49ers vs Swifties Super Bowl Party

I have been a 49er fan since I was little, and I am super excited about this Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII, but the achievements of these teams have been a bit overshadowed by the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce media frenzy (my opinion of course).  Instead of getting bothered by it, I decided to embrace it and celebrate my team with a fun and silly 49ers vs Swifties dinner party!

Invitation: I decided to have a bit of fun with my invitation by incorporating an image I found of Swift photoshopped onto Kelce's body.  I used this and an image of Brock Purdy to show the rivalry.  I switched out the KC in the middle of the Chief's arrowhead with a TS for Taylor Swift.  Then I added a few of Swift's song titles into my text.

Decorations:  Both teams have red in their uniforms, and Taylor's album was called "Red," so that color became a big focus of the party.  I purchased a red shimmery backdrop from Amazon to put up behind my table.  I added white butcher paper behind it to cover the photo collage of my family.  I also purchased the football field tablecloth from Amazon.

For a centerpiece, I purchased 3 pieces of red glitter cardstock from Michaels to use like a table runner.  On this, I had a gold vase filled with red artificial flowers and gold tissue paper.  I designed images to put on skewers inside the vase and to use as photos props for pictures.

Also in the centerpiece was a football with some red heart shaped glasses to represent Taylor Swift.  I found these in the dollar bin at Target.  I borrowed the mini 49er helmet and the black 49er hat from my neighbor.  The wooden heart is a Valentine's decoration, but I added it to give more of a Taylor Swift vibe to the centerpiece.

The red plastic plates and smaller gold paper plates I purchased at Dollar Tree.  I then printed out logos for the 49ers and the Swifties and alternated the teams around the table.

The gold napkins I also purchased at Dollar Tree.  I made mini Swiftie friendship bracelets to wrap around the napkins.  These also served as place cards, and I put letter beads with the guest's initials on the bracelet.  If I were to host this party again, I would probably keep the napkin less folded and include the guest's entire name, but for my small group, the initials were fine.

For my beverage table, I lucked out by having close friends that have great memorabilia they let me borrow for the night. One friend went to a Taylor Swift concert, and let me borrow the boxes (on the mantle) and the giant envelopes (on the table) which show Taylor's Eras Tour.  I borrowed a 49er jersey from other friend.

Another friend let me borrow his football from the 2020 Super Bowl that is signed by all the players!

I had fun creating and designing my wine labels with a Taylor Swift vibe, but words that promoted a 49er win!  Used Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space" to represent zero points on the scoreboard for Kansas City.  

For wine charms, I printed out small logos and images I found online.  Things like an Eras Tour poster with Kelse instead of Swift, a Chiefs jersey with Swift as the name on the back,  red lips, etc.

Menu: This is a dinner, rather than snacks, so I needed to create a menu that was filling, but still fit with the theme.  I decided to highlight various star players on both teams & of course Taylor Swift.  We started with an appetizer of veggies and dip.  I called this BROCK-oli with more than PURDY good dip after the 49ers quarterback, Brock Purdy.

For the main dish, I had burgers with all the fixings: cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, and avocado.  I named these burgers after Taylor Swift's song "Back to December" calling them Back to Decem-BURGERS.  Also brought Travis Kelce from the Chief's in with the TRAVIS-ty of toppings.

You've gotta have fries with cheeseburgers, right?  Named these after the 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey calling them McCaf-fries.

Deebo Samuel is another amazing player for the 49ers.  We had boneless honey buffalo wings I renamed DEEBO-ned Chicken Wings.

I couldn't decide between two ideas for dessert, so I decided to do mini versions of both.  One was mini red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting & edible sugar.  My friend who works at Small Cakes bakery (yummy stuff) made these for me, and I just added pennants I designed.  These were named after Taylor Swift's song, "Red".

The second dessert I served was a mini strawberry shake to represent Taylor Swift's song, (milk)"Shake It Off"!

Activity/Game:  I had fun coming up with this fill-in-the-blank game for the party.  I looked up some of Taylor Swift's most popular songs, and tried to incorporate them into Super Bowl sentences. My favorite is, Mahomes will definitely say, "I Knew You Were Trouble" after playing against the 49er defense!  As a 49er fan, these sentences were definitely bias to my team, but the guests got a kick out of it.

Favor:  Aren't these cookies so cute?  One of my neighbors offered to make Super Bowl/Taylor Swift themed cookies for me, and she did an amazing job! From footballs, to circles with SF, to castles with "Love Story" on them, they were perfect.  Yummy too!

As guest's departed, I also gave them this Super Bowl Bingo sheet Swiftie Edition to play during the game this Sunday.  I had fun making this and coming up with some of the things that were funny with the Taylor Swift obsession.  This card is definitely more geared to both teams.  I tried to be fair (for the most part).  You may catch my one addition that isn't equally represented!

This was such a fun party, and one you can totally throw together for this weekend's game.  GO NINERS!

