Baseball - Opening Day Party!

Believe it or not, in nine and a half years of monthly dinners, I have never done a baseball theme!  This month's dinner fell on Opening Day, so it made baseball the perfect theme.  There are a ton of ideas out there on the internet, but as usual I wanted to make up some of my own.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

Invite:  I created the invite on PhotoShop.  The fonts I used were BOSOX font, Candy Inc., and Marcelle font/Marcelle swatches.  These fonts are available for free online.

Entry Decor:  I made a sign for the front door using foam board and scrapbook letters cut using my Cricut.  I borrowed a plastic Angels helmet from a neighbor and the blow up bats from another friend.  My PE teacher husband already had the giant baseball, so I added it to the decor as well.

Inside Decor:  I set the table with a green tablecloth, and put a home plate base in the center.  On top of that, I had a vase filled with small baseballs.  I borrowed the Angel helmets to place on both sides.

On the table, I also filled small vases with peanuts and added a baseball to the top. 

I know that you can buy paper plates that look like baseballs, but I decided to create my own using my nicer dinner plates for a more formal look.  I used my Cricut machine to cut red card stock to make the lacing.  I used a dab of scrapbook glue on each end to adhere it to the plate so it wouldn't fall off.  We just pulled the paper off when it came time to serve the food.

I also borrowed mini plastic baseball helmets from friends to place next to each plate. My original plan was to serve a salad, ice cream, or some part of the menu in each hat, but instead I just used them for more fun visual decor.

I created a baseball card of each guest for my place card.  These were intended for laughs.  Some of my favorites were me as Pitcher holding a "pitcher" of juice and my friend Maria as the "Designated Reader" (instead of hitter) since her photo is of her reading a book at an Angel game. Other funny ones...my friend and her boyfriend kissing as "First Base", another friend doing a yoga pose as "Center(ing) Field", and another with a dazed look as "(out in) Left Field"!

I used scissors and cut my napkins to look like home plate bases.  I bought mini foam fingers off of Amazon to use with my silverware.  If you buy these, take them out of the package as soon as you get them to air them out.  They were kinda stinky, but super cute!

For wine charms, I printed off the logos of various MLB teams.  I used a circle punch to cut them and then attached them to the wine stems.

I created wine labels which played off team names to distinguish the red (Cinncinati Reds) from the white (White Sox) wines.

Here's what the entire label looked like.  If you want either of these images, just comment below, and I will email them to you.

Menu: At first I was planning to have a hot dog bar as my main course, but if you know me, you know that that would be too simple!  I always try to come up with something a little more creative.  Here's what I came up with...

Slider = one of the more popular pitches in baseball, so why not have sliders to eat!  I made mini cheeseburger sliders in the oven...didn't even have to slave over a grill = super easy!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef (I used 80/20)
• 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 slices american cheese
• 12 dinner rolls

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F.  In a large bowl combine hamburger meat, onion, seasoning salt and pepper. Mix to combine. Press mixture evenly in the bottom of an un-greased 9x13 inch baking dish.  Bake, uncovered for 25 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in center (the meat to shrink a little).  Remove from oven and then carefully pour out the grease in the pan. Place cheese slices over the top of meat. Place back in oven for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Cut meat into 12 equal size squares. Place each square of meat in the center of dinner roll. Serve with your favorite cheeseburger toppings! (Ketchup, mustard, pickles, etc).

Foul ball = "Fowl" ball chicken wings!  These were Asian BBQ chicken wings I made mostly in the slow cooker.  These were AMAZING! I found the recipe at Valerie's Kitchen.

Spitball = another pitch.  For me, this was Spitball Veggies, I cooked over a spit fire. I chose red and orange peppers, red onion, yellow squash, and zucchini to give it color.

Bunt = when a batter gently taps the ball with the bat, so it is difficult for the infield to get to it.  I decided to make red velvet Bundt Cakes!  These were super yummy.  The photo isn't very good of these (sorry), but they had a cream cheese frosting.  I added a white chocolate baseball in the center.  The lacing was drawn with a red food coloring pen.

Favor:  As a parting gift, I packaged some peanuts with a box of Cracker Jacks - the typically "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" gift. I displayed them in another Angels helmet next to my Angel gnome!

I designed the tag on Photoshop using some typical baseball terms.  They came out pretty cute!

All in all, another fun party!  Hope you enjoyed my post and can use some of these ideas on your next baseball bash!

3.14 = Pi Day!

