Emoji Party Time

Emojis are all the craze right now, so I decided to have some fun with them as my Monthly Dinner theme for November.  There are lots of ideas out there on the internet, but I always like to come up with my own.  Check out my party ideas and let me know what you liked!

Invite:  I tried to pull in as many emojis as I could on my invitation. I love the date, time, place emojis that are perfect for an invitation.  I did Photoshop the date emoji to be the date of my party instead of the generic emoji.  I didn't want to confuse my guests with two different dates.

Entry Decor:  I found emoji pillows at Michaels Craft Store to set out, and I bought happy face emoji balloons at the dollar store.The place most adults use emojis is in text messages, so I decided to make my entry sign look like an iphone with a string of text messages.

I designed the speech bubbles and "texts" on Photoshop and then just printed them out and pasted them to foam board. I added some black card stock to make the rim of the phone and drew in the other phone features.

I went with bright yellow and black for my color scheme, so I set my table with a black tablecloth.  For my centerpiece, I bought sunflowers from the grocery store, and simply placed emoji faces I had printed out on card stock on the face of each flower. I placed emoji pillows around the vase.

I borrowed other emoji decor from a student including this "poop" hat!  It was a silly addition that I placed on a cake platter.

I made emoji faces on yellow salad plates for each place setting.  I cut some of these out with my Cricut cutting machine, but most of them I just did my hand.  These would also be fun to string together as a party banner.  I only had time to make one set, so I did not do the banner, but it would have been fun.

I cut out small emoji faces to glue to bright yellow folded napkins.  All the emojis for the party I found online.  Just a warning though, sometimes it was difficult to find large size emojis that weren't pixilated. Just  make sure you check them before you print.  Here's a photo of the entire place setting...

For place cards, I decided to use 3 emojis that represented each individual guest.

It was fun to see the girls trying to figure out which place was theirs.  It was surprisingly easy for them.  The top one pictured here is my girlfriend to does makeup for Knott's Halloween Haunt, is a pastry chef, and is amazing with makeup.  The bottom is mine - I sell jewelry, love popcorn, and teach high school English.

Here's the one I made for my friend's baby who was a special guest for the evening! Pretty accurate right, moms?

My wine charms were emojis as well.  Printed them small, and then tied them to the wine stem with bright yellow ribbon.

I designed my wine bottle labels on Photoshop using an equation of the red color emoji + the glass of wine followed by the = sign.  I did the same equation with the white wine.  It was fun adding some emoji faces and messages onto the borders of the labels as well.

Menu:  In trying to come up with a theme-related menu, I decided to use some of the emotions related to emoji faces.  I started with a green salad I called "Greedy for Green Salad" so I could use the "money" emoji. I used a small round cookie cutter to cut the circular face of the cheese emoji and then used a straw to cut out the eyes.  I used a pairing knife to cut out the mouth.  I cut broccoli, tomatoes, and yellow pepper to put on the salad  with the cheese and romaine.

For the main dish, I served a Sweet and Spicy Chicken I made in the crock pot.  I used some emojis related to spicy - fire, heated face, and the tongue.  This wasn't super spicy which was good for me because I am a whimp when it comes to spicy.

Crockpot Sweet & Spicy Chicken

2 lbs. chicken breasts

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup soy sauce (or coconut aminos)

1 tbls chili garlic sauce

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Sesame seeds for garnish

Place chicken in the crock pot.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  Then remove chicken and pour sauce into a pan. Simmer for 20 minutes until sauce has reduced to 1/4 the amount.  Pour sauce over chicken and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

I made Manhatma yellow rice and shaped it into circles.  I freehand cut red hearts out of red pepper to use as eyes.  This was to go along with the "loved" emoji face.

I sauteed green beans and cut butter to look like the "oh" emoji. I again used a straw to cut out the eyes and the open mouth.  The straw worked well because I just kept cutting the end off instead of worrying about trying to take the cut butter out of the straw.

For dessert, I wanted to make Death by Chocolate to represent the "dead" emoji.  I adapted the recipe to make it single-serving in martini glasses.  I simply layered brownie pieces, instant chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and a chopped up Score bar.  Then repeated that order one more time.  I topped each martini glass with a "dead" emoji face.  I used chocolate melts for the yellow circle and black features.  The black face I drew on with a toothpick.

Favor:  I found yellow cups at the dollar store and filled them with Hershey kisses and hugs. I printed out the "blowing a kiss" emoji to glue to the front and then designed a tag.

We had a super ......

 

                                                                         time! I just

these girls!

Hope you enjoyed reading about the Emoji Party!

NEON Party

With today's post, I am celebrating 10 years of Monthly Dinners!  It was 10 years ago, that I hosted my first Monthly Dinner in hopes of seeing and spending time with my closest friends in what I hoped would be an easy night out for them without any cooking, cleaning, or spending money on their part.  Now, here it is 10 years and 120 dinner themes later, and we are still going strong! I can hardly believe it!

