HO HO HOme Depot Party - Part I

HO  HO  HO...it's Christmas time! I love the holiday season, and I can't seem to have enough holiday decor around my house, so for this month's dinner party, it was Christmas craft time!  That's right, we had fun with a HO HO HOme Depot themed monthly dinner!  Special thanks to the employees at the Anaheim Home Depot who were awesome in helping me figure out the best supplies to build our craft.

Invite:  I love the Home Depot gift card that has the Santa working at the tool bench, so I wanted to incorporate that into my design.  I made the invite on PhotoShop with this image at the top, and the basic party information below.  I sent it out to my girls electronically, but if the guests you are inviting live nearby, I think it would be cute to hand deliver the invite nailed to a small piece of wood.  Just added fun.

Entry Decor:  I made a wreath for my front door out of a 100-foot extension cord, and then tied a bow with yellow CAUTION tape.

I also set out an example of the craft project we were all going to make for the party.  I chose to paint a Santa, but the girls had the option of painting a Snowman, the Grinch, or a Santa.

Inside Decor:  I went with holiday colors for the decor with a little Home Depot orange thrown in here and there.  I set out tools from my garage mixed with various Christmas decorations, and that was it.

For the centerpiece, I set out my husband's red toolbox and some random tools.  I bought a Home Depot apron (only 99 cents), and the "H" and "O" letters (Michaels), to spell out the HO HO HOme Depot theme.

I also made these cute Christmas lights on a string using paint swatches from Home Depot.  I got two lights out of each swatch, added shiny silver cardstock to the top, and taped the light to a piece of ribbon.

For place cards, I used these super cute aprons that are Home Depot gift card holders!  I took out the gift card from the pocket on the front (because it hid part of the logo).  I cut the letters of each guest's name out of cardstock using my Cricut and glued them on the line.  You can write them on with Sharpie, but I wanted guests to be able to reuse the apron if they wanted to give a gift card to someone for Christmas.  One of my guest's ended up putting this on her Christmas tree as an ornament!  I love it!

I designed a couple of wine labels to match the holiday spirit -- "HO HO HO Pour the MERLOT" on the chest of Santa and "I'm Dreaming of a White WINE Christmas."

For wine charms, I got some screws and nuts from my husband's toolbox.  I dipped one side of each of them in paint and kept the other side metal.  I used holiday colors to match the theme, and then tied them onto the glass stem with white ribbon.

Menu:  At first I had a hard time deciding what to serve because I wasn't sure if we would actually have time to sit and eat or if we'd be working on our projects the entire time.  I started off with a Roasted Pepper Tomato Soup with a bread-stick that I served in a mug.  I served this in a mug not only because it is "wintery", but also so guests could drink this while they were working on the project and not have to worry about having a spoon.  Both the soup and the bread-sticks were straight from the box, I didn't make them from scratch.  They were delicious, and all I had to do was heat them up!

After assembling, drilling, and painting the base of the craft project, we came inside for dinner while the paint dried.  I served chicken kabobs that I added the head and base of a hammer to make them fit with the theme.  I just printed them on cardstock, cut them out, and taped them to the stick right before serving.

I served the rice in a paint tray from Home Depot.

For dessert, I served vanilla ice cream with showmen made out of Kit Kat bars.  Perfect because they totally match the wood craft project we were making as the Kit Kats look like pallets. I used candy melts as "glue" for these.  The black round candy I bought at a local cake shop, but the rest I just got at the grocery store.  The nose is a gumdrop that I cut.

Party Favor:  Even though guests were already leaving with the craft project as a party favor, I made this small one as well.  I cut pieces of wood and painted them red.  Then I used my Cricut to cut a vellum HO HO HO.  I added a ribbon and some mini ornaments (from the dollar store) with hot glue.

Can't wait to show you the woodworking craft project details.  Check out the HO HO Home Depot party - Part II post to see how we made these adorable holiday decorations!