Summer Bucket List

It is the beginning of summer, and I am so excited to complete a major item on my own family's bucket list.  My kids wanted to visit all 50 states, and this summer, we are visiting Alaska - our last and final state of the 50 states!  I am so looking forward to our trip as well as the new adventures we will have as a family this summer.  With this bucket list item in mind, I decided summer bucket lists would be a fun theme for our monthly dinner.

Invite: Inspired by a bucket list image I found online, I modeled my invitation on some aspects of that image.  I went with bold and bright colors for this summer-inspired invitation. I designed the invitation on PhotoShop with summer fruits and a bucket.  I added two items to start their bucket list at the bottom just for fun.

Decorations: The decor throughout the party was various bucket list items.  They were incorporated into the centerpiece, the wine labels, the favor, the menu, and everything.

To find items for the centerpiece, I basically thought of items I already owned that I could incorporate.   I bought small buckets from the dollar store that I used on the table.  For this part of the centerpiece, I raided my game cabinet for a some games to go with a "Have a Game Night" bucket list item.

I love puzzles, and I love the challenge of completing a 1000 piece puzzle, so I used a puzzle box and pieces inside a bucket for this item.

We love going to the Drive-In, so that is an item on my summer bucket list.  I filled a bucket and a popcorn pail I already owned with popcorn and added a box of candy for this centerpiece item.

Getting a massage to relieve all the stress of teaching is definitely on my summer bucket list.  To add this idea to the decor, I just used a succulent to symbolize relaxation.

Visiting ballparks to see a major league or minor league baseball game is another fun activity.  I found a plastic Angels hat we already owned and a baseball sign to add to the centerpiece.

As a place card for each guest, I had an empty bucket list for guest's to fill out with ideas. Guest's names were at the top, and I included a pen.  It was fun to discuss fun activities as a group and add them to our lists throughout the evening.

To fit the theme into my napkin, I decided to use my Cricut machine to make a sand bucket.  I then folded the napkin to look like a beach towel and added the forks to look like sand toys.

When designing my wine labels, I went with summer bucket list activities that involve wine.  On the red wine, I found a painted image of a glass of wine being poured and added the words "Enjoy a Wine and Paint Night."  For the white wine, the bucket list item was to go wine tasting.

For my wine charms, I made small buckets and added a bucket list item to the front of each.  Some of the ones I included were Volunteer, Go Camping, Create a Signature Cocktail, and Declutter a Room.

Menu:  For each menu item, I tried to incorporate a summer bucket list item.  I also served them in buckets when possible.  "Grow a Vegetable Garden" was our appetizer which was veggies with dip that was served inside a bucket.  Simple and easy.

With the main meal, I served strawberries and blueberries inside a metal bucket to represent the bucket list item of "Go Berry Picking."  Side Note: berry picking is actually really fun.  We have done it a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

"BBQ with Friends" is always on our summer bucket list, so I decided to make Grilled Bacon Wrapped Chicken for the main course.  It was easy to make and delicious.  You only need 4 items to make it happen -- chicken tenderloins, BBQ seasoning, bacon, and BBQ sauce.

I made french fries in the oven.  Again, easy to make and the only ingredients are potatoes and seasonings.  I sometimes use an air fryer for fries, but with so many guests, I needed my double oven to cook all of them.

Since my family will be going to Alaska to visit the last of our 50 states this summer, I wanted to do something to celebrate that.  I decided to make a Baked Alaska for dessert.  I had never made one before, but it was pretty straight forward.  It was a big hit with the guests.

As an English teacher, something I hope is on EVERYONE'S summer bucket list is to read a book!  I love reading by the pool or at the beach.  It is so relaxing.  As a party favor, I decided to give a book to each guest.  I went to GoodWill to purchase from their shelves trying to pick good books that were in good shape.  I paid .99 cents for softcover books, and $1.99 for the hardbacks.  I tried to pick a variety of genres for guests to chose from.

I designed a summer reading book mark and placed one in each book.

This was a super easy dinner theme, and one I totally recommend.  It was great to kick off summer, but it would also be fun for a retirement party or for any decade birthday party (Bucket Lists to Complete in your 40's, etc.).

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I hope you cross some items off YOUR Bucket List this Summer!

Trader Joe's Party - 5 Items or Less

For this month's dinner, I decided to host a Trader Joe's themed party.  Trader Joe's is a neat store with delicious food and cool signs inside, so I thought it might be fun to replicate it.  I recently ran across a Instagram account that posts recipes with 5 Trader Joe's items or less, so I decided to go with that idea as well.

