Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Dinner Party Edition - Valentine's Day Inspired

Most Ridic and I love to throw a dinner party.  Sometimes, we go casual - serving food in baskets like you'd find at a burger joint.  And sometimes, we pull out the fancy dishes and buy some flowers.  Last weekend, we went fancy and hosted a Sweethearts Dinner Party for four of our friends.

I'm a firm believer in the the little details - both in what I wear to these parties and in how we dress up our home.  Those little things make all the difference!

I downloaded a basic template, then renamed our bottles of wine.   

It's not a Bartlett dinner party without two things: baked turkey pepperoni slices and our
fireplace DVD roaring in the background.  

It's always fun to send our friends home with something to nibble on during the
drive home.  We made gift bags of Dan's Spiced Nuts & Sara's Cappuccino Cookies. 

I love dressing to a theme, like Valentine's Day.  I combined a hot pink dress from Old Navy
with a red ribbon that I picked up who-knows-where.  Tying the ribbon in a bow cinched my waist and made me feel like a Valentine's present.  

I adore aprons - Most Ridic bought me this one for Christmas.  
It protected my outfit while cooking and felt extra festive.  And kind of 1950's housewife. 

Most Ridic adhered to the romantic theme by pairing a v-neck red tee shirt
and a cozy collar shawl sweater with a winning smile. 

I like to mix fancy things with less-expensive decorations at a dinner party.  Bone china dishes with a gray rose pattern add a feeling of, "Ooooh, aren't we fancy?" While hearts cut out of paper and tied with ribbon as napkin rings keep the table from feeling too "done."

We served our own little Tour of Italy - small plates of our favorite Italian dishes.  I thought it would be fun to print out these menus so our friends would know what to expect.  

Entertaining is a big part of my and my husband's life.  We love having friends over and cooking for them.  Every dinner party is an event of some kind, and it makes me feel good to get dressed up and show our friends that they're worth the effort. 

My Outfits Details:
Dress- Old Navy's Plus line
Black Tights - Avenue
Vintage diamond and pearl earrings- Great Grandma Midge
Apron - Martha Stewart line from Macy's

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