Thank You for Being a Friend - Golden Girls Theme!

The world was saddened by news of Betty White's passing New Year's Eve.  She was an iconic superstar with an amazing sense of humor.  As a child, I loved watching The Golden Girls, and she would crack me up with her silly responses as Rose.  I decided The Golden Girls would be a fun theme for our monthly dinner and it truly was fun to put together.

Invite: I designed the invitation on Photoshop using some images I found online.  I incorporated some iconic phrases and lines from The Golden Girls episodes to add to theme.  With the surges in COVID cases, we decided to host this dinner on Zoom rather than in person.  I would have loved to have had the chance to decorate the table Miami-style with some afghans around the room for fun, but we decided to be caution and keep it virtual.

Party Details:  I created the mini wine bottles labels to match the invitations with the four main character faces along the top.  For the white wine, I used Sophia's iconic phrase "slut puppy" with the words Drink Up above it.  For the red wine, I used a phrase that Dorothy said to Rose, "Go to sleep, sweetheart and pray for brain."  I just added "or red wine" to the end of it.

For my napkins, I used another famous quote from Rose that makes me laugh.  Rose says, "The older you get, the better you get...unless you're a banana".  I designed a tag with this quote and wrapped a bright pink napkin around a banana to give to guests.

Menu:  The character Sophia in the series consistently speaks of her younger years being raised in Sicily.  She likes to good Italian food, so this is what I decided to serve for our dinner.  I created this menu to put on top of the boxed meals so guests would know how the food related to theme.

I started with a salad I called Blanche's "You look like a Prostitute" Slutty Salad.  This comment was said by Sophia to Blanche in one episode, and it is so reflective of both of their characters.  This was a simple green salad with diced red peppers, cucumbers, croutons, and Italian dressing on the side.  I used a lip-shaped cookie cutter to cut one large red pepper for lips as well.

I found an easy lasagna recipe online to make for what I termed Sophia's "Picture it...Sicily 1922" Lasagna.  I found the recipe here.  It was tasty and not difficult to make once you have all the ingredients.  I was able to serve the nine guests as well as my family.  Alongside the lasagna I served a bread roll pretending it was from St. Olaf Bakery.

Cheesecake is the obvious choice for dessert, since The Golden Girls are always eating cheesecake during their late night chats.  I cheated this time and just purchased a cheesecake from Costco which I never do.  I just added some raspberries and called my dessert "RaspBETTY White Cheesecake."

Favor:  When I was thinking about what to make for a favor for this party, I ran across this cute purse pattern on Etsy.  I printed the purse on photo paper, cut it out, and folded it to create this purse.  I wonder if it would look better and fold better using card stock, but my printer prints pretty dull on card stock, so I opted for photo paper.  I filled the purses with gold Hershey kisses for The Golden Girls.

This would be a great theme for a Golden birthday.  I had so many ideas for decorations and other things that I was not able to do since we had the party on Zoom.  Either way, it was a fun theme and spending time with my friends is always Golden!

Ho - Ho - Hoedown Country Christmas

Ho - Ho - Howdy Y'All!  Buffalo plaid is everywhere this Christmas.  I love it, and it reminds me of a hometown Hallmark movie-style Christmas.  I decided to keep my theme simple this December and host a Country Christmas with a Ho - Ho - Hoedown monthly dinner. Check out the details...

Invite: A buffalo plaid background and Santa strumming an acoustic guitar were of course part of my design for the invitation. You can't have a Ho-Ho-Hoedown without featuring Santa!  Beyond that, I kept the invitation simple and just used a country-style font for the writing.  I asked guests to wear flannel and boots to the party for added fun.  Plus, I hosted the dinner outside on my patio, so I wanted the guests to dress warmly.

Decor: It was so easy to find buffalo plaid everywhere, that I used it throughout my decor.  I set the table with a red tablecloth & cut a strip of buffalo plaid wrapping paper to use as a table runner.  I could have purchased a fabric table runner for $15, but I already have a holiday table runner in my house, so $2.50 on a roll of wrapping paper that I could use for wrapping presents and making a table runner, seemed like the way to go.