Invite:  I love the Hawaiian shirt vibe of Trader Joe's so I wanted to incorporate that into the background of my invitation.  I also love the recylable bags, so I added that idea to the invitation.  I used a Trader Joe's logo and crafted the party details around that.  For added fun at the party, I asked guests to come dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and to bring their favorite product from Trader Joe's for a fun exchange.  

Decorations:  Sticking with red, brown, and white for my party colors, I used a red tablecloth and white plates on the table.  I added a table runner created using cut up Trader Joe's bags.  

For a centerpiece, I filled a mini shopping cart with Trader Joe's products.  A friend of mine who works as a sign artist for Trader Joe's let me borrow a Trader Joe's shirt that I used in the centerpiece.  

To complete the centerpiece, my friend also designed the fun "Enjoy Dinner with Joe" sign with a plant from Trader Joe's.

For place cards, we each had a Trader Joe's name tag similar to what the employees wear at work.  I placed them on the plate initially, but the guests added them to their Hawaiian shirts to wear for the evening once they arrived.

Around the napkins, I made a sleeve with cut up Trader Joe's bags and added a Trader Joe's sticker that the store typically gives to kids when they visit the store.

Did you know Trader Joe's has these cute packets of spoons and also ones forks for customers to use?  I added just the spoons to the table for added decor.

To spice up the beverage table, I again made a table runner out of bags.  I used Trader Joe's insulated bags as background decor and also made a logo sign to cover the O in my Home sign.

I designed my wine labels to match the invitation and had a chalkboard as part of the label.  On the chardonnay, I played off the cup of Joe coffee idea and changed it to a cup of "Joe" as in Trader Joe.  Since Two Buck Chuck wine was so popular at Trader Joe's, the red wine label played off that idea.

I used more of the Trader Joe's stickers to use for my wine charms.  I backed them with black cardstock and then attached them to the wine glass stems.

Menu:  For an appetizer, I decided to make a Caprese Flatbread Pizza with 5 Trader Joe's ingredients. This was super easy to make and delicious.  All I did was assemble the ingredients, and bake the pizza in a 400 degree oven for 7-9 minutes.  Here are the 5 ingredients used...

I used Trader Joe's pizza crust which I brushed with oil.  Then I topped it with fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil.  I drizzled it with Trader Joe's Balsamic Glaze after baking.  Yummy! 

For the main dish I served Carne Asada Stuffed Peppers over Cilantro Lime Rice.  These again were very easy to make and were a big hit with the guests.  I will definitely plan on making them again for my family.  The ingredients I used:

Trader Joe's carne asada, tri color bell peppers, organic jasmine rice, avocados, and fresh cilantro.  I grilled the carne asada on my Traeger grill.  Sliced and cored the peppers to grill briefly before filling them with the sliced carne asada, avocado, and cilantro to taste.  The rice is cooked in the microwave, and then the cilantro and lime juice were added for flavor.  I did serve cut limes and Trader Joe's salsa on the side for guests to add if they wanted.

For dessert, I kept things easy with a 3 item dessert.  The main item was premade apple blossoms from Trader Joe's.  I warmed them in the oven according to the package directions, drizzled some heated up Trader Joe's caramel sauce on them, and served it with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream.  Easy and delicious.

Party Activities:  We played a fun game after dinner and before dessert I called 5 Words of Less.  It was adapted from the Poetic Injustice game.  I basically gave the guests a sentence they needed to finish in 5 words of less.  For example, one of the questions asked guests to "leave a negative review of a dive bar," and they had to come up with a review that was 5 words of less.  This game had us laughing so hard, it was really fun.

With each round of the game, we awarded points to the best 5 word phrases.  We tallied those and used them for who picked first from our Trader Joe's favorites basket. On the invitation, I asked each guest to bring 1 item from Trader Joe's that is one of their favorites.  These items were placed inside the Trader Joe's basket I borrowed for the party. This was really fun as we all went home with an item/product to try.  We actually went home with more than one since most of us couldn't decide on just one and brought more than one to the exchange!

Favor:  One of my favorite items from Trader Joe's is the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups....heavenly!  I used these as my party favor.  I cut up the Trader Joe's recyclable bags again and folded them into small pockets.  I added the same Trader Joe's logo from my invitation to the front, and then filled the pocket with some of the peanut butter cups.

This was a really fun and easy dinner.  The food prep was easy, the games were super fun, and with my friend's help with the decor, the party all came together nicely.

Boysenberry Festival Fun

Have you ever been to Knott's Berry Farm's Boysenberry Festival?  Even though I live and work close to Knott's, I have never been to their festival, but after seeing some friends' posts on Instagram, I thought it would be a fun theme to have for our April monthly dinner. Only challenge....grocery stores do not sell boysenberries!  This meant I had to purchase from Knott's directly which was quite expensive, but definitely tasty.

