Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Twilight Party Menu

When hosting a Twilight Party you want to serve food and drinks that relate to the Twilight Saga or the characters in some way. Well that's what I did anyway . . .

A lot of the ideas I came up with simply by going to the store and seeing what was twi-like out there and brainstorming what do the characters like. Well not the Cullens because they don't eat or drink. LOL

Other ideas I can't take credit for the recipes because I found them online during my research. There are so many out there that have hosted great parties and it's great to see what they've done. Use their ideas and tweak them to work for you .I don't remember all the websites that I got them from so sorry but I did say they weren't all mine. :)

The following is the menu with recipes from my Twilight Party I threw last year.

DRINKS

Bella’s Bloody Punch (Non-alcoholic)  - Recipe provided
Edward’s Vampire Wine
Bella’s Red Truck Wine
Jacob’s Creek Wine
Vampire Venom Jell-o Shots - Recipe provided

For the drinks I went to the Total Wine store in my area and walked up and down every aisle getting ideas of twi-like wines. You can only imagine how many there really are out there. I decided to get 3 different kinds one that represented each of the main characters - Edward, Bella & Jacob.


We also had Vampire Venom Shots which were delicious. Since not everyone drinks I also had a non-alcoholic punch called Bella's Bloody Punch. Here is the recipe for both of those drinks.

Bella's Bloody Punch
·        1 (46-ounce) can red punch (I used Hawaiian Punch)
·        1 (46-ounce) can apple juice
·        1 (48-ounce) bottle cranberry juice
·        1 (2-liter) bottle ginger ale

Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl. Add ice and stir. 

(Optional) If you want to Doctor Cullen it up add 4 cups Berry Vodka and 1/2 cup Orange liqueur.

Vampire Venom Shots
·        2 (3 oz) packages Jello (We used 1 strawberry & 1 grape to look red & black and layered them)
·        2 cups boiling water
·        ½ cup cold water
·        2 cups Esme Vodka (Found at Total Wine)


Bring water to a boil and remove from heat. Dissolve the Jello in boiling water, stirring at least 2 minutes until gelatin is dissolved. Add cold water and Esme Vodka. Pour the mixture into shot glasses or paper cups. Let sit in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Repeat the steps again with second flavor Jello and color for the red and black layered effect.


APPETIZERS
Bella Bites - Recipe provided
Edward’s Forbidden Fruit & Cheese
Victoria’s Chips & Salsa (Red & Black)


At the beginning of the party and throughout I had appetizers for my friends to munch on. I put out a platter with cut up apples and cheese which was Edward's Forbidden Fruit and Cheese. I used the bags of pre-sliced apples and sunburst cheese cut outs because I'm all about the quick and easy way.


I also put out a bowl of Chips and Salsa (who doesn't love that) and called it's Victoria's Chips and Salsa. I used the blue tortilla chips because they look black and combine that with red salsa you have a Red & Black appetizer which went along with the theme.


Another fun appetizer we had were Bella Bites which were parmesan and bacon stuffed tomatoes. Those were delicious. They were kinda tedious to make since you have to scoop out all the seeds from the tomatoes but well worth all the work. I recommend making them the night party before your party and putting them in the refrigerator. Here is the recipe for those.


Bella’s Bites - Serves 6-8

·         2 pints cherry tomatoes
·         1 pound bacon
·          3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
·         1/2 cup mayonnaise
·         1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped

Cut bacon into small pieces and fry until crisp. Place fried bacon on a plate lined with paper towels to drain and cool.

Thoroughly wash tomatoes. Slice tomato tops off, scoop out seeds and filling with a small spoon or melon baller.

Place tomatoes upside down on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain for 25 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl add bacon, cheese, mayonnaise and onions. Stir until well blended.

Fill tomatoes with mixture and refrigerate over night. Serve cold.


 DINNER
Mushroom Ravioli
Garlic Knots (doesn’t affect these Vampires)
Cheese Pizza for our favorite Vegetarian lovers the Cullens
Supreme Meat Lovers Pizza for our Volturi Vampires


For the main course I did the easy thing - I ordered out Italiano. I know the party was an excuse to use the kitchen but I wanted to be able to relax and have some vampish fun without worrying about cooking. 

There is this delicious place just around the corner from my house believe it or not in the Bella Villa Shops called Two Meatballs in the Kitchen. It's a family owned restaurant by true Italian and they make the best food.

I ordered a double order of their Mushroom Ravioli which is to die for and Bella's favorite that she ordered on her first date with Edward. I also got garlic knots because who doesn't love those and garlic doesn't effect these vampires because that's just a myth outside of the Twilight world.


