Friends & Floaties

Summer has officially ended, and I am back to work/kids are back to school.  I know I am spoiled as a teacher, but I am always sad to see the summer end.  I decided to have one last hurrah of summer with a Friends & Floaties themed monthly dinner.  Ended up to be a cute summer party.

Invite: For the invite, I used a beachy/pool background image and added the text in bright, bold colors. I kept it simple and easy to read.  When I sent it, I also asked guests to bring a fun floatie with them to the our dinner party.

Decor: There are a ton of floaties and other summer items in stores (and in my house) right now, so it was simple to put together the decorations for the party.  For the table, I used a bright pink tablecloth and used one of our big bright beach towels to place on top of it. I bought drink floaties to place on each plate.

For the centerpiece, I bought a bright teal tray, purple goggles, and a green pool noodle from the dollar store.  I cut the pool noodle into small pieces about 4 inches tall and set them up on the tray as vases.  The goggles wrapped around 6 of the noodles.  I then bought a small bouquet of bright colored flowers from Trader Joes and cut them up to place inside each noodle. I kept the flowers in water until right before the party so they wouldn't wilt, and then transferred them to the pool noodles (without water) a few minutes before guests arrived.

I bought small drink floaties to place at each place setting.  I found them on Amazon here.  Since I serve wine at these monthly dinners, I used a clear plastic glass and placed it inside the floatie with the guest's name on it in vinyl letters I cut out with my Cricut cutting machine.  These cups served as both place cards & wine charms.

I cut up different color pool noodles to use as napkin rings and added bright colored napkins.

For my side table, I also used a bright colored towel I already owned as the tablecloth and then created a banner with cut up pool noodle rings to hang above it. The HOME sign I already had with the flip flops up for summer.

I created my wine labels to match the summer floatie theme as well.  For the white wine, I used the same image as my invitation, but added more floaties to it.  I also added wine glasses inside some of the floaties.  The text read, "Wine.  Pairs well with Floaties."  For the red wine, I found a floatie of a red wine bottle you can purchase online and used that.  It read "Let's Go Wine Tasting In The Pool."  I added an image of a wine glass floatie to the sides of the label as well.

Menu:  There are ton of food-related floaties in stores to purchase, so you could easily do pizza or pretzels or popsicles as these are great snacks at birthday parties, etc.  Instead, I tried to base some of my menu more on the floatie idea rather than matching it to a specific floatie I would need to purchase.  We started with homemade pasta and a recipe that my grandmother use to make. I served this on Italian Ziti noodles because they look like pool noodles.

Alongside the pool noodle pasta, I served Inner Tube Garlic Bread.  I purchased rolls of pizza dough, spread them out, spread butter, garlic, and Italian seasoning on the dough, and then rolled the dough up.  I wrapped the dough along the sides of a springform pan with an empty can I had used for the spaghetti sauce in the middle so I could make sure it was shaped like an inner tube. It took 3 rolls of pizza dough to make it around pan and all the way to the center to reach the empty sauce can.  However, this was the perfect amount of bread for our party of 10.

As another side, I cut up watermelon. I used a small watermelon floatie and placed the bowl of watermelon inside when serving.

For dessert, I made root beer "floats" to keep with the float theme.  Yummy and a perfect summertime treat.

Favor: Guests took home the beverage floatie on their plate, but I also sent them home with these flamingos filled with gumballs.  I bought the pattern for these on Etsy, printed them out, and then folded them.  They took time to cut/fold, but they were cute.

I'm sad to see summer "float" away, but excited to end summer with this fun party theme.

The Magical World of Epcot

My family just returned from a month-long vacation where we drove from California to Florida and back stopping along the way to visit so many places.  Of the many highlights of the trip, visiting Disney World as well as Epcot was a favorite of my kids. For this reason, I decided to theme our July monthly dinner based on Epcot Center.

