Red, White, & You - A Tasty Tribute to Rhyming Words

With fourth of July in a few days, I decided to theme my monthly dinner around this holiday, but with a twist.  I hosted a Red, White, and ________ Party where everything from decor to food to attire was supposed to rhyme with blue.  It was so much fun to put together, all the food was delicious, and the girls really had some fun with their rhyming "blue" attire.

Invite: I chose a simple patriotic bunting to top the invitation and then used red, white, and blue throughout.  I wanted guests to understand the idea of this party and that the "blue" would be replaced with another rhyming word.  I tried a spinner wheel, but that didn't look right on the invite.  I ultimately decided on a drop-down menu to show guests that it could be red, white, and "BLUE" or "YOU" or "CREW," etc.  I used this drop-down menu throughout many of the party details.  On the invitation, I also tried to incorporate some more words that rhymed with blue such as "rendezVOUS," "VENUE," and "VIEW."

I thought it might be fun to ask guests to dress in attire for the party that rhymed with blue.  I gave them some examples on the invite, but also let them know that they could just wear blue if they couldn't think of anything.  Pictured above you see a boy named SUE, myself dressed with a patriotic TUTU and a HAIKU on my shirt, and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss.

We also had two guests who wore items from their recent trips to OAHU, a guest with a BLUE dress and fun HAIRDO, and a BARBECUE chef among other rhymes.

Decorations: I used a red tablecloth and white plates and created a centerpiece with items that rhymed with blue.

I started with the board from a game of CLUE.  I bought red, white, and blue fake flowers and placed them in "vases" of RAGU pasta sauce,  a bottle of SHAMPOO, and a bottle of Mountain DEW.  Yes, I wasted the pasta sauce in that I just threw it out after the party, but I thought the jar looked better full of sauce than empty.  On the table, I also had a box of TISSUE and a bottle of GLUE that I made labels for.

For place cards, I came up with a CLUE that described each guest with a rhyme rather than just listing names.  Each guest had to figure out which rhyme matched with them to figure out where to sit.  It was fun to come up with fun or funny short phrases for them.

With the napkin, I made a napkin ring with Red, White, and the face of PIKACHU.  Kinda silly, but it rhymes with blue!

For the wine labels, I tried to think of even more blue rhymes.  I designed the label for the white wine with the same drop-down menu idea from the invitations inviting guests to "chase the red, white, and BLUES away with some chardonnay."  For the red wine, I came up with a simple rhyme "A rich bold HUE to bid woes ADIEU."

For wine charms, but printed off various brand logos or things that I could think of that rhymed with blue.  For my dinner, these included: igloo, Shamu, Hulu, Subaru, Pooh, Yahoo, Taboo, Clue, Peru, and zoo.

Menu: The menu (notice even menu rhymes) I chose for this dinner was delicious!  For these dinners I more often than not, try new recipes.  I don't get to do that very much with my own picky family, so monthly dinners give me that opportunity!  This dinner was no exception as all the menu items were recipes I had not tried before.  I started with a blue cheese dip for Red, White, & FONDUE. If you like blue cheese, this dip was amazing.  If you don't like it, then this recipe is not for you.  I found the recipe at Dash of Sanity.  The only change I made to the recipe was that I used smoked blue cheese instead of regular (as I love smoky flavor) and because it was a fondue, I served it with French bread cubes.

For the main dish I served Red, White & BARBECUE Chicken.  I wanted to make my own bbq sauce and tried the recipe from All Recipes for Best BBQ chicken.  The marinade paste and the sauce were easy to make and could be made ahead of time.  The only changes I made to this recipe was that I served chicken breasts instead of drumsticks, and I used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar because that is what I had in my cupboard.  My husband volunteered to grill the chicken and baste it as it was grilling.  It was so good.

As a side dish, I made Red, White, & BREW (beer) potatoes.  I found the recipe for these Beer Potatoes at Cookist.  These potatoes were easy to make and tasted great.  

Another side was a pasta salad I titled Red, White, & CORKSCREW Pasta Salad.  I found the recipe for this Tri Color Pasta Salad on Food, Folks, & Fun.  Having a pasta salad I could make the night before allowed me to have more time with my friends rather being stuck in the kitchen doing prep. I followed this recipe, but also added garbanzo beans.  

I titled my dessert Red, White, & TIRAMISU.  I went the easy route and just purchased an already made tiramisu from Costco instead of making it myself.  Only challenge was getting it out of the package and having it look nice on the plate!  It was really tasty though and not something I usually serve at my monthly dinners, so it was a nice change.

Party Activity/Game:  Before we had dessert, we played a couple rounds of TABOO which was really fun.  We didn't have teams or anything, we just sat at the table and everyone guessed.  Then we took turns with who was the clue giver.  

Favor: With the 4th of July later in the week, I decided my party favor would be patriotic TATTOOs.  I found really inexpensive ones on Amazon.  

