Invitation: I wanted the invitation to read like an old-time prison charge and sentence, so I had fun coming up with fun wording. Other than that, just a 19 Crimes bottle image and the logo on the invite.
Decorations: For all the decor for this dinner, I tried to keep a muted tone with criminal elements to match the vibe of 19 Crimes wine. I reached out to the 19 Crimes company to see if they might be willing to provide some images, decor, or even wine, but I didn't get a response, so I had to do it all on my own.
For the centerpiece, I stayed simple with just bottles of 19 Crimes wine on a serving platter with small additions. The small additions were two pairs of handcuffs, a decorative sphere piece made of old keys that I already owned, and my daughter's dying bouquet from her Homecoming dance.
I spray-painted an empty wine bottle black, and designed a wine label with all our monthly dinner girls in a photo from one of our dinners to add to the centerpiece. Under the photo, I included "Guilty of Friendship - Sentenced to 19 Years (and Counting)."
As a mini table runner next to the platter, I printed out a "wrapping paper" image that I found on the 19 Crimes website.
I had a bit of fun making my place cards and turning my imagination into reality. I had the idea to fold my dollar store paper napkins to look like wine bottles. They didn't come out perfect, but I think they look alright! I folded them around a toilet paper roll and taped the top around a wine cork.
I created the personalized labels for the place cards on Photoshop. The photos used for each guest are from monthly dinners throughout the span of the 19 years we've had our dinners. It was so fun to look back on all these. My close friend and fellow monthly dinner guest helped me with the write-ups to make sure they were fun crimes that matched the monthly dinner they were taken from.
Loved pulling even more past monthly themes into my wine labels. Like the placecards, I used the format of a 19 Crimes wine label that I designed on PhotoShop. The photos were changed to black and white sepia tones. I chose a photo from Our Kentucky Derby themed monthly dinner we had in 2014 for the red wine. I made the crime "Horseplay in the Winner's Circle with Red Wine." The white wine was a photo from our Wii Love Bowling monthly dinner where we bowled on the Wii as teams for added fun. The crime for this one was "Bowling Under the Influence of Chardonnay."
On the 19 Crimes website, they tell the 19 crimes and have one crime on each wine cork. I used these images as my wine charms.
Menu: With each course, I tweaked a criminal charge in some way to reflect what I was serving. We started with spinach artichoke dip and french bed. Instead of Obstruction of Justice and Possession with Intent to Sell, I tweaked it to Obstruction of CRUSTice and Possession with Intent to DIP.
Next it was my family's favorite meatloaf -- a Grand Larceny Loaf.
As a side, I made mashed potatoes. The crime for these was Assault & Buttery (instead of Battery).
The green beans were drizzled with lemon and garlic. Their crime was Resisting a Zest (Arrest).
To help me out, one of my close friends/guests made the dessert. She made a delicious chocolate poke cake that was drizzled with caramel. This crime? Baking an Entering (instead of Breaking).
Favor: I don't think 19 Crimes makes mini bottles of their wines, so I decided to buy the only mini bottles the grocery store near me sells. I designed a mini wine label for each bottle with a different image from one of our 228 dinners throughout the 19 years. The labels were small, so I had to keep the crimes on these only a few words, so they could be easily read. For example: "Defying Gravity in the News" for a photo from our Broadway Show theme where I am in a Newsies costume and another guest is in a Wicked costume. For our B party where everyone had to come dressed as something that starts with B, the crime was "Boldly Being Boisterous."
It was been 19 amazing years of looking forward to seeing these ladies each month (plus the few that couldn't make it this time). Can't wait to continue the tradition for even more years!
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