Bridgerton Ball

Part 1 of season 3 of the popular Netflix show Bridgerton was recently released with the second half set to stream this week.  I have enjoyed watching this show as I always love period dramas and over-the-top love stories, and this show has both.  I decided it might be fun to host a Bridgerton themed dinner for this month's monthly dinner, and it did not disappoint.  We had a great time dressing up, eating delicious food, and laughing at some of the party details I put together.

Invitation: The Bridgerton family is often seen in purple and lavender flowers adorn their home, so I wanted to incorporate these flowers into the invitation.  I also incorporated a Lady Whistledown image into the center of the invite. I found some of these images online and just adapted them to fit with the look I wanted.  I tried to use regency era wording like "soiree" and "finest frock" as well as some others.  I mixed fonts between a font like the Bridgerton logo for the show and a fancy script to match the time period.

The ladies and I had fun dressing up with our fancy jewelry and dresses for this dinner.  It wasn't full costume or anything as I didn't want my guests to have to purchase items.  The girls did a great job adding fun jewelry, fancy gloves, and hats to their dresses.  I borrowed my dress from a neighbor, and it was perfect for the regency era.

Decorations: Oh what fun I had finding decorations for this dinner.  Every ball or dinner party in the show is elaborate with gold, candles, and flowers everywhere, so I definitely wanted to try to recreate that for this dinner.  

I purchased fake flowers to lay out as a table runner and a gold bow decoration from Michaels.  

I borrowed the gold candle sticks, candelabra, and vases from a neighbor and used Ikea plants I already had around the house to place inside those vases.  The white pillar candles I already had from previous parties.

I borrowed my mom's fine china for the place settings, and they were perfect - pastel flowers and many with gold trimmings on the edges.

On each place setting I wrote a Lady Whistledown issue about our party and our party guests.  I tried to think of gossipy things about each guest.  It was super fun to write (with some help from ChatGPT on some of the entries), and the party guests got a kick out of reading the silly happenings or habits.  Here is a sample of part of one of the entries with the last name changed:

"Meanwhile, it has come to this humble writer’s attention that our very own Lady Smith  has been engaging in activities that would surely cause a raised eyebrow or two among the ton. Sightings have been reported of her indulging in a glass (or perhaps bottle) of boysenberry wine, savoring its rich, tangy notes well into the night. What, you may ask, has been keeping our night owl’s attention? None other than the charming escapades of Neal Caffrey in the delightful series “White Collar.”

For place cards I made Dance Cards like the unmarried ladies wear at the balls in the Bridgerton series. I designed the front and back on PhotoShop using a Bridgerton family crest with the bee and found flowers in pink and purple shades to match my table.  I used my Cricut to cut out the circles as well as the filagree frame, glued them together, and added a purple ribbon for around the wrist. I placed these on flowered napkins I purchased at Daiso.

I designed my wine labels on PhotoShop with Regency era backgrounds and designs.  Lady Whistledown is known for "spilling the tea" or writing gossip in her columns, so I used that phrase to encourage guests to "Spill the Tea, but Drink the Wine."  For the white wine, I simply called it Lady Whistledown's White Wine to play with alliteration and added that it was "the delight of the ton."  For those that aren't familiar with the show, the "ton" refers to the elite class of British society during the Regency era.

For wine charms, I made silhouettes similar to the heading of Lady Whistledown's writings for each guest.  I tried to find a silhouette that looked like the guest, added the word Lady with the guest's name below, and then Society Pages just as is written on Lady Whistledown's issues.

Menu:  I wanted to serve very elaborate foods at this dinner since Bridgerton Balls are very elaborate.  This did cause me to spend quite a bit of money on groceries, but everything was delicious and liked by all.  I named each menu item after a character in Bridgerton and added a common adjective often used on the series. I started with an appetizer I titled Queen Charlotte's Brilliant Brie and Berries that I designed to look like Queen Charlotte who is known for her high and elaborate wigs.  I used the round brie for her face placing doilies under the bottom half for a royal collar.  Then I used blackberries and edible flowers to create her wig.  I used my Cricut to cut out a gold crown to add as well. 

With it being summertime, I decided to serve a light summer salad I called Simon's Swoonworthy Salad. It was simple to make and delicious. I will definitely be making it again.  You can find the recipe here at Simple Joy.  The salad included romaine lettuce, raspberries, blueberries, goat cheese, walnuts (I candied them), and was topped with a lemon poppyseed dressing. I left out the radishes from the recipe as I am not a fan of their taste.

For the main dish, I made beef wellington which I called Lady Whistledown's Wondrous Wellington. I chose this recipe because it had fewer ingredients than many of the others I found.  It is somewhat time consuming to prepare and not much can be done in advance, but it was very tasty.  I tripled the recipe which was a good call because it really does only make 4 servings. 

Alongside the beef wellington, I made duchess potatoes.  These are easy to make and can be prepared sightly ahead of time, so that was helpful.  I love that they look regal which fit the theme.  I called these Penelope's Picturesque Potatoes.

I also served asparagus which I called Anthony's Alluring Asparagus.

