It's Time for May Flowers

Everyone knows the saying: April Showers bring May Flowers.  In 2008, I decided these would be my April and May monthly dinner themes.  In April, I focused on the rain and rainbows, and of course in May, I had fun with flowers...

Invite:  There are so many options for a flower-themed party.  If your guests live close, drop off a flower on their doorstep with the party details on a tag.  The wording on my invite played with the word "may".

We've had April showers...now

"It's Time for May Flowers"

 May your Monday night be free...
So that you May spend some of it with me.
May you come ready to laugh and eat
For there May be something sweet.
May you laugh until the party is done
On this May-day night of fun!

Hope you are a "yes" and
not a "May-be" for this blooming bash.

Decor:  My decor was very simple for this dinner. I set the table with a light green tablecloth and green napkins.  My centerpiece was a flower arrangement I made out of vegetables. The center was a metal watering can that helped hold some of the flowers up.  I used celery as stems and cut jicama into a flower shape.  A sliced carrot was placed in the center to finish off the flower.  All were attached with toothpicks I cut so they wouldn't show.  As you can tell from the photo, I also cut red peppers into tulip shapes and used zucchini and carrots in the center.  Radishes cut like roses and slivers of carrot wrapped in circles finished off the centerpiece.

At each place setting, I bought flower seed packets and added the guest's name as a place card.

Menu:  I know there are people that really do eat certain flowers in meals, but I am not one of them!  I decided instead to display my menu items as flowers.  For the main dish, I served Chicken with Peach Salsa. I arranged the chicken on the plate to look like a flower and placed the salsa as the flower's center (additional salsa was served on the table).

I used cookie cutters to cut cantaloup and honeydew into flower shapes and each guest received an individual small plate. Tips of strawberries were used as the flower's center.

For dessert, I made pudding flower pots.  Because I wanted the pots to be see-through, I used votive candle holders I purchased from Michaels.  I placed crushed Oreo cookies at the bottom and top, and I filled the middle with chocolate pudding to create the "dirt". I used a flower lollipop mold to create the flowers.  Then, I added a gummy worm just for laughs.

This was definitely one of my simpler parties, but still a lot of fun to put together.  If you decide to recreate the centerpiece, just give yourself plenty of time.  It took me a lot longer than I anticipated!!