The first ones I bought arrived and they were very dark colors, so I returned those and purchased a couple of this set of 8 sheets.  The were bright and festive, and since the party was prior to July 4th, the guests could easily use them to celebrate the holiday. I used the same drop-down idea and was able to include a thank YOU and tribute to this Monthly Dinner CREW.

We had a great time at this dinner and it was really fun to put together. I got most of my ideas after looking up rhyming words on the internet and then figuring out how I could incorporate those words.  The challenge was fun.  Happy 4th Everyone!

Home Alone Christmas

It's the holiday season, and one of my kids' favorite holiday movies is Home Alone.  It is part of our family traditions to watch this movie together each year.  It made for a fun theme for my monthly dinner this December as well.

Invite: I found some Home Alone images online that I incorporated into the invitation.  These included the stack of Little Nero's Pizza boxes, the movie logo, and the pizza can.

Decorations: There are so many fun ideas for decorations that go with this movie.  You could boobytrap your home with obstacles for guests to weave through!  For my decorations, I kept it simple with just table and some other decor.  I set the table with a red tablecloth & a centerpiece with some of the Battle Plan hazards from the movie.

I covered a small paint can with black construction paper and added the word tar on the front.  I set this on top of piece of black sandpaper with the largest nail I could find sticking out the top for the part of the movie where Marv walks up the tar stairs and brings his foot down on the huge nail.

I purchased large paint cans and used my Cricut cutter to cut out paint drips in a few colors.  Even empty, these were a bit too heavy to hang from the ceiling, but I did attach them to the ceiling above the dining table.  These represented when Harry and Marv are clocked by the swinging paint cans in the movie.

Next on the table was a VHS movie of "Angels with Filthy Souls."  I printed out the labels from images online, and attached them to an old VHS of a different movie.  In front of the VHS, I had a crowbar and a BB gun like Kevin and Marv use in the film as wells hot wheels cars.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Harry walks through the door into saran wrap covered in glue and then Kevin turns on a fan which covers him in white feathers! To incorporate this scene into my table, I added a box of saran wrap, a mini fan, and put some white feathers in the fan.

Another favorite scene is when Marv goes to turn on the light in the basement and an iron comes down the laundry shoot to smack him in the face. Hence...an iron as part of the centerpiece.

Lastly, I added a photo of Buzz's girlfriend with Kevin's famous line from the movie, "Buzz' girlfiend, Woof!"

For placecards, I printed out Kevin's mom's photo from when she realizes they forgot Kevin at home, and instead of her screaming out "Kevin!" I replaced it with each guest's name.

As a napkin ring/decoration, I put a box of Tic Tacs and created a ring with the line from the movie when the smoking Santa has run out of candycanes and gives Kevin two Tic Tacs instead saying, "There you go. Don't Spoil your dinner."

My daughter also drew out the Battle Plan from the movie on a piece of foam board that I used over the drink table.  I would traced it, but she's so talented she did it all by hand!

Just for fun, I also put a photo of Marv's face coming through the dog door on my wall.  I put some hot wheels in front it - another one of Kevin's hazards.

On my front door, I put a paper electric BBQ starter like Kevin uses in the movie to heat up his door handle.  I don't have a real one, so I just used scrapbook paper.

Coming up with sayings to put my wine bottles is always fun.  For my red wine, I decided to use the famous line from the movie during the battle when Kevin asks, "You guys give up or ya thirsty for more?"  I simply added "red wine" to the end of this phrase!  For the white wine, I played off the part in the movie where Kevin thinks he made his family disappear and then challenged the guests to make the white wine disappear.  I also served a rose wine.  For this label, I used the lines from when Kevin's mom calls the police station and talks to Rose, then gets transferred to another cop, then this cop sends the call back to Rose saying, "Rose, hyper on 2."

For wine charms, I cut out iconic people or items from the movie.  Some of my favorites were the Michael Jordan cutout used to fool the robbers, the "Kenosha Kickers" jacket that John Candy wore with is polka band, a bottle of Brut aftershave for the famous "AAAHHH scene," and a toothbrush "approved by the American Dental Association." 

Menu: I wanted to incorporate Buzz's tarantula from the movie into the evening somewhere, and I didn't think I could handle having even a fake one on my table while we ate, so I decided to incorporate it into my menu. I made mini tostada boats and cut olives to look like spiders.  The boats were simple with refried beans, taco seasoned meat, cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce, sour cream was piped on to look like a spider web, and then the spider olives went on top of that. 

For a main dish, we of course had pizza as Kevin orders "a lovely cheese pizza just for me" in the movie after he doesn't get any of the pizza when the whole family is there.  I went to my local pizza joint, and purchased a pizza box.  Then I covered the top with white posterboard and created a Little Nero's Pizza logo to put on the top.  I made a pizza, but cheated a bit by adding pepperoni and mushrooms after asking the guests their topping preferences.