Invite:  There are a ton of Mickey Mouse invitations on the internet, but very few for Epcot.  I wanted my invitation to include the Epcot ball, but I also wanted to include landmarks from around the world.  For this reason, I decided to use a "traveling around the world" clipart I found online and just replace the world of the image with the Epcot ball.  I downloaded a free Minnie font and Mickey font to use as well.

Decor:  I went with the standard Mickey and Minnie Mouse colors of black, white, red, and yellow for the party colors. I had a red tablecloth with white dishes.  I borrowed a Mickey and a Minnie Mouse stuffed toy from a friend to set on the center.

I made this Epcot ball using a $2.99 playground ball I picked up at GoodWill.  Any ball would work, but I liked this one because the lines on it seemed to match the mirrors of the true Epcot ball.  I spray painted it with metallic silver paint, and then hand cut grey cardstock to make the "legs" that stand the ball up.  I used the spray paint can lid under it, as the legs were just card stock so they could not have truly carried the weight.

Since Epcot is all about the World Showcase, I decided to make each guest a Minnie ears headband representing the countries in the showcase.  I set these on the plates and let guests choose which country they wanted to wear.  I purchased the Mickey ears on Amazon.  I then used PhotoShop to design each bow with the country's flag centered in the middle.  This was challenging for sure, but I think they came out cute.

Instead of traditional napkin rings, I incorporated one of the 11 countries of the World Showcase into my table, and wove each yellow napkin through a pretzel to represent Germany.

For wine charms, I created Mickey heads with a flag for each country.  Guests matched their headband to the wine charm, so they could easily remember which glass was theirs.  Guests used these wine glasses for either wine or a margarita.

To represent Italy, I served Italian wines and designed labels to play up the theme. For the white wine, I found an image of Mickey rowing a gondola.  I add a wine glass to the image and "Once Upon a Wine."  I also added "I love white wine" in Italian.  For the red wine I designed a Minnie Mouse glass with red wine inside.  I then added "Enjoy Some Red Wine from the Minnie Bar" purposely spelling mini as "Minnie."

To represent Mexico, I served margaritas with salt.

Menu:  The other 8 countries of the World Showcase were covered throughout the meal.  I tried to choose some of the more popular menu dishes from Epcot, but had to pick and choose so as not to have all desserts, etc. For one appetizer, we had a sushi to represent Japan.  I only got a couple of rolls since it was just an appetizer.  The second appetizer was one of my kids' favorite -- mini corndogs!  This was to represent the United States and "The American Experience" at Epcot.

As part of the main meal at the table, we had Chinese Spring Rolls.  These spring rolls were from Trader Joes, and they are tasty.  I cooked them in the air fryer because my double oven was being used for other things.

I also made a Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup using the recipe that Disney released for this soup from Epcot.  It was good, but also very filling.  I only gave guests a small amount, but all that cheese definitely fills your stomach!

Alongside the soup and the spring rolls, I served Fish and Chips to represent Great Britain.

All of this food so far, and I still had 3 countries to account for!  I covered two with my desserts.  I purchased baklava from a local bakery to represent Morocco which was delicious.

I also made the Frozen Bundt Cakes that they make in Epcot to represent Norway. Instead of toy rings at the top, we had edible Frozen themed toppers.

Favor:  The final country in the World Showcase was covered in the party favor.  I purchased French macaroons from Trader Joes. My guests picked a few flavors they liked and put them in a favor bag to go.  We were all too stuffed from our meal to add another bite!

We had a great night sampling so many foods, and of course, the company was amazing.  Definitely recommend a true trip to Epcot to taste and experience the real thing if you can swing it someday.  I would love to go back.

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!

Kickoff to Kindergarten

My youngest daughter started kindergarten this past Monday.  She was so excited to start the year, and we are excited to see her grow and learn.  With all the back to school supplies in stores, I decided to make this milestone the theme of my monthly dinner.  Even though these dinners are for my girlfriends, I had my kindergartner help with some aspects of the party. So fun!

Invite:  I designed the invite on PhotoShop using lots of bright colors.  I used a Kindergarten font for most of the text.