To celebrate 10 years, I themed my party around the 10th Element on the Periodic Table..NEON!  There are several ideas on the internet for black-light neon parties that look amazing, but I wanted to focus my party mainly on the scientific element and the bright colors instead.  It was a dinner party, so didn't want to have the lights off while we ate or anything.  Here's what I came up with...

Invite:  I designed the invite on Photoshop with various images I found online. I kept it simple with bright colors.

Decor: I originally made this giant neon green sign for my entry door, but decided I liked it better on my favor/beverage table inside.  I made it with foam board, poster board, and card stock and tried to make it look like an element on the periodic table. Of course I changed the element number and name to fit my dinner.  I borrowed several glass laboratory flasks from a Chemistry teacher at my school (thanks Sam!) to use around the room as decor.  Some I placed flowers inside and others just water colored with Wilton's Neon food coloring. I also made a banner to string across the wall alternating the neon element symbol with plain neon card stock.

Table Decor: I used a neon pink plastic tablecloth and found neon green contact paper at the dollar store that I was able to use as a table runner. I printed out large Neon element signs I made on PhotoShop to place along it.  The neon vases I found at the dollar store and filled them with bright flowers.  I used laboratory flasks with neon liquid along the runner as well.

As I place card, I made coasters out of black tiles I found at Michaels.  I designed an element with each of my guest's name on PhotoShop, and then cut it on my Cricut cutting machine. The neon paper I found at Michaels as well.  I adhered each "element" to the coaster with Mod Podge.

I found these neon Slinkies 6 for a dollar at the dollar store, so I had to figure out some way to use them.  I decided to use them as napkin rings!  The neon orange plastic silverware I also found at the dollar store.

Another look at how the napkin and place card looked together. I added a neon glowstick necklace on the plate as well.

I also used the neon glowsticks (bracelets this time) for my wine charms.  Just wrapped them around the glasses.

I designed wine labels to go with my theme.  I used the Ne element sign as well as light up sign images I found.  Then put it all together with PhotoShop.

What the entire labels looked like.

Menu:  The idea of dying all my food neon colors was not very appealing to me, so I tried to think of foods that had "Ne" in the name, so I could use the element sign.  I also wanted foods that might have some sort of bright color.

I started with a PiNEapple Teriyaki Chicken that I grilled on the bbq.  The bright yellow pineapple rings gave it the bright color I wanted along with the green onions.  I found this recipe on The Recipe Critic, and it was delicious.

 

Next, I made PolyNEsian rice and served it in a steamed orange pepper.  This recipe I found on Baked in Arizona, and it cooks the rice in the oven! I hadn't ever heard of that before, but I wanted to try it.  Once you have all the vegetables diced and prepped, it really was quite easy.  Very tasty too. My original plan was just to place the rice in the hollowed out peppers, but I decided last minute to steam them so they wouldn't cool the rice as fast...great idea, Carole!  They were delicious as well.

I also served grilled veggie skewers. I tried to use bright veggies - red and green peppers, red onion, yellow squash, and green zucchini.  I mixed brown sugar, basil, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a bowl and, after tossing the veggies in olive oil, I added this mixture to coat them.  Then I put the veggies on skewers and grilled them. The sweet flavor was nice and went well with the rest of the meal.

For dessert, I served rainbow sherbet in lime green and blue mini margarita glasses that I bought a long time ago from Party City. I also baked sugar cookies and used neon food coloring to dye them bright purple and pink.  Easy and good.

Activity: Just for fun, I had guests take a little 10th Anniversary Quiz to see how many of the monthly dinners they remembered.  There were several correct answers to each question which was great because it really had us reminiscing about the fun we had at past dinners as we each chose different answers on some of the questions.

Favor:  As a parting gift, I painted wooden boxes purchased from Michaels various neon shades.  I used a permanent marker to create the Neon element box on the front. Inside the box, I had a highlighter and a neon sticky note pad on which I wrote the number 10.  My gift tag read, "Thanks for STICKING with me for 10 years of Monthly Dinners.  They've been a HIGHLIGHT of each each!"

I can't believe it's been 10 years of these dinners, but I am so grateful to have these couple hours once a month to spend with my girlfriends.  We've celebrated marriages, new jobs, babies (and more babies), birthdays, and so much more together.  I love each of these ladies and cherish spending this time with them.

Happy 10 Years!

Willy Wonka Party - It's Candy Time!

With the passing of Gene Wilder recently, my husband and I decided to have a family movie night to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids. I just LOVE that movie!  I got so many party ideas while watching the movie, that I decided to make it our September monthly dinner theme.  This party was SO much fun to plan and decorate for! Such a fun theme for a birthday party, gathering of friends, or whatever!

Invite:  I made the invite on Photoshop.  The Willy Wonka font I downloaded for free. I send my invites by email typically for monthly dinners is why I designed it this way, but if you want something a little more fun that you can mail, send a Wonka Bar with the details on the golden ticket inside.

Entry Decor:  When the lucky 5 Golden Ticket winners arrive at the Wonka Factory in the movie, they must sign a contract of rules before entering.  I created this foam board sign for my guests to sign with the rules for the evening. I made the sign with my Cricut cutting machine. Next to the sign, I placed a little table with Wonka candies and a pen I crafted with a feather and duct tape.

