Flipping Thru the Channels

I am the ASB Director at the school where I teach, and we just completed a super fun spirit week titled Flipping Thru the Channels.  It was so fun seeing teachers and students dressed up for the spirit days. From MTV Monday wearing band tees to Disney Channel Friday in mouse ears & Disney clothes, it was a week full of fun.  I thought it would make a fun dinner party idea, and that was this month's theme.  It did not disappoint.

Invite:  I designed the invitation with various TV channel logos along the left hand side and an old school television in the middle.  Since the spirit week at my school was full of fun dress up days, I decided to have guests dress up to represent a channel as well.

Decorations: I used bold and bright colors for the table as most TV channel logos are bold.  For the centerpiece, I spray painted a box black and added television decals to match the TV on my invitation.  I cut a hole in the top of the box and put a vase inside with flowers.

As a table runner, I set out black card stock and then printed various TV channel logos to spread along the runner.

For place cards, I designed small televisions using Photoshop and then cutting them with my Cricut machine.  I matched a logo that represented various guests hobbies/likes to show on the "screen."  My family travels a lot so I used the Travel channel on my place card with On the Go Carole. A friend who is currently remodeling her bathroom was HGTV with Renovating Rene.  For the antennas, I used push pins with black balls at the end and just stuck them through the card stock of the television.

For napkins, I printed the Disney Channel logo to place on bright yellow folded napkins.  I labeled the Mousekatools (fork, knife, spoon) for guests to pull in that term used on Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

For my beverage table, I borrowed an MTV shirt to display behind the wine and party favors.

For the wine labels, I also incorporated TV channels.  The white wine was the logo for TLC (The Learning Channel).  I just switched it up to be Totally Love Chardonnay to represent the letters.  The background of this label was the same TV as the invite all the way around.  For the red wine, I chose the Red Zone channel from NFL Network. I designed the label with a glass of red wine and the NFL logo in it.

The wine charms were just various TV channel logos that I printed out and put on the glass stems.

Menu: As a main dish, I served garlic mushroom chicken that was delicious!  I followed this recipe from Cafe Delites, except I baked the chicken in the oven instead of on the stove as I didn't want to be stuck in front of the stove and not interacting with guests.  I did do the mushroom mixture on the stove, but that didn't take long.  This is a recipe I will definitely make again.  I used an acronym for this dish to match with the AMC television channel.  Instead of American Movie Classics, I had it stand for Amazing Mushroom Chicken.

As a side dish, I made Baked Cheesy Ranch Potatoes which were also amazing and super easy to make.  I chose this "cheesy" dish to go with the Hallmark Channel.  I am a sucker for all of their cheesy holiday movies!

I also made a fruit platter and organized the fruit on a platter in the shape and colors of the NBC peacock logo.  I served pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, purple grapes, blueberries, and honeydew.  The NBC letters I cut out on my Cricut. 

For dessert, I made a sponge cake.  My good friend did all the SpongeBob themed icing on the cake to represent the Nickelodeon channel.  I also added the top of the pineapple to the platter to add to the SpongeBob theme.  

Favor: The party favor was easy to throw together.  I simply wrapped Hershey bars in black cardstock, and then designed an image of a remote control on Photoshop to print and glue to the front to make take home remotes.  The text read "Thank You for Tuning In."  Guests can enjoy a candy bar as the Flip Thru the Chanels at home!

I didn't take any photos of my guests at this event, but we had several channels represented.  I wore an MTV shirt, one guest wore a jersey to represent ESPN, a few guests wore Disney ears.  So many options to work with - safari gear for Discovery Channel, decade dress for History Channel, chef attire for Food Network, etc.  This was a fun party and would be great for a get together or birthday party theme.