A Spa-aaah Party

After booking a couple massage therapists to come to our school for Teacher Appreciation Week, I got the idea of having a Spa theme as my monthly dinner.  This school year has been a stressful one for me, and with all of the end of the year activities and banquets, I am still super busy.  I wanted just one night to relax (after all the planning and prep of course), so I decided on a Spa-aaah party.

Invite: My original plan was to scrapbook masks with the party details on the back, but since I was short on time, I created this mask-inspired invite on PhotoShop instead.

Entry Decor:  I wanted to keep the relaxing mood throughout the decor, so I stayed simple on the entry.  I made the entry sign on foam board and cut the letters on my Cricut machine.  The rocks I bought at the Dollar Tree (it took me a little less than 2 bags to do this).  I simply glued the rocks on with hot glue.  

Table Decor:  I used a light green tablecloth and placed the $5 Target mirror from my bedroom along the center of the table.  Then I added more Dollar Tree rocks and white candles on top of the mirror.  Simple, but it really set the mood.

Here's another photo of the entire table...

As place cards, I made these super easy figures of each of my guests.  I found a photo of a girl with a spa towel on her head and a different girl with arms.  Then I just used PhotoShop to combine them and add in my guest's face.  The robe is made using 4 makeup remover cotton rounds and two emery boards.

Besides wine, I served water with cucumber slices.  I also used lemon and cucumber slices as wine charms.  I have two of each etched design, so this was all I needed to distinguish them.

Relaxation:  One thing I splurged on for this party was hiring a massage therapist from Massage Envy to come.  She gave 10 minute chair massages to each guest, and they were amazing!!  All the girls are already asking to repeat this at every monthly dinner!

Another relaxation station was facial masks. I was originally planning to make my own masks (there are plenty of recipes on the internet), but I thought it would be more cost effective and less waste to just purchase Freeman masks. I did set out cold cucumbers for guests to place on their eyelids.  Tip:  They work best if they are super cold, so I recommend putting them over ice.

We also did foot soaks.  I bought the white bins and towels for each guest at Dollar Tree.  The rose petals I pulled from my garden.  I set out Epson salts for guests to spoon into each bath.

The jars of Eucalyptus sugar scrub were the favor for guests to take home at the end of the evening. It was very simple to make. I used a recipe found on Pinterest. The jars I bought at Michaels.

Menu:  My favorite part of the menu was the Avocado Face Mask appetizer.  It was not only so cute and fun, but it was also delicious!!  Here is the recipe I used:

2 (8 ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning
(season it to your taste)
1 fresh mozzarella cheese roll
1/2 cup guacamole
2 slices cucumber
1 roasted red pepper

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and taco seasoning. Stir well to combine.  Mold the mixture into the shape of a face. (I did this freehand, but the recipe I had said they purchased a face mask from Michaels.)  Slice the mozzarella cheese roll and lay it along the forehead to create the towel.  Spread guacamole over the face. Try to spread the guacamole in an oval over the face, leaving some of the pale orange cheese ball showing.  Cut cucumber and place on the eyes.  Cut lips out of roasted red pepper and place on face.  Serve with crackers.

Whenever I go to a spa I also crave a sandwich and salad, so that's what I decided to serve as my main course.  The salad was a BBQ Ranch Spa-licious Salad which included corn, black beans, tomato, avocado, cheese, and tortilla strips.

The sandwich was a Caprese sandwich served on focaccia bread. It was a grilled chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, and tomato with a pesto spread. Yum!

For dessert, I made a mud pie.  I designed a spa mask on top and called it a Mud Mask Pie.

Favor:  I made the sugar scrub as the favor, but I also made these cute spa "treat"ments for guests to take home.  The polish bottles are marshmallows rolled in melted candy chocolate with a tootsie roll on top.  I used a cut toothpick to hold them in place.  The files are just wafer cookies.

As usual, if you would like any of the templates for this party, just comment on this post.  I would be happy to email them to you!

A Kentucky Derby Party

The Kentucky Derby was this past Saturday, so as an excuse to dress up and wear fun hats, I made this my monthly dinner theme.  We had a lot of fun dressing up and eating some of the favorites of the Kentucky Derby.

Invite: I made a simple invite on PhotoShop for the party. I didn't decide the theme until the Thursday before the party, so I didn't have time to make anything extravagant.  If I had more time, I may have made horseshoes with the invitation details or a ticket to Churchill Downs for the event.

Entry Decor:  My family attended the cutest cowgirl themed birthday party for our friend Abby a couple weeks ago, and these adorable stick ponies were the party favor!  The hostess' mother made them all, and they are absolutely amazing! I wanted to incorporate them into the party, so I placed a colored piece of felt over their noses like race horses and gave them numbers.  I found a pallet near the trash at a local restaurant and grabbed it to use as the starting gate.  With a little grey paint, it did the job!  The "Get Down Get Derby" sign hung on the entry door. It is just foam board, card stock, and marker.