We had to delay our Monthly Dinner by a week, and it just so happened to fall on March 14th (3.14).  The date was so perfect I just had to make my theme Pi Day!  And to be honest...who doesn't love pie?

Invite:  I created the invite on Photoshop. If I were mailing invitations, I would have made the strawberry pie so that it could rotate and reveal the party details as you rotated it around clockwise.  That was my original plan, but with time constraints, I just created this one to email out.

Entry Decor:  I made a simple sign for inside the front door using form board and card stock.  The numbers/letters I cut out using my Cricut. It look a bit of time to glue on all the border numbers, but I finished it (barely) in time for the party.

Table Decor: I went with a color palette of red, yellow, black, and white for my decor.  I wanted to incorporate both the mathematical sign Pi as well as Pies in my decor.  The table runner I made out of card stock.  I taped black card stock together and them cut the white Pi letters out of my Cricut to glue on.

For the centerpiece, I used the red cake stand I made for my son's birthday party last June.  I made a pretend apple pie to place on top.  I bought 3 fake apples from the Dollar Tree and cut them in half.  I put red tissue paper inside the pie pan and placed the cut apples in it.  Then I cut some tan felt into 1" strips and wove them on the top before tucking them into the pie pan.  No gluing at all.  A quick and easy centerpiece.

For my napkin holder, I made a pie box out of card stock.  I found the template for this online here.  I added a slit on the top of the pie box big enough to slide my rolled napkin inside. The tag I made using Photoshop and then tied it around the napkin.  I served dinner in pie tins, so these napkin holders I placed inside each tin.

For a place card, I used the same Pi/Pie image I used on my invitation.  I simply added the guest's name, printed them, and then backed them in card stock.

For wine charms, I used my Cricut to cut out the Pi symbol in various colors.

Menu:  I started with these adorable cheese and cracker pies.  They were super easy to make and so cute.  I think they would be a great appetizer around Thanksgiving since they look just like pumpkin pies.  To make them, you need:

• Triscuit Thin Crisps (they are shaped in triangles so they are perfect)
• Cheddar Cheese block
• Chicken in a Biskit crackers for the back
• Wavy stick crackers from a bag of Chex Mix
• Whipped cream cheese

The cream cheese is your "glue" to hold the crackers/cheese together as well as the "dollop" on the top. I got this idea from the website She Knows.  The photo at the right is from her finished product.

I made a simple green salad with mushrooms and red and green peppers.  To fit with the pie theme, I served them in mini pie tins.

For the main dish, I didn't want to go with the standard Chicken Pot Pie or Shepherd's Pie. I decided to make this Three Cheese Italian Rigatoni Pie just because it looked cool!  I love how it came out, and it was tasty too.  You make it in a spring-form pan and then just remove the sides when ready to serve.   I found the recipe here. It's a simple pasta dish, but served in neat way.

With it I made pie-shaped bread sticks out of pizza dough.  Just baked the dough, added butter and Italian seasoning, and then cut into triangles before serving.

The pasta pie keeps it's shape quite nicely.

For dessert, I wanted something light.  I decided to go with an easy to make lemon pie.   No baking needed on this one either!  It was creamy and delicious with only 4 ingredients:  graham cracker pie crust, 8 oz cream cheese softened,  2 cans sweetened condensed milk, and 3/4 cup of lemon juice. I garnished with a slice of lemon and whipped cream.

Favor:  I saw a recipe for mini blueberry pie bites forever ago on Pinterest, and decided this was the perfect time to try them out.  I made them using the recipe found on Sugar Dish Me.  I put 10 bites into a bag, tied them with a ribbon and tag, and made pie boxes out of card stock to place them in.  Here's a close up...

These taste amazing to just snack on, but they are also really good as a topping on vanilla ice cream. 

                                    We had a great time celebrating Pi Day!  Hope you did too!

A Scrabble Party!

I have always loved board games.  I love the family bonding time that comes along with them, and I am always down for a fun game night. With this idea in mind, I decided to have a Scrabble Night for our February monthly dinner.

Invite:  I created the invitation on Photoshop. I had to do some planning first to rearrange words to spell out the party details in Scrabble formations, but I think it worked out.  I used a Scrabble board image for the background, and cropped each letter out of a Scrabble alphabet tile image I found online. I had to invent the tiles with numbers and the colon.  The tiles don't pop as much as I wanted them to, but overall, I love the concept of the invite.