I wasn't sure if everyone would like the Mushroom Ravioli (everyone did but I planned just incase) so I ordered some delicious pizzas. Remember Edward took a bite of Bella's pizza one day when they sat together in the lunchroom. :) I ordered two kinds one for our meat loving Volturi vampires and for our beloved Cullens I ordered vegetarian cheese pizza! LOL

I made cute place cards for each dish served for dinner but can you believe I was too hungry to think about taking a picture so sadly I don't have any of the actual dinner. :(

DESSERTS
Charlie’s Mixed Berry Cobbler - Recipe provided
“Choose Your Team” Red Velvet Cupcake

On top of all the food that we had I still served dessert! Charlie's favorite dessert that he has at the diner every Thursday is Berry Cobbler so what party wouldn't be complete with berries on top. Here is the recipe. We served it warm with Cool Whip.


Charlie's Mixed Berry Cobbler
·        4 cup mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries)
·        1 1/2 cup sugar, divided
·        1 stick butter
·        1 cup flour
·        2 tsp. baking powder
·        1/2 tsp. salt
·        3/4 cup milk

Mix berries and 1/2 cup sugar and set aside.

Melt butter in a 9 x 13 glass dish.

Combine all remaining ingredients and mix until lumps are gone.

Pour batter over butter and spoon fruit on top.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Other fruits such as cherries, apples or peaches may be used in place of the berries.

Forgot to get a picture of the Cobbler too. :(


Another fun dessert that I served was one of my favorites! Choose Your Team Cupcakes! They were so cute, fun and easy to make. 

All you have to do is get a box of Red Velvet Cake Mix and make according to the package instructions. I found these awesome black and white baking cups at Michael's Arts and Craft so I used them because they were very Twi!

After the cupcakes cooled, I spread white cream cheese icing on top and decorated them with "E"s and "J"s for Edward and Jacob. I used Black Sparkly icing gel to write the "E"s and Red icing to write the "J"s on top of each cupcake. Place the cupcakes in a cupcake tree and you have a cute and fun dessert.

Menu Notes

There are so many great ideas of drinks, appetizers and desserts out there. These are just some of the ones that I did. 

Did you miss the first blogs about the Twilight Party? Check them out here!



Follow along with me and stay tuned
for more Twilight Party ideas. 
Next blog will be about the decorations!

New Video!

I have been wanting to make a video for awhile now but haven't been able to find the time to sit down and do it. Somehow tonight (or rather last night since it's almost 4:30 am) with a burst of energy and totally wide awake I was able to do it. It helps that I have off tomorrow so I can sleep in. :)

Please watch it and let me know what you think. I hope you like it. It's called "Twilight Infected With Your Love." I made it in HD so it's best to change the pixels to 720p in the lower right hand corner next to the arrows to expand to full screen. :)

Click in the middle of the video so it takes you to YouTube to watch full screen.

Monday, May 16, 2011

THE TWIHARD DIET FUNDRAISER

We're all HUGE fans of the Hillywood Show so The TwiHard Diet has come up with a GREAT idea and is planning a fundraiser for them.


As you all know Breaking Dawn comes out in November and we KNOW they do the parodies and we also KNOW those parodies cost a LOT of money. SO they are doing this fundraiser to raise money for their Breaking Dawn parody!! They are going to put together a scrapbook!


--$5 donation, you get 1/4 of a scrapbook page. With your donation, you need to send in a picture or a note.

--$10 donation: you get 1/2 a page. Like the $5 donation, you send in a note and/or a picture of yourself or your hillywood shirt or whatever.

--$20 donation: you get a FULL PAGE! You may send in multiple pictures or notes or whatnot for the page.

--$30 donation: you get the FULL FRONT AND BACK of a page! Same guidelines apply as the $20 donation.


There is no limit to the amount of pages that can be in the scrapbook. They will make as many scrapbooks needed to include all the pictures, notes etc. so all donations will be included.  Donations can be made by check or cash and sent with your scrapbook items to Admin Brittany Clark 105 Horsetree Place Madison, AL 35757. She must receive all items by January 1, 2012. 

RULES: DO NOT send in anything Vulgar! (They know that you guys wouldn't dare do anything like that anyway, but they're covering all the bases!) If you only send in a donation for a 1/4 page and you send in more stuff than will fit on that page, they will send the leftovers back to you.

The TwiHard Diet will then present the scrapbook to Hilly and Hannah at the Gatlinburg Twilight Getaway in February 2012!!

The Note: It can include why you love the Hillywood Show, how they've impacted your Twilight Experience with their parodies, or just why you love them in general!! Have fun!

If you haven't seen The Hillywood Show: Twilight Parodies yet you need to check them out NOW! They're AWESOME!!! :)






For more details on donating to send in pictures for the Hillywood scrapbook email admin Britt at brittany@balazsy.ne

WE HAVE WINNERS! :)

Here are the winners from the Twilighters Dream Challenge . . .


