My Very First Dinner Party

Well, I had my very first dinner party, a dance-themed "So You Think You Can Dance" TV-watching party. My mom, a former dance teacher, was in town, so it seemed like a good time to try out my hostessing skills. A few of you will know that I've been planning little parties since about 10th grade, but this was the first time I made all the food! Pressure!

I spent a significant amount of Wednesday night piecing together my homemade "Let's Dance" banner. It didn't look professional by any means, but it looked homespun, which was my intent. I decorated with an old sheet I bought at the Gift and Thrift in Harrisonburg to use as a tablecloth for a party I planned two years ago.

I accessorized with flowers from Trader Joe's, a portrait of my mother in college and a set of porcelain bird shakers.

I tried to give all the food items a dance spin on the menu. This was southwestern "High-kick" pasta salad. We also had "In the Limelight" pepper chicken.

With chips and salsa. Get it? SALSA!

Pink grapefruit soda was rechristened "Ballet Slipper Soda." I also made key lime martinis (and of course, the first one was horrible. My ultimate hostess blunder: I didn't try the first one because I thought it would be impolite to make my drink first. So of course, it was way too tart and strong and by the time I made mine, I had perfected it. Oops).

The handwritten menu. At the very last minute, of course.

And, the piece de resistance — chocolate chili tango cupcakes by Amanda. They were AMAZING and paired quite well with my store-bought lemon pirouettes (get it? PIROUETTES!). I served them on my antique store loot: silver dessert plates!

I think that, drink disasters aside, the party went quite well. Of course, in hindsight, I wish I'd had a spelling bee-themed dinner party, but there's always next year!