Entry Decor:  My husband found this easel at a thrift store for $5 a month ago, and it made the perfect entry.  My 5th grade daughter wrote the theme in chalk to match the invitation. For the door sign, I used a Welcome sign I already owned and added "Class of 2032" and a classroom bulletin board border I grabbed from the dollar section.  By the way...can you believe my daughter is the Class of 2032? Seems like forever away, although I imagine it will be here before I am ready!

Table Decor:  I had a lot of fun decorating the table.  Lots of bright colors and fun school items made it easy to throw together.

For the centerpiece, I bought 20 rulers from Target to lay on the table as a small table runner.  On top of the rulers, I had the giant wooden pencil that I made for my Teacher Appreciation monthly dinner in 2017.  You can find the tutorial on how to make it here.

I found the crayon holder and the red box at Target.  I filled them with school supplies I already own.  The letter flashcards I also got at the dollar store and the addition flash cards I made out of cardstock.

I used a can to make this colored pencil holder.  The composition book was part of the bulletin board set I got, so I just cut it to fit around the can and glued it.

I love how cute the place settings turned out. For the placemat, I printed out an image of kindergarten lined paper as large as I could make it for an 8.5x11 piece of typing paper.  I did this twice for each place setting, and then cut and taped the papers together to make it taller than the plate on both sides. I used red paper plates from the dollar store and cut cardstock to make an apple stem and leaf.  The mini chalkboards I found at Michaels.  I used my Cricut to cut vinyl letters to match for each guest.

For the place card, I had my kindergartener write each guest's name on these bulletin board cards I bought from the dollar store.  She did such a good job, and the guests loved the personal touch!  I bought mini playdough and sliced the top of each lid to use as a holder for the place card.

The napkin ring was made from rulers I found in the same $3 bulletin board pack that had the composition books and the colored pencil border from the entry sign (and banner which you can see below).

This banner was super easy.  I found the pencils and the notebook paper already created on Pinterest, so it was a free download for the letters I needed.  The colored pencil border was from the bulletin board pack.  I just cut them apart to use for the banner.

I always have fun trying to create something clever for my wine labels.  I'm pretty happy with what I came up with this time.  Kindergartners start to learn how sounds can be made into words, so I designed my red wine after that idea. Bed, fed, and red for practicing the -ed sound.  Since kindergartners also learn to write, I crafted the wine wine to just switch out "write" for "white" and created a pencil as the background.  The menu cards I used throughout the party, this one being W is for Wine.  My older daughter helped color them.

For wine charms, I went simple and just tied crayons with ribbon around the stem of the glasses.  Simple and easy.

Menu:  You could do anything for your menu.  If I had this party for kids it would be different, but since my guests were all adults, I tried to use the alphabet letters to create a theme.  We started with A is for Apple Walnut Salad.  The salad included spring mix, sliced apples, blueberries, walnuts, and crumbled goat cheese.  I served it with a honey balsamic vinaigrette.

For the letters B and C, I served Biscuits and Carrots.

For the main dish, I made Chicken Drumsticks baked in the oven. I made a garlic-Parmesan sauce which gave them even more flavor.

F is for Fruit.  To round out the meal, I made a simple fruit salad with just watermelon and blueberries.

For dessert, I made these cute pencil cupcakes  I designed the wrapper on Photoshop and piped on the frosting.

Favor: Pencils made out of toilet paper rolls and cardstock were my favor.  I filled each with taffy.  These were a challenge to make with a bit of trial and error.  The key for me was to make the cones for the pencil part and glue them in place first.  It didn't work well to do the eraser side first.  After the tip was in place I added the taffy and glued the eraser in place.  Lastly, I glued the gold paper and wrapped the silver vinyl before adding the No.2 to the top in vinyl.

My daughter loved her first day of kindergarten, and the fact that this party was themed in her honor.  Milestones go so quickly, it was fun to capture this memory and celebrate it.  Hope you enjoyed seeing this fun party!