For dessert, I made individual Chocolate Lava Cakes.  I was able to make these ahead of time and had them sitting in the refrigerator until it was time to put them in the oven.  They took longer to bake than the recipe said, but were very good.  I served them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and called them Daphne's Dazzling and Decadent Dessert.

Favor: Bath and Body Works currently is selling a line of Bridgerton candles, soaps, and sprays.  They happened to be running a sale on the soaps, so this became my party favor.  Guests could choose between the Diamond of the Season, Wisteria Garden, Bridgerton Study, or Queen Charlotte's Tea scents.  

I added a tag to each bottle in Lady Whistledown language which read, "Your attendance enhanced the evening's allure and added a touch of refinement and delight to the festivities.  Yours Truly, Lady Whistledown."

This was a super fun theme with Bridgerton music in the background, an elegant table, and friends laughing at our dresses and accessories.  Not all of the guests had watched the show (although a few binged watch a bit before the party), but it was totally not necessary for the evening and we all had a great time.  Guests loved the Lady Whistledown issue, so if you don't have a huge guest list, I would definitely spend the time crafting that as it was a big hit.  I love you enjoyed this poist, and if you are a Bridgerton fan...this might be a fun theme to host for your next gathering!

Yours Truly,

Lady Casto

Duct Tape Dinner

My daughter used to love making bags and purses out of duct tape years ago.  I recently came across one of them as I was spring cleaning, and it gave me the idea of hosting a duct tape themed dinner.  There are so many creative things you can do with duct tape, so it made crafting the party details super fun.

Invite: Found the image of colorful rolls of duct tape online and crafted my invitation around that.  Invited guests to "stick" around for a night of fun, and the evening really did turn out to be a lot of fun catching up with my best girl friends.  

One fun aspect of the party, was that I asked guest to arrive with an accessory made out of duct tape.  We had hair bows and flowers, and many guests had earrings or bracelets.  There are a ton of tutorials online for all kinds of things from easy to more time consuming.  It think it only took me about 5 minutes to make my braided bracelet.

Decorations:  Of course the decorations were either made with duct tape or were duct tape rolls.  For the table, I took a plastic light blue tablecloth I already owned added stipes of colorful duct tape down the middle that I purchased from Amazon.

For the centerpiece, I made roses out of duct tape.  I used plastic straws as stems that I wrapped with green duct tape, but I would suggest using pencils instead.  Maybe because I used bendy straws, but the roses were not as strong as I think I would have liked.  I followed a tutorial for making these on Pinterest.  I rounded the edges of mine.  Some tutorials don't have you do that as it was an extra step, but I think it made them look more like real roses.  I added duct tape around the vase, and placed a couple rolls of duct tape leaning up against the vase as well.

I also made bowls out of rolls of duct tape to hold small snacks.  To make the bowl, I cut a piece of duct tape that fit across the roles diameter.  Then I flipped the roll over and placed a cupcake liner inside the roll.  The duct tape held it in place and the cupcake liner helped the snacks stay inside.  

I served light snacks: goldfish, M&Ms, chex mix, Reeces Pieces, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered almonds.  If you stack the rolls, make sure some of the heavier snacks are not the bottom.

For place cards, I printed the guests names on card stock and then decorated each edge of the folded place card with patterned duct tape I already owned.  I tried to think of creative duct tape related slogans to put before each guest's name.  Some examples were: Duct Tape Diva (name), Sticky Situation Solver (name), Adhesive Admirer (name), Stick Together Champion (name), Wrap Star (name).

I used another patterned duct tape for napkin rings.  I cut toilet paper rolls the height of the duct tape and then wrapped it with the duct tape so the napkin could slide out easily and not be ruined.

For wine charms, I used various colors of duct tape to make flags.  Simply wrapped the tape around the stem, lined up the edges and stuck them together. and then cut a wedge at the end.

I designed my wine labels on Photoshop to match the theme as well.  For the white wine, I created the saying, "Stick with Wine: The Duct Tape of Life" and photoshopped the two of the rolls of duct tape from my party invitation around the stem of a white wine glass.  The background behind the middle image was standard grey duct tape with added photoshop details.  For the red wine, I found the saying online, "Wine is like duct tape, it fixes everything" and created a label around that slogan.

Above the beverage/appetizer table, I also make a simple banner with duct tape and string.  Took me no time at all to make.  For my HOME sign, I replaced the O with two rolls of duct tape.

Menu: As usual, I tried to incorporate the party theme into my menu as well.  We started with chips and salsa which I called an Adhesive Appetizer.  I served the salsa in a ramekin that fit in the center of a large roll of duct tape.

For the main dish, I served Wrap & Roll Burritos.  Guests put what fixings inside their burrito they wanted, wrapped and rolled them up, and then I grilled them to get the outsides crispy.  I served: ground beef, cheese, refried beans, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, olives, and guacamole.  I made flags like the wine charms on toothpicks for guests to use to mark their burrito.  That way they didn't get mixed up when I was grilling them.

With the burritos, I made Sticky Cilantro Lime Rice.  I've made this for multiple dinners and it is always a crowd favorite.

