Invite: I found the image in the circle online and decided to design my invitation around that color scheme. I found an image of chopsticks that matched this color to place in the background and then just added the dinner party details.
Decorations: I kept the decor cheap and easy for this dinner. For the centerpiece, I purchase plain white Chinese to-go boxes from Michaels and a bouquet of bright flowers. I printed out the National Chopsticks Day circle to glue to the front of each. I placed a small drinking glass inside each box and divided the bouquet between the three vases. To top it off, I added a pair of chopsticks into each mini bouquet. These to-go boxes were placed on top of scrapbook paper in colors that matched the party invitation.
For placecards, I made chopstick holders and added each guest's name to the front. To spice them up a bit, I followed a Youtube video on folding paper into a Japanese crane which looked neat. To save money, I just used scrapbook paper I already owned for this, but since my paper was thick, it was challenging to fold into perfect cranes. It probably would have been better to purchase origami paper, if you really want these to be easy to fold and have a tighter look. I bought chopsticks off Amazon that matched the theme, and slid a pair into each crane.
On top of each napkin I created a tag with a fact about chopsticks. Each napkin had a different fact. The girls and I had fun reading each fact aloud during the evening.
I designed wine labels that to match out theme and meal. For the white wine, I designed a fortune cookie with "Wine is in your future" as the fortune. For the red wine, it was "let the good times ROLL and the wine flow" which sushi rolls and chopsticks.
For wine charms, I painted toothpicks in various colors and attached a pair to each wine glass with fishing line to look like mini chopsticks.
Party Games: I used two Minute to Win It games that involved chopsticks to add to the evening fun. The first was the Marshmallow Chopstick Challenge. A bowl of marshmallows is placed in the middle and each guest is given a small bowl and a pair of chopsticks. Blindfolds are usually used, but I didn't have enough of them, so we just closed our eyes.
The participants have one minute to see how many marshmallows they can transfer from the large bowl to their own little bowl. It is definitely harder than it looks!
The second game was the Chopstick Chapstick Challenge. For this game, guests have to stack 3 chapsticks on top of each other using only chopsticks. This is timed, so the winner is the guest that can do it the fastest.
Menu: We started the evening with vegetarian egg rolls as an appetizer. I purchased these at Costco rather than making them myself. Cheating a bit, but as a working mom, I have to make some concessions.
For the main dish, I made Grilled Chicken Teriyaki. I put them on skewers so they would look a little bit like chopsticks, but decided against using actual chopsticks since they are so much thicker than a skewer. This recipe called for several ingredients I don't usually use, so it was a bit more expensive to make, but they were easy to make, cooked quickly on the grill, and were delicious.
I also made Chow Mein which was tasty. I followed this recipe, but left out the chicken since I was having the skewers already.
For dessert, we had s'more sushi. This was really popular and liked by all the guests. The recipe makes it look easy, but it is a bit of a challenge to get and keep it in a tight roll. I had to keep it in the refrigerator until serving so the marshmallow didn't melt and alter the shape of the roll. We also found that the recipe didn't call for enough marshmallows in the bottom layer. Discovered this with the first attempt, so we added more marshmallows for the next two rolls, and it worked much better.
Favor: Trying to come up with a parting gift that centered around chopsticks was a challenge because I didn't want to just give the a pair of chopsticks. Instead, I decided to buy Pocky to simulate chopsticks. I bought small Chinese to-go boxes from Michaels and placed a fortune cookie inside each one before adding the Pocky to the top.
This was a fun chopstick filled evening. Might have to repeat it next February 6th!