As a centerpiece, I placed my cowboy boots in the center of the table runner.  I filled one of my boots with mini Christmas ball ornaments, and the other I placed a buffalo plaid Santa hat I bought at the dollar store.  I borrowed some mini haybales and copper wire from a friend to place on the table as well.

Lastly, I added a wooden buffalo plaid Christmas tree I made.  I found the wooden tree at the dollar store, purchased the buffalo plaid scrapbook paper from Michaels Craft Store, and just used Mod Podge to adhere them together for a fun look.  I added some wooden trees and plaid reindeer I borrowed from a friend.  She found the reindeer in the dollar bin at Target.  

For my napkins, I designed a simple cowboy boot with a Christmas tree in the middle to cut out of cardstock with my Cricut machine.  I made a plain back of the boot, and used scrapbook glue to glue the bottom and just the rims together.  Then I slid a green napkin into the top of the boot.  Love how they turned out.

I had a bit of silly fun with placecards.  I asked each of my guests to send me a bitmoji of themselves.  I chose a specific bitmoji to have them send - one where they were facing front and I could easily Photoshop the rest of the bitmoji out and just have their head.  Then I found clipart cowboy cartoons online and replaced those faces with those of my guests!

Here's a few more just for fun!

For wine charms, I made ball ornaments out of scrapbook paper to wrap around the wine stems.  These were super easy.  Except for the red buffalo plaid, I found images of holiday plaid online to use instead of purchasing cardstock.  I just printed the backgrounds on cardstock large enough for the ornament, and then used my Cricut to cut them out.  A little silver glitter to add the ornament top, and they were done.

I designed my wine labels to match the invitation and the overall country Christmas theme.  For the red wine, I designed a wine glass with a horseshoe as the cup and made it like a "Wanted" poster - glass or bottle.  For the white wine, I went with a simple holiday phrase "Tis the Season to be Drinkin".

This small Ho-Ho-Hoedown banner was above my drink table.  Instead of using scrapbook paper to make it, I just designed it on Photoshop and then printed it out.  I was short on time, so simple worked for this.

Menu: A Ho-Ho-Hot Chili made in the crockpot was my main dish, and what a good choice it was!  It was delicious, warm on a cold night, and because it was in the crock pot, it really gave me a chance to relax a bit and chat with the girls instead of being stuck in the kitchen the beginning of the party.  I used this recipe.  We liked it so much, I made a second batch later in the week for my family to enjoy.  I set it out with all the fixings for guests to add as desired: cilantro, jalapeños, onion, sour cream, avocado, cheese, hot sauce, and red and green tortilla chips.

Along with the chili, I served Ho-Ho-Homemade Cornbread and Ho-Ho-Homestyle Corn on the Cob.  A bit of a stretch because although I did make the cornbread in my home, it was from a box from Trader Joe's.  If you haven't tried Trader Joe's cornbread mix, I suggest you do. It has little bits of corn in it, and it is really good.

For dessert, we had Ho-Ho-Howdy Cupcakes.  These were simple cupcakes baked in buffalo plaid wrappers with vanilla buttercream frosting, but with an editable cowboy hat on top!  They were so adorable!  The hats are made with Lays Stax chips to give the base of the hat the authentic look.  You could use Pringles, but Lays Stax chips are thicker so it's less breakage when you dip them in chocolate.  The top of the hat is a Rolo and then a red pull-apart licorice for the red accent.

Favor:  I initially intended to make the plaid wooden Christmas tree as a favor that I made for my centerpiece, however, after going to 6 different dollar trees to look for them and only coming home with one, it wasn't going to work.  Instead, I found the wooden door hangers at the dollar store.  I used Mod Podge to glue the buffalo plaid on the wood, and cut out the tree and Merry Christmas with my Cricut.  This favor was definitely simple and inexpensive to make.

Ho-Ho-Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!