Three Cheers for Softball

We are in the midst of softball (and baseball) season in our house.  Love watching my kids play sports, but I can never get those gosh darn softball cheers out of my head!  If you've never been to a softball game, the girls are constantly chanting to pump up their team. They really are catchy, and I find myself using the chants in our daily lives throughout softball season because they are just stuck in my head!  Like "1-2-3-4 what do you think that fork is for? EATING. EATING" is how I've changed the words in one chant when my kids use their fingers instead of a fork at the dinner table.   Or "2-4-6-8 who do I appreciate...Cleaners. Cleaners" when the kids actually stop playing their devices long enough to help me clean the house.  Since I can't get them out of my head, I decided to make them my theme for the monthly dinner!  So here goes Three Cheers for Softball, and all I did to make a fun dinner party out of this theme.

Invite:  I made the invite with a softball field background and a giant clipart softball.  I used sporty fonts and incorporate a softball cheer as well as softball lingo into the text of the invite.

Party Details:  I always have fun creating wine labels for my monthly dinners.  For these labels, I wanted to come up with a softball cheer to fit my theme, but somehow tweak it to be about wine.

For the white wine, I used a cheer that the girls to for a batter from their team when she comes up to bat.  They chant, "Ella is a friend of mine (rip rip), she can RIP it anytime!"  I simply switched a few words up to apply to wine!  I also photoshopped a heart-shaped softball to be the white wine inside of the glass.

For the red wine, I used a team chant.  I made Wine Drinkers a team name and just changed the last line from "if you can't hear us, we'll shout a little louder " to "if you can't hear us, drinking'll sure make us louder."  I photoshopped a softball jersey with the new team name on it as well.

I made a simple softball napkin by folding a yellow napkin in half and adding softball laces I cut out with my Cricut machine.

Menu: I am hosting my monthly dinners virtually still because of COVID-19, so all parts of the meal have to be packed up to go.  I used a round container for this meal, so I cut the menu into a circle to fit on the lid.  If you don't know softball, you probably won't get the softball cheers I used, but I'll explain them a bit for those that aren't blessed with hearing these cheers over and over every game for not only one daughter and her games, but two!

The main dish was St. Louis Ribs that I smoked on my Traeger smoker.  I bought them already seasoned from Costco, so all I had to do was place them on the smoker.  Five hours later, they were delicious.  One of the cheers the girls chant often is "R-I-P  I-T Rip it for me baby, Rip it!"  I just swapped the P for a B to spell out R-I-B and make it RIB it!

I also served a bases "LOADED" baked potato with shredded cheese, bacon, chives, and a ramekin of sour cream on the side.  This went with the cheer, "Bases loaded. Pitcher's Nightmare. Bases loaded. Batter's Dream" which the girls chant when they have runners on every base and they want to encourage their next batter to knock them in.

Along with these, I also made a melon BALL salad with watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  I shaped them into balls to go with the chant, "1-2-3-4 What do you think our feet are for? WALKING. WALKING."  The girls chant this after their teammate is walked by the pitcher and gets a free base.

For dessert, I decided to make a pie that could go with the chant softball players use when a batter on their team doesn't swing at a bad pitch "G-double o-D  E-Y-E. Good eye. Good eye. Good eye."  I simply swapped the good "eye" for good "pie."  I served a Snickerdoodle Cream Cheese Apple Pie.  This was easy to make and delicious.  I will totally make it again as I got a lot of compliments on it. 

Favor:  For the party favor, I made softball sugar cookies.  I made them big like softballs, so they were about 3.5".  I frosted them in bright yellow and piped on the red stitches.

For the tag, I used the standard after game cheer, "2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate?" The "team" for this dinner was of course, my Monthly Dinner Girls!  I made the tag to match the invite and the menu so everything looked similar.

This dinner was fun to put on, and it would be a fun one to have for a softball end-of-the-season party.  I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed coming up with these dinner cheers! Now, if I can just get them out of my head for a bit, I'd be set!

Girl Scout Cookie Dinner Party

Have your bought your Girl Scout cookies yet this season?  Chances are, you've had a young Girl Scout come to your door or ask you at the supermarket to buy some of those yummy Girl Scout cookies.  It may have even been my daughter!  Since my house is inundated with boxes of Girl Scout cookies my daughter is selling, I thought it would be perfect theme for this month's dinner party.

Invite: I designed this invite on PhotoShop using simple images. My daughter is a Brownie currently, but most people know green as the major color of Girl Scouts, so I used green and brown as my color scheme for the dinner and invite.

Entry Decor:  Making this tower of empty Girl Scout cookie cases was so easy. I stacked them up and used a little tape to keep them in place.  I cut the Welcome letters out with my Cricut and glued them to the front.  Then just set them next to my front door.  On the actual door, I hung two hangers with my daughter's Brownie and Daisy vests and a large Caramel Delight cookie cutout I painted on poster-board.