I also served a caesar salad. I took the line from the movie when Kevin's sisters taunts him with, "You are what the French call les incompetents" and just replaced the last two words with la salad Cesar (cesar salad in French).

Right before the robbers invade the McCallister home in the movie, Kevin makes himself a microwavable Mac and Cheese dinner.  I incorporated this into my menu by making macaroni and cheese cups in muffin tins.

For dessert, we had Rubbish Ice Cream sundaes.  A small ice cream sundae bar with toppings.

Favor: I was pressed for time and needed an easy parting favor for guests.  I purchased cans of Pepsi and red striped straws.  My tag read, "Fuller! Go easy on the Pepsi!" to go with that line from the movie when Fuller's parents are trying to limit his soda intake.

This was a fun night with my girlfriends.  I did purchase or borrow a few things to make the decor happen, but most of it I had around my house (like Kevin did).  This kept my costs for decor low.  I would totally recommend this theme for a holiday movie night or dinner with friends.

Tutti Fruitti: Summer Fruit Theme

At this time of year, you can find watermelon or lemon decorations at most stores, so fruit is a perfect theme for a summer gathering.  Plus, if you are like me, you LOVE the taste of summer fruits.  This was a fun theme for sure.

Invite: I wanted the invitation to be colorful, bright, and to include a variety of fruits.  For this reason, I designed the invitation with a simple fruit border.  The rest of the invitation just had the basic information and some fruit puns.

Decorations: For my main dining table, I used a green tablecloth and a lemon table runner I already owned.  I found colorful fruit plates and bright flowers to help create the summer vibe.

I wanted to use fruits as much as possible in my centerpiece.  I hollowed out a pineapple to use as a vase for bright colors.  To make the vase, I cut off the top of the pineapple and used a sharp knife to cut a circle around the pineapple along the edges.  It was challenging to get the pineapple out because I wanted to use them in my fruit salad.  If you don't care about that, you can easily scoop out the pineapple with a large spoon.  Once the pineapple was hollow, I cut off the top of an empty water bottle to place inside to hold the flowers.

The other two vases on the centerpiece were filled with sliced fruits.  Grapefruit and lime in one; lemon and lime in the other.  

The watermelon cupcakes made for dessert were so cute, we wanted them displayed somehow throughout the dinner.  I decided to add some of them to the centerpiece and placed them up upside down striped bowls.

I found large watermelon paper plates and the smaller lemon/lime/grapefruit plates at Party City.

For placecards, I used toddler toy fruits that attach together with Velcro.  My kids used to have these when they were young and loved them.  I borrowed these to use for the dinner.  I offset the fruits a little bit, and made a tag with each guest's name to place in the middle.

For napkin rings, I cut out images of various fruits and made slits to slide the napkin through.

I used the same images from the napkins for wine charms.

I decided to use fruit puns on the wine labels I created.  I used "Red Wine - You hold the KIWI to my heart" for the red wine, and "Chardonnay You're the Zest" for the white wine.  I added a wine glass in the hands of the kiwi and the lemon. I also served a peach wine I purchased at Trader Joe's.  For this label, I used the pun "I just want PEACH and quiet and a glass of peach wine."

Over the beverage table, I hung this sign that I purchased from Party City.  The apple in the HOME set, I already owned.

Menu: It is fairly easy to find recipes that use fruits.  The problem was there were so many to choose from!  I opted to start with a strawberry spinach salad.  On the bed of spinach, I added feta cheese, candied pecans, and of course the sliced strawberries.  I served it with a balsamic vinaigrette.  You could use a raspberry vinaigrette to tie in one more fruit.

For the main dish, I made Creamy Lemon Chicken.  I did not follow the recipe exactly because I had several complications.  I did start with the chicken in the crock pot for about 2 hours, but the chicken breasts I purchased were so thick and I did not allot for enough crock pot time, that I had to make the spur of the moment decision to grill them instead.  I transferred the crock pot liquid with the lemon and cream to the stove to finish it on the stove.  For this reason, the chicken was not as tender as it normally would be, but the creamy lemon sauce was delicious, so the dish was still very tasty.

Alongside the chicken, I served cilantro lime rice.

I also served a cup of fruits which included the pineapple from the centerpiece, watermelon, blueberries, and cantaloupe.

For dessert, we had these cute watermelon cupcakes. I made standard cupcakes, but died them green and had a green wrapper.  My good friend made the buttercream frosting and added watermelon flavoring.  We then added mini chocolate chips to look like seeds.

Favor: I found these cute drink pouches with Hello Summer and a huge pineapple on them at Michaels Craft Store.  I added an alcoholic fruit seltzer inside.

It was a super easy summer party to put together.  Hope you can host one of your own this summer!