Entry Decor:  I created a Scrabble board for the sign on my entry door.  I bought two pieces of foam board to start.  I cut one into 3"x 3" squares to use for the Scrabble tiles because I wanted the tiles to appear elevated above the board like a true Scrabble game.  The remainder of that piece of foam board, I attached to the full board so my board could be wider. I used scrapbook paper for the background, border, and colored squares.  I bought scrapbook paper that looked like wood to use for the tiles themselves, and the letters/numbers were cut out using my Cricut machine.  In front of the board, I filled a vase with Scrabble tiles and placed a candle on top.  The scrabble tiles I bought on Amazon.

Inside Decor:  One of my friends and fellow English teachers happened to have 6 Scrabble games in her classroom, so I lucked out in borrowing a lot of my decor.  I set several of the Scrabble boards and boxes up around the room.  I placed two boards as my centerpiece, and spelled out "Monthly" and "Dinner" using letters from the game.

I also filled my centerpiece vase with Scrabble tiles and a candle at the top.  I placed a smaller vase inside to take up space and require less tiles to fill it.

For my napkins, I bought cream colored napkins from Party City. I used my Cricut to cut out the initials of my guests along with the corresponding number the initial would have on a Scrabble tile.  I just set the black card stock on top of the napkin rather than gluing it which seemed more practical.

The place cards were simply the Scrabble trays with the tiles to spell out the guest's name.

I made wine labels on Photoshop to match our theme.  Here is what the entire label looked like...

I filled a pitcher with water as well, and I attached an H2O label I created.  The H is not really worth 2 points, but I altered it a bit!

For wine charms, I used the Scrabble tiles I bought from Amazon and screwed in some hook rings I bought from Ace Hardware.  I used the first initial of my guests, and then tied them around the glass stem with red ribbon.  The Scrabble board under and the box behind were fun decor additions.

Menu:  I started with an appetizer of a cream cheese spread and veggies.  The spread was just an Italian salad dressing mix packet and cream cheese with a little milk mixed in to soften it. I shaped it into a square and carved an S and a small 1 to make it look like a Scrabble tile.  The picture isn't really good, but it did show up.  If I were to do this again, I might use a strip of red pepper to make the letter/number so it popped more.

I found these Cheese-It Scrabble tiles at Walmart, and tried to find some way to incorporate them into my menu.  I decided to use them as croutons in my garden salad!

For the main dish, I made ground beef turnovers and shaped them into squares.  I made a slight indentation in the pastry to create a letter, brushed melted butter inside the indentation, and sprinkled poppy seeds on top of the butter.  This recipe for turnovers takes a long time to make, but they are always a big hit....so yummy!

Green beans and berries were the other side dishes.

Just another look at the complete plate.

For dessert, I made an ice cream cake that I cut into squares and made to look like Scrabble tiles.  It had an Oreo cookie crust, Heath bar ice cream in the center, and Cool Whip on top. I used frosting to pipe the letter/number on top right before serving.

Favor:  I made mini Scrabble sugar cookies as my take-home favor. I made them small, so it was difficult for to me pipe the frosting letters (and especially numbers) on.  I would try a frosting pen if I were going to make these ever again.  I designed the tag on Photoshop.

No matter how you "spell" it, I have some great friends!  Just love spending dinners with these ladies once a month!

Valentine's 2016!

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!  

Both of my sweet kiddos had their school parties today, so we spent last night making Valentine's for their classes.  Each year, we choose a theme related to their likes. I love that they are excited to help craft them each year.

Ella is in first grade this year, and she is the artist of the family.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for her Valentine's Day card this year, she said she wanted to draw a picture and make the card herself.  I got her a piece of paper and a pencil, and she decided to draw an alligator -- "Because the gator is my school's mascot, and both boys and girls like alligators" she said.  Works for me! 

After she drew the alligator holding the heart and wrote her name, I scanned the picture into my phone and created the rest of the card on Photoshop. Ella chose the "You're My Favorite Gator" slogan as well.  She helped me back each piece of card stock on red paper and attach 3 crayons to the back.  Ella loves to color, so she was pretty excited that now her friends could color too!

Our 4-year old son John, loves Star Wars, so he wanted a lightsaber on his Valentine's Card.  I modified his idea with a pencil lightsaber.  I bought neon pencils, and wrapped the bottom in duct tape and then smaller strips of black electrical tape.  The last touch was adding a neon dot.

 
John put on this karate gi and grabbed his lightsaber before we headed outside to take a photo.  I then used Photoshop to create the rest of the card.  The font I used was called Star Jedi font (it's a free download).  I cut slits above and below John's hands wide enough to fit the lightsaber penci.

Happy Valentine's Day

from my young Jedi & my aspiring artist!