Invitation: I designed the invitation to match Knott's posters advertising the festival and kept it simple.

Decorations:  Knott's is a very country feel, so I wanted to replicate that in my table setting.  I used a white tablecloth with purple accents throughout.  

For the centerpiece, I used a wooden box I found 50% off at Michaels.  Inside the box, I placed jars, cans, and bottles of Knott's boysenberry products I was using for my menu.  The cans of boysenberries were emptied and used as vases; the cobbler mix was taken out to use and replaced with tissue paper.  A friend of mine had 2 bottles of boysenberry win that she let me borrow to place in the centerpiece. I bought baby's breath instead of flowers to fill the vases as well as some boysenberry looking fake flowers I found at Michaels.  I borrowed a friend's lanyard from her trip to the festival to lay across the front of the box.

On each side of the box I placed greenery in white vases that I already owned.  I wrapped a Knott's Boysenberry Festival lanyard around the vase and secured it in the back for added decor.

I had some fun with the placecard.  I modeled it after the lanyard card Knott's gives festival goers, and just added each guest's name.  I altered the text at the bottom with my party date as that valid date.  Since my guests and I are all well over 21, I changed the text to let guests know they did not have to show ID since "we know we're old already." The QR code on my placecard was a working QR code that brought guests to an image of my menu when scanned.  The guest got a kick out of this.

I designed a simple napkin wrap for my purple napkins with the logo/theme that matched the invitation.

Another friend loaned me her Knott's cups and bag from the festival, so I used these for decor above my beverage table.  I printed a large boysenberry to place over the O on my HOME sign.

Although I served a tasting of Boysenberry Wine, I also had chardonnay and a red blend for guests to enjoy.  I designed wine labels to match the colors of the party with some berry sayings.  The "Berry Best Blend" Wine & Friends for my red wine and **** for the chardonnay.

I kept the wine charms simple and just used the same boysenberry clipart as the invitation.  I added the first initial of each guest attending the party, printed them out, and added them to the glasses.

Menu: The QR code on my placecard brought guests to the above image of my menu when they scanned it. For this evening, I served 7 tastings including beverages.

Tasting #1 - The first tasting was champagne with a small skewer or boysenberry cotton candy.  When the cotton candy is dropped into the champagne it adds even more flavor to the champagne.  Some guests ate the cotton candy separately (it was delicious!).

Tasting #2 - Cream cheese with Knott's Boysenberry Salsa was the appetizer.  I served this with black and white tortilla chips.  The salsa is super tasty and has a nice kick to it.  The guests gobbled this appetizer up as it was so popular.

Tasting #3 - Boysenberry wine.  This Boysenberry wine is very tasty, but it is 11 percent alcohol.  We had just a small tasting because of this.

Tasting #4 - Market Salad with Knott's Boysenberry Vinaigrette Dressing.  For this salad, I used spinach, Feta cheese, candied pecans, and whole blackberries.  Blackberries because they were all I could find at the grocery, and they look close enough to boysenberries.

Tasting #5 - Boysenberry Balsamic Chicken Thighs with Mashed Potatoes.  I used the Knott's Boysenberry Balsamic Grilling Glaze to brush over chicken thighs before baking them.  Normally I would have grilled them, but I wanted to be inside with the guests rather than stuck outside and thighs are so easy to cook in an oven.  I made mashed potatoes to serve along with the thighs.  This glaze was delicious and a big hit with the guests.

Tasting #6 - Elote with Boysenberry Butter and Cotija Cheese.  I made small ears of corn for my sixth tasting.  I mixed some softened butter with the juice and some smaller berries from the can of Knott's Boysenberries I was using for dessert.  The corn was cooked briefly on the grill, brushed with this boysenberry butter, and sprinkled with cotija cheese.  Quite of few of my guests are not mayonnaise fans, so I left that out of a normal elote recipe.

Tasting #7 - For dessert, I served boysenberry cobbler made with Knott's boysenberry cobbler mix and a can of boysenberries.  It is super easy to make and tastes delicious.  Along with the warm cobbler, guests received a scoop of boysenberry ice cream.  I bought a half gallon of plain vanilla ice cream, let it soften a little, then added some of the boysenberry juice and berries from the can I opened for the elote. and mixed these together.  Once it tasted like it had enough boysenberries in it, I put the ice cream back in the freezer to harden up until time to serve.

Favor: I purchased some bags of Knott's Boysenberry Shortbread cookies to use as my party favor.  Made a quick little thank you "berry much" tag and attached it.  Super simple.

I really enjoyed hosting a party with this theme.  From the decor to the yummy food, we all had a great time creating our own Knott's Boysenberry Festival in house!

*Knott's did not sponsor this post nor provide any free or discounted projects.  All opinions are my own.