Here's some more close up photos of the horses (I realized too late that I put the numbers on the wrong side, so guests really couldn't see them as they walked toward the door...oops!)

Activity:  As guests entered, they placed their bets at the betting table.  I asked each guest to bring $2, and since the race happened on Saturday, I wanted to make sure even if someone knew the results, it wouldn't influence the winnings.  For this reason, I had guests draw a name for the horse they would be betting on.  I had DVR'd the race, so we watched it in between dinner and dessert.  I wanted to use the same terminology (Win, Place, Show) as the actual Kentucky Derby, so I divided the money based on this.  For example, to "show" means to place first, second, or third -- so the guests who drew the top 3 finishers names each got $2.  The first and second "place" finishers got an additional $3, and the winner got an additional $4 on top of that.

Inside Decor: My beverage table I called the "Watering Trough" to play up the horse theme. I served the traditional Mint Julep as well as wine.  The Mint Julep was VERY strong without the mound of ice to dilute it a bit...so beware if you are making these!

I served my mint juleps in mason jars (I didn't have the silver cups the recipe calls for). I made simple tags for the straws as well.

The wine charms I made to look like Kentucky Derby hats using felt, scrapbook flowers, ribbon, and small feathers.

Table Decor: I used a brown tablecloth and bought turf from Home Depot to make a table runner.  I checked GoodWill stores for trophies, but couldn't find one, so on a long shot (excuse the horse pun!) I called a local trophy company to see if they would allow me to rent one...they said yes! Isn't it perfect?

The Kentucky Derby is called the Run for the Roses, so I had to have some of red roses. (It was also a good excuse to buy myself flowers!)  The horses I bought at a Dollar Tree.

I made medals out of crepe paper streamers and card stock to use as place cards. The paper is just fan folded and taped to the back of the card stock.

I found these cute trophies 4 in a pack at the Dollar Store.  I used them as napkin rings.

Menu:  I ran out of time to create a cute menu display, but I served items all well-known at the Kentucky Derby.  I began with a green salad with candied walnuts, feta, and strawberries.  The strawberries were sliced into roses to symbolize the Run for the Roses.

The main dish was Kentucky Hot Browns with Pimento Cheese Mornay. Instead of making it in individual cast-iron pans like this recipe, a 9x13 baking dish was used.  This made it more like a casserole to dish up.  It was very tasty.  I served brown sugar glazed carrots with it.

For dessert, I made a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.  This was well-liked by many of the guests, but a bit too strong on the bourbon in my opinion.  It was overpowering some of the other flavors.

As an added dessert, I made chocolate horse suckers. When I wrapped them in clear bags it was hard to see them, so I placed them in a small medal bucket with brown sugar to hold them up.

Favor:  As a take-home gift, I gave each guest potted mint leaves to make future Mint Juleps. The tag read, "It MINT so much to have you here!" If you decide to give something like this, keep in mind that it can get expensive with pots, soil, and mint leaves.  Luckily a family friend from church has a garden with mint.  She let me steal enough for these favors, so I only had to purchase the pots. (Thank you Connie!)

This was a super fun party, and I would totally recommend hosting a party like this before a horse race.  I think all my friends had fun "trotting in" dressed up with big hats!

Beauty and the Geek

I love hosting silly parties, so this month I played on some old stereotypes and hosted a Beauty and the Geek party.

Invite: I designed my invite on Photoshop using the idea of a mirror with faces to represent a beauty and a geek.  Since the monthly dinners are always at my house, I made up an address to go with the theme.  When guests confirmed their attendance, I asked them if they were dressing as a beauty or a geek so I could set their place accordingly.

Entry Decor:  I made a giant calculator out of a piece of foam board and card stock to hang from my door.  I wrote the numbers 07734 and hung it upside down to spell "hello".  My friend also helped me make this giant lipstick out of 2 pieces of poster board.  We used Lancome as inspiration.

Decor:  On each chair, I made beauty queen banners for the Beauties and nerdy signs for the Geeks.  The banners are just a strip of butcher paper that I hot glued the ribbon onto. I cut the letters on my Cricut machine.  I tried to match the banner with each guest, so I had a Party Princess, Duncan (her last name) Diva, Dancing Queen, and Aqua Princess.

The centerpiece was a mixture of Beauty and Geek. I covered a vase with an image of a chalkboard with complicated math on it. I filled the vase with Smarties candies. Instead of flowers, I used Nerd candy boxes and also made beauty queen white chocolate crowns.  On one side of the vase I placed my iPad (with a periodic table on it), and on the other side an eyeshadow pallet.

As a place-mat/utensil holder, I made Geek shirts and dresses out of card stock.  I used little girl's hair bows clipped to the ribbon and slid the utensils under the ribbon.  For the Geek shirts, I glued a piece of card stock as a pocket for the utensils to slide in.

For place cards, I found mini compacts that looked like purses and calculators both at the Dollar Tree.  My original plan was to write the guest's name in lipstick on the mirror, but the mirrors were too small, so I designed a Victoria Secret gift card with the guest's name instead.  For the Geeks, I wrote the guest's name as the numbers on the calculator and designed a library card to also display their name.

