38 Things: Throw A Themed Brunch

I chose Valentine's Day this year for a themed party on my list of 38 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 39.  I mostly chose it because of the date: we had not had a party in 3 months and it was a good time for it!  Usually the thought of Valentine's Day makes me gag a little so I decided I needed to really run with the Valentine theme.  So I told everyone that they had to bring food or drink that was either red in color or Valentine themed.  Everyone brought red food. 

I made Bloody Marys.  The key is okra pickles and hot sauce.  Lots of hot sauce.  

Hey, that's one big container of Vodka!  I always buy in the economy size but funny thing is I rarely drink Vodka!  I will have to take the leftovers to someones house as a gift.  But I love the styling on the bottle.

I also made raw, shredded, beet and carrot salad.  I love beets, raw or cooked.

I decorated with the red theme as well.  When I was editing this photo I did a double take because I thought the colors were off.  Nope, right on target for the brightly dyed daisies and carnations.

 It's not a party at my house unless I have some sort of contest or raffle.  I decided on a Haiku contest about love.  The entries could be sweet, snarky, or use one of my mystery words.  The mystery words were just odd words I wrote down on slips of paper.  Random words like "fridge" or "pine tree" or "coffee".   I had two of my tweet ornaments and one of my felted owls as prizes. 

The winning entry by Paul in the sweet category:

Kittens' soft nuzzling

show us great affection

on Love's special day.

My paper garlands that I made especially for the party.  I wrote a tutorial about my success and failures in making these garlands.

My friend Kimberly had her A-game on and brought a lovely Marscapone mold with a cranberry cilantro chutney.  That was SOOOO good.  I am going to have to get the recipe and post it here.  (Hint hint to Kimberly when you read this!)

Everyone did a good job with the red theme.  Besides the beet salad and cranberry chutney we had shrimp and cocktail sauce, flourless chocolate torte with spicy raspberry sauce, pink bacon muffins with a maple bacon glaze, and pizzas of chocolate and carmelized onions, both with strawberries.   We also had sparkling cherry punch and bottles of red wine.

I love themed parties!!  I recommend having one if you want to throw a party but aren't sure what to do.  Pick a holiday, a color, or a cuisine, and have at it!  I once knew a woman that threw alphabet parties.  Everyone had to bring something that started with a certain letter of the alphabet and she was working her way down the line.  Maybe this summer I will have a "Green" party and make everyone bring green food and drinks.  Kale juice, anyone?