I went easy with the dessert and purchased a Cinnabon Cinna Ring which is a ring of pastry topped with Cinnabon's famous cream cheese frosting. I designed a label "Duct Tape Dessert" for the middle to make it look similar to a roll of duct tape.  I usually hand make all aspects of the meal, but it was nice this time to just have a dessert already done as it just needed a quick heating up.

Activity/Craft: With May being the month of Memorial Day, I decided to have a craft that guests could make while we chatted and waited for everyone to arrive.  

We made patriotic wreaths out of duct tape.  I bought the red, white, silver, and blue duct tape at the Dollar Tree.  The flag duct tape I purchased from Walmart, and the 12" foam rings I purchased from Joann's.  I found the idea for this at DIY Candy.  Duct tape is so sticky, this wreath is definitely a challenge and you have to be okay with wrinkles, but when it's finished, it is really cool looking.

Favor: As a parting gift, I used a raisin box that I covered in colorful duct tape.  I emptied out the raisins and cleaned the inside of the box to get rid of the raisin smell, and then I filled the box with M&Ms. Why a raisin box you ask? No reason other than I wanted that size of box & I didn't want to spend a ton of money and raisin boxes are cheap. I used the owl duct tape from the napkin rings and a solid yellow duct tape for one pattern.  The other was the patterned duct tape from the place cards with a solid orange duct tape. I painted a small clothespin for the top and made a tag that read: "Thanks for being like Duct Tape - Strong & Reliable."

This was a fun theme to work with, and if you are crafty, it is pretty easy to pull off. Hope you enjoyed this post and try a duct tape party of your own with some of these ideas!

 

Oh Snap! A Photography Party

A friend of mine and I were talking about a fun photography assignment she has done with her high school English students.  It sounded like something I might want to assign to my students, so I kept thinking about how I might incorporate it into my curriculum.  All this talk about photography got me thinking about photography as a monthly dinner theme, and I decided to run with it!

Invite: I designed the invite on Photoshop with various camera images I found online. I wanted to keep it simple, but still have graphics that represented the theme.  Even added in some photography lingo to the bottom with "capture" and "flash."

Photography Challenge Activity: When I sent the invitation, I also included a photography activity for guests to do in the week leading up to the party.  I asked guests to take and email me photos representing 4 different categories of photography.  The 4 categories were: Rule of Thirds, Symmetry (bird's eye view/worm's eye view), leading lines, and framing (frame within a frame).  I sent an email explaining the definitions of these and providing examples, so guests knew the technique of the photo they were going to take.

Once I had all the photos from the Photography Challenge, I printed them out and organized them on foam boards from the Dollar Tree to display on easels like a gallery.  It was fun to chat about the different photos and see what guest's came up with in the 4 categories.

Decorations: I purchased a plastic teal blue tablecloth for the table as that was the closest color I could find to the invitation.  The table was set with white plates with black small plates in the middle.  For the centerpiece, I asked around to friends and a photography teacher to see if I could borrow old cameras.  As you can see in the photo, they came through!  I used photo boxes I already owned to elevate some of them on the table.

I cut cardstock to represent old camera film to place on the table under some of the cameras.

I designed my place cards to look like polaroid snapshots.  I found the dimensions of a polaroid online to set it up. I added a photo of each guest that they had posted on their Instagram or Facebook account.  Then included their name and a couple words about the photo.

For my napkins, I used my Cricut cutting machine to put out photograph film in black and folded a black napkin to weave in the middle.

I designed my wine labels trying to combine photography terms with wine terms. For the red wine, I went with Shutter & Sip: Uncorking Memories.  For the white wine, it was "Lens & Libations: Framing Good Times."

I used the same images of cameras from the invite, plus some others, for the wine charms.  I printed the images out and taped them to the wine glass stem.

Menu: Since the Photography Challenge involved techniques of photography composition, I decided to stick with this idea for my menu.  We started with a "Rule of Thirds Salad."  For this salad, I used 3 different types of lettuce - iceberg, spinach, and romaine.  I placed the lettuce on a large rectangular plate  so each variety took up one third of the plate.  Then I added all the toppings (tomatoes, cheese, cucumber, & sunflower seeds) to the far right corner to visually represent the rule of thirds in photography.

For the main dish I served rotisserie chicken. The chicken represented the "bird's" eye view of photography.

I served grilled vegetables as well.  I grilled them on skewers and then lined them up to represent "leading lines" in photography.

I served twice baked potatoes or PHOTATOES as I called them.  I served them inside of a frame to represent "framing" in photography.

For dessert I made chocolate mousse that I layered with raspberries.  This represented "depth of field" in photography with its layers.

Party Favor:  Just for fun, I gave each guest a box of Macaroni and Cheese.  I printed a large photo of a camera to glue to the front of the box with a speech bubble that read "Say (mac &) Cheese!"  Easy and the guests got a kick out of them.

As usual, this was a fun night with friends, and the theme related decorations and touches only added to that fun.  Totally recommend this theme for a simple gathering or even a get-to-know-you (with photos) get together.