I pulled the theme into my drink ware by borrowing some chemistry beakers from a colleague. The tags were Google images of various items associated with beauty.

I also served the cheaper version of Smart Water....i.e. filtered water from my refrigerator with a tag!

Menu:  Coming up with a menu for this was a bit of a creative challenge for me, but I think it worked out in the end.  I started with chips and dip, but added a princess crown to my dip bowl.

For the main meal, I made individual Chicken Pot Pi.  You cannot really tell from this photo, but I added the Pi symbol to the top of each one.  The recipe I used was for one large pot pie with a store-bought pie crust.  I adapted the recipe for individual pies and made my own crust.  They were delicious!

To pull in the beauty part of the theme, I made Red Pepper Lipstick. I cut the bell paper at an angle at the top and then wrapped a half a slice of bacon around the bottom.  Because my oven was full of pot pies, I cooked these on the stove top. I had never tried this before, but it worked, and guests devoured them.

I made Fruit Bytes to finish off the main meal which was just a normal fruit salad.

 
For dessert I served Stiletto cupcakes. These were SUPER cute, but they do take some time to make since I wanted each pair of heels to be different. The heel part I made out of graham crackers and Pirouette cookies. I melted chocolate to hold them in place. 

My daughter wanted her own pink heels, so I made a pair for her (to share with her brother) as well.
 

Favor: Ring pops to represent Beauty and Smartie Pants to represent Geeks.  I used my Cricut to cut the pants and a dab of hot glue to attach the Smarties.  The tag I made on Photoshop.

The girls really got into this theme, and everyone looked great dressed up as a Beauty or Geek. This is another theme I totally recommend!

Painting Party

My girlfriends and I have gotten together recently to paint canvases together, so when I was stuck on a monthly dinner theme for this month, one of my friends suggested a Painting Party.  With only a day and half to prep for this dinner, I immediately got working.  I wanted to make sure I didn't repeat ideas from my daughter's art themed birthday party (see post here), so I tried to come up with all new ideas.

Invite:  I had a bit of a challenge with the wording of my invite because we weren't actually going to paint at this painting party!  I decided on the phrase, "Come wet your palette" since this was specifically a dinner party.

Decor:  I set up an easel outside with a canvas I painted with the title of our party (sorry, no photo). Inside I used a white tablecloth, colorful plates, mason jars, and various other paint inspired items.  I cut paint splatters out of colorful card stock and set them in between the centerpieces.

My main centerpiece was a vase I made using paintbrushes and a bouquet of colorful flowers.  I bought the vase at the Dollar Tree and the brushes at Michaels.  I painted the wooden handles to add a pop of color and hot glued them to the vase. 

I also bought mini paint cans at Lowes and filled them with paintbrushes and sponges. I cut card stock to look like paint on the can.  From the ceiling and on my side table, I strung rainbow circle garlands made of felt and stitched together.

On a side table I set these wooden drawing figures.  I borrowed these from the art teacher at school.

To hold the silverware, I cut slits in paint swatches from Home Depot (the ones at Lowes were not big enough).  Simple and FREE!

As place cards, I bought mini canvases and easels from a local art store.  On each canvas I painted wooden alphabet letters that matched the first initial of each guest. I thought about having the girls paint these canvases as they waited for the food to be ready, but decided against it in favor of just letting the guests relax and chat.

I created painting themed wine labels on Photo Shop calling the wine "Creative Juices."  I put a red paintbrush on the red wine label and a gold one on the chardonnay.

Menu: I like my menu to match the theme as well, but this was a challenge with this theme.  At first, I thought about finding famous paintings with food in them and crafting my menu that way.  I decided instead to focus on colors and the artist's palette.

I started with a green salad with colorful veggies...red tomatoes, orange peppers, yellow corn, green cucumbers, and purple cabbage.

The main course was homemade pizza.  I shaped the dough and placed the toppings in ramekins to look like an artist's palette. I did two big pizzas, but you could do individual pizzas if you have room in your oven to cook them all.  I made my dough from scratch, but you could use a store-bought dough.

For dessert, I made cake pops and placed them on plastic palettes I purchased at an art supply store. I made 4 cake pops for each guest. I had these set out on my wine/favor table, so it also added themed decor to the party.

Favor:  I created a fun tag using the phrase "Thank HUE from the bottom of my heART".  I designed it in PhotoShop and adhered it to swatches from Lowes. I didn't have time to order a paint brush cookie cutter online and the local cake shops didn't have one, so I ended up free handing the cookie using a image from Google as a template. I used a toothpick to create the lines on the grey frosting of the brush to make it look more like a paintbrush.

The Painting Party was another great time with friends.  It makes me anticipate the next time we get together to actually paint.

 If you like any of these ideas, please comment below!  Would love to hear from my readers.  If you would like any of the templates, let me know.