipe for potato bites (super easy & yummy), and finger jello in circles and stars.

 No birthday party is complete without a cake.  I made the Mickey Mouse cake pictures at the top of this blog using 2 sizes of round cake pans - one for the face and the other for two ears.  I piped on the frosting to create Mickey's face.

As a parting gift, I wanted to give the girls something to remember our 3 years of Monday dinners.  I had been saving the corks from our wine bottles since the first dinners, so I decided to make each guest a wine cork trivet.  Very easy to make...just used hot glue to adhere the corks together in a square. I wrapped them in Mickey Mouse wrapping paper to tie it with the theme.

House of Horrors

Although I am not a huge fan of Halloween, the second monthly dinner I ever had with my friends was a House of Horrors theme.  I asked all guests to wear black rather than do the costume thing.  It didn't have all the creative flair that my current parties have, but the main activity/menu was super fun.  If you are throwing any kind of Halloween dinner party, you have to do this!  Instead of making a formal invitation for this party, I simply sent out a "menu" to guests and asked them to chose their courses and implements (a.k.a eating utensils) for the evening.  Of course, guest's had only their best guesses as to what they were really ordering or would be given to eat with.

Menu: The food for this one can be almost anything.  It just needs to be able to be made ahead of time. Some of the items I served (each as a different name on the list) were:

*  spaghetti                     * split pea soup              * green beans

*  ice cream sundae        * chicken drumstick        * deviled egg

*  meatballs                    * brownie                       * eyeball cupcake

The fun part of this is that your guest's do not know what they signed up for, so it is all a surprise!  They may have signed up for the cupcake and green beans as the first course, while another guest's first course could be a chicken drumstick and a deviled egg.  The same goes for the implements which have to be strange things.  Some of the implements I used were:

*  extra large serving spoon         *  mini cocktail fork       *  tongs

*  chopsticks                              *  celery stick                *  toothpick

This made the meal even more hilarious because guest's were eating split pea soup with tongs, mashed potatoes with a celery stick, or a brownie with a toothpick!

The only thing to keep in mind if you want to host a dinner like this one (and I highly suggest it if your numbers are under 15), is you definitely need a cheat sheet as well as an extra helper in the kitchen to get items on the plates correctly. Remember, each plate is different for each course depending on what the guest filled in as their menu.  The guest's also had drink choices.  For these, I designed simple labels for the wine bottles.

Decor:  I didn't do anything super crazy with decorations for this one.  Lots of cobwebs, spiders, skulls with candles on the table, etc.  Basic Halloween stuff.  I bought one of those 100 packs of tealight candles to darker the room. I played haunted organ music in the background. I carved out a pumpkin and filled it with ice to chill the wine.

As I said, this was only the second monthly dinner I had, so it had not evolved to the type of dinners I have now, but it was super fun and brought us lots of laughs.  If I were to do a Halloween theme again, I would definitely give these Hershey bar favors I found on pinterest.  They are from theidearoom.com which has great ideas for a mummy-themed birthday party!  These Hershey favors are so easy to make & look how adorable! Check it out!!