One guest promising to have fun!

Table Decor:  I used bright colors and candy to decorate my table of course! I started with a lime green tablecloth, and then added some fun candy items.

First, I made a candy table runner -- a large version of the Candy Buttons candy.  I cut a piece of butcher paper the size that worked with my table.  Then I simply placed Wilton's candy melts in rows. I didn't glue them down on anything as I wanted guest's to be able to grab and eat them straight from the table.

The everlasting Gobstopper is the ultimate candy in the movie, so I wanted to have one as part of my centerpiece. I decided to make it myself.  I bought a styrofoam ball and 8 cones from Dollar Tree. I cut off the top of each cone. (I used the cut-off tops to created a smaller everlasting gobstopper for my dessert table.)  I then painted the cones and center ball various colors and used toothpicks to stick them into the ball at the center. Cute, don't you think?

Check out these great candy jars from Oriental Trading that I used in my centerpiece! They were perfect & very well-made with a thick glass. Oriental Trading Co. carries a ton of items that were perfect for this theme, and they really helped me add some special touches to the party! I used two candy jars on each side of the Everlasting Gobstopper and filled the jars with a Wonka Candy mix also from Oriental Trading Co.  The two mason jars I filled with Skittles and large swirl lollipops from Oriental Trading.  The swirl suckers came in a box of 12, and they were all perfectly intact upon delivery! There were part of my parting favor for guests, but my kiddos loved eating them after the party too!

At each place setting, I used colored scrapbook paper under bright yellow paper plates, smaller lime green plates, and pink napkins. A box of Gobstoppers for each guest was above the plates.  For place cards, I made personalized Wonka bars on Photoshop.  I bought King Size Hershey bars and re-wrapped them with aluminum foil before adding the personalized Wonka wrapper.  I decided to place the golden ticket outside.  I designed the golden ticket on PhotoShop, then printed them on gold metallic card stock.

Over the table, I hung giant wrapped candies I made using paper lanterns and cellophane wrap.  The paper lanterns I got from Oriental Trading.  They were perfect as they were a set of 12 lanterns with 4 different bright colors that went perfectly with my decor.  The cellophane I bought from a local craft supply store.  I used zip ties to secure each side and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.

For my dessert and beverage table, I made a giant Wonka bar using foam board and card stock.  I also had the mini foam everlasting gobstopper I made, and these peppermint decorations that came already assembled from Oriental Trading. Oh...and my chocolate fountain which was part of our dessert!

For my wine bottle labels, I found some Willy Wonka quotes that I liked and designed the labels around those quotes. I changed the one on the left a bit. Willy Wonka's original quote is "We have so much TIME, & so little to do." I altered it to fit my party guests.  Here's a look at the entire labels...

I also made a Fizzy Lifting Drink which was just a Shirley Temple.  The cute polka dot straws I got from Oriental Trading, Co.

For wine charms, I tied gummy bears to my wine glass stems. I used clear fishing line and poked it through the gummy bear with a needle before tying it around the glass.

Menu: My entrees were created around the characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  We started with a blueberry salad to symbolize Violet Beauregarde who turns into a blueberry in the film.  Besides blueberries, I topped the greens with feta cheese and toasted walnuts.  I served the salad with a Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing.

For the main dish, I grilled bratwurst which is similar to what Augustus Gloop of Austria eats when he is interviewed after finding the golden ticket.  I wrapped each bratwurst/bun in colorful tissue paper and used silver twist ties for the ends.  My way of keeping with the candy theme. On the side, I had mustard, spicy mustard, and sauerkraut. 

With the bratwurst, I served baked potatoes.  After baking these in the oven, I wrapped them in Wilton's gold foil to represent Veruca Salt's golden eggs.

The steamed veggies, I served in small bowls. I cut televisions out of card stock to wrap around the bowl to represent Mike Teavee and Wonkavision.

For dessert, I made these cute little chocolate bowls and filled them with dipping items for the fondue fountain. To make the bowls, I blew up small balloons and dipped them in slightly cooled melted chocolate. (Make sure you wait until the chocolate cools a bit or your balloon will explode and you'll get chocolate on everything...I'm speaking from experience!!). After dipping the balloons, I set them on parchment paper and put them in the refrigerator for a bit to harden.

The chocolate fountain represented Charlie Bucket's Endless Supply of Chocolate that he won at the end of the movie. I served sliced angel food cake, strawberries, marshmallows, and sliced bananas for dipping.

Favor: Besides the personalized Wonka bar and the large swirl lollipops, I also sent my guest's home with a mini golden egg filled with Wonka candy.  The eggs were from Oriental Trading as well.  I made the Eggdicator out of card stock.  My tag line was "So lucky to have so many GOOD EGGS as friends."  I really am super lucky to have these ladies in my life!

Speaking of these ladies...here they are...

I hope you enjoyed this party post!  Special thanks again to Oriental Trading Co. for helping me out with this party!  They helped make this theme come alive!

"This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed above. I was provided the samples free of charge by Oriental Trading Company and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.”