Brownstone Blog: Bring the Party Home: Tips for Planning Your Own Themed Dinner Party

Ever just dress up and have absolutely nowhere to go? Or have one of those boring nights when you have so much energy but nowhere to release it? Instead of going to a party, bring the party to you! With Mardi Gras just passing, why not have a Mardi Gras dinner party? You could make dinner with some of your bestest friends. Maybe even make it coed and invite a few guys over (including the one you’ve had your eye on lately). At first, this may sound super expensive, but you could make this a nice healthy dinner for a lot less than you think! Give yourself a budget and then get the creative ideas flowing to make it look like a million bucks!

Setting the Table
With Mardi Gras colors being green, purple and gold, you could buy a few beads and masks to decorate the table and even buy plates, cups, and cutlery to create the color scheme. If you wanted to get fancy, you could even make place cards for each guest, conveniently arranging who sits where at the dinner table *wink wink.*

Create the Menu

As we know, obesity is a major issue in America, so be careful that you choose food that is healthy yet tasty and can be eaten by all of your guests. Some of them may be vegetarian while others may be complete meat lovers. With that said lets try and aim to have a healthy but hearty dinner to cater to all your guests!

Punch: Make a fruit punch with your favorite fruits. If you like, add ginger ale to give it that extra kick.

Appetizer: Fruits & veggies are always nice. You could even pick ones that go with the color scheme. Make sure they are cut them in small enough portions that can feed the room. You can also try Creole chicken skewers! Its not as hard as it sounds, we promise. All you need are chicken tenders and Creole seasoning! Thaw the chicken, insert the skewers, season the chicken, and bake ‘em!

Main Course: This is where you can get creative! If you don’t know how to cook Cajun food, you can cook your own main course, as long as its tasty. Or you can look up a ton of recipes and pick the one that sounds most appetizing or easiest. The best thing you should probably do is try to make the meal once before the party so you get a feel of what you’re doing. *Hint: If your family won’t eat it, neither will your friends!

Dessert: You could go many directions with this. Since this is a party and not just a dinner, you could bake cookies and have your guest decorate them. All you need is white icing and colored icing for the faces. Make this a competition and the person with the best cookie-mask gets a price (maybe more beads).

Remember, this was a party thrown for you and your friends to have fun so be sure to Have Fun! Don’t become the sergeant at arms and command everyone to do things. Plans change very fast so be sure to have a back up plan, so don't get upset if your friends aren’t in the mood to decorate the cookies. Let them eat and break out some Taboo or Monopoly instead. The main goal is to make sure your guests have a fabulous time!

Here are a list of popular foods eaten at Mardi Gras and a few sites to get topnotch recipes!