Table Decor:  I set the table with a green tablecloth and added Girl Scout touches through the centerpieces, napkin, and place card.  I stayed fairly simple and just added some creative touches here and there.

Michaels sells ceramic pieces, and I just happened to find a cookie jar that would work perfectly as a centerpiece. I found the Cookie time image online and printed it on vellum, then stuck it to both sides of the cookie jar.  The GS symbol I printed on cardstock and taped to it the handle.  Then I just placed a brown piece of cardstock under the cookie jar and surrounded it with boxes of various GS cookies.

I love my place cards, and honestly, they were not difficult to make.  I bought the brown foam pieces from Michaels and cut them into sashes.  I got 2 sashes out of each piece.  For the badges, numbers, and patches, I found images online and printed them on cardstock.  The troop/names I just used my Cricut cutting machine.  I tried to choose badges that applied to the theme or the dinner, but any badge would be fine. (I'm just a detailed oriented person!)  The place cards made fun photo props too...

I printed the GS symbol to glue to the front of brown napkins just to add another touch of the theme.

The wine charms were simple.  I printed out photos of each variety of Girl Scout cookie and tied them onto the stems of the glasses.

I made my wine labels on PhotoShop.  There's several websites online that pair wines with Girl Scout cookies.  Chardonnay is said to go well with Shortbread/Trefoil cookies, so I designed one label with that.  For my red wine, I just found a funny badge that had wine and cookies -- the ladies and I definitely earned this patch tonight!

Menu:  I wanted to use Girl Scout cookies in all aspects of my menu.  This proved to be rather difficult, but I included them somehow in most of them.  I started with an Asian Sesame Salad to which I added cut up Lemonades.  The dressing was delicious, and I enjoyed it on my salads at work for several days after the party.  The salad itself was romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, wonton strips, sliced almonds, and cilantro.  You can add chicken, but I already had chicken in my main dish, so I did not.  Here's the recipe for the dressing:

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

2 whole cloves garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 

Place the rice vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat and allow it to just come to a gentle boil, add the sugar and garlic cloves and let the sugar dissolve.  Remove the rice vinegar mixture from the stove and discard the cloves.  Put the rice vinegar mixture in a mason jar and add the sesame oil, canola oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds.  Allow the mixture to come to room temperature.  Screw on the lid and give it a good shake until the dressing mixes together.

For the main dish, I served Do-Si-Dos Peanut Thai Chicken.  I didn't really have a recipe for this. I just brushed teriyaki glaze on chicken breasts and put them in the oven.  I added a Thai Peanut sauce the last 10 or so minutes.  After the chicken was tender and ready, I pulled them out, added a little more peanut sauce to the top and then sprinkled crushed up Girl Scout Do-Si-Dos to the top.  I think I used about 8 cookies that I had crushed with a rolling pin.

These Sesame Peanut Butter Noodles are amazing!  LOVED THEM!  I didn't actually use the Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties in this recipe, but I did use peanut butter.   You can add whatever veggies you want. I chose to add strips of red pepper, edamame, and shredded carrots.

6 oz. of your favorite Asian noodles (I used ramen)

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1 1/2 tbsp. peanut butter

2 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root

Cook and drain the noodles according to the package directions.  In a medium bowl, add the sesame oil, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger.  Whisk until well combined (it should be smooth).  Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss to coat. Add sesame seeds and cilantro as a garnish as desired.

Any Girl Scout cookie lends itself to an amazing dessert, but I chose to use Thin Mints.  I found a recipe for Thin Mint Cheesecake bars that I thought wouldn't be too heavy.  Delicious...

34 thin mints (or a generic store brand)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 egg (at room temperature)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 drops of green food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8 baking pan with nonstick foil.  Add thin mint cookies, sugar, and butter to a food processor or blender and pulse until blended.  Press mixture evenly into the bottom of your pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the cheesecake layer, whisk together the egg and sugar until light and foamy.  Add cream cheese, vanilla extract, and food coloring and mix until smooth.  Pour mixture over crust.  Return to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until cheesecake layer is set.  Allow pan to cool on wire rack for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to fridge to finish cooling completely.  Cut into bars, drizzle with chocolate syrup, and add a dollop of whip cream and half a thin mint.

Favor:  The Thanks-A-Lot cookies make an easy favor to thank guests for coming.  I made favor bags/boxes out of Girl Scout cookie boxes just cutting them with scissors.

I added a tag that said "Thanks-A-Lot" for coming tonight.

Inside the box, I had a favor bag with 2 Thanks-A-Lot cookies and I made chocolate suckers in the Brownie symbol.

This was a super cute theme, and would be fun to do aspects of this party for an end of the year girl scout event.  We even used the Welcome cookie boxes for the Girl Scout meeting following this dinner.  Comment below to let me know your thoughts.  Thanks for reading.