First Place US Winner - Kyla Cullen from North Carolina
Wins the Team Edward Prize Pack!


Second Place US Winner - Jamie Phelps from Alabama
Wins the Team Jacob Prize Pack!


First Place International Winner - Ashley Masen from Canada
Wins the FREE Vampifyed Photo from Twili-fye




Congratulations to all our winners!!! Also thank you to everyone who submitted an entry! You all found some great pieces of Twilight in your NECK of the woods!


If you didn't have a chance to submit a photo or if you just joined us we have a Challenge Outtakes album that your picture can be added to. Send pictures to twilightersdream@gmail.com.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Let the voting begin!!

In the words of Alice Cullen, "It's time! It's time!"

On May 1st the Twilighters Dream Birthday Challenge began. Fellow Twilighters had 10 days to hunt down and find little pieces of Twilight in their neck of the woods. I must say that we have some twi-tastic finds!


Posted on the Twilighters Dream Facebook Page are two photo albums containing all the photos submitted for entry in the challenge. You will notice that is one album for US entries and one for International entries. Please check out both albums as there will be winners from each.

Voting for your favorite is easy. All you have to do is "LIKE" the photo. Remember this was a challenge for finding a little piece of Twilight in your neck of the woods so all entries reminded them of Twilight in some way. Under each photo I have included the details that they provided when they submitted the photo.

You can "LIKE" as many photos as you want! The photos with the most likes at the end of voting will win. 

There will be two US winners who will win a Team Edward or View BlogTeam Jacob Prize Pack according to what they put in their entry. And the international winner will win a FREE PHOTO Vampifyed edit from Twili-fye!




Voting begins on May 11th and will continue until 11:00am EST on Friday, May 13th. That's Rob's Birthday! The winners will be announced shortly after the voting ends.


Again thank you to everyone who accepted the challenge! I hope you had just as much finding Twilight near you as I did finding Twilight in Florida!

Monday, May 2, 2011

I SAW HIM!

So I'm driving down the road today on my way to the bank, just like any other day, and then the coolest thing happened . . . I saw him! 

There he was on a bike wearing his Twilight colors, Red & Black. It was "Jacob Black". I couldn't resist the temptation so of course I took a picture. LOL

I thought he would be my "perfect" Jacob Black for Twilight in Florida. He's perfect! Only a true Twilighter can see something... anything and related it back to the Saga in some way. 


This is a great example of some fun and clever piece of Twilight that I've challenged YOU to find. The more creative and clever you get, the more fun it is and the bigger chance you will win.

Don't forget you have until 11:59 pm EST on Tuesday, May 10th to email me your pictures for the Twilighters Dream Birthday Challenge. We will begin voting on Wednesday, May 11th!

I hope you have fun searching for Twilight near you and I can't wait to see what you've HUNTED down. :)




Sunday, May 1, 2011

Twilighters Dream Birthday Challenge *PRIZES* Updated 5/4/11

Since this is a birthday challenge I thought it was perfect that the Entertainment Weekly "Breaking Dawn" Magazines were dated with my birthday - Friday, May 6th!


Here are the THREE prizes for the Challenge!

Yes I said it...THREE prizes. I have CHANGED the challenge to INCLUDE international Twilighters. I really felt bad about having the contest for US Twilighters only. My reasons were truly related to the cost of shipping the prizes but I think I came up with a great prize so everyone can play and have a chance to win a prize.

With the change in the contest we will have TWO US Winners and ONE International Winner!

Team Edward Prize Pack - US ONLY
Includes a copy of Entertainment Weekly with Rob & Kristen on the cover, an Eclipse Lenticular cup & Bella's Moonstone Ring!


Team Jacob Prize Pack - US ONLY
Includes a copy of Entertainment Weekly with Taylor on the cover, an Eclipse Lenticular cup & a "Red Wolf" Signature Webkinz plush that looks just like Jacob!


A Vampifyed Photo from Twili-fye - INTERNATIONAL ONLY

One lucky international winner will receive a FREE photo edited by Anna over at Twili-fye! She will make your dreams of becoming a vampire come true. The winner will submit a photo and she will edit it to make you look like a vampire. Her work is AMAZING! Check out her page and pictures so you can get an idea of what she can do. It's awesome!


After the submission period the US picture that receives the most "likes" at the end of the voting will be the first place winner. They receive the prize pack for Team Edward or Team Jacob according to how they answered the "Which Team Are You?" question in their email submission.

The US picture with the second most "likes" at the end of the voting will be the second place winner. They will receive the other prize pack.

The international picture that receives the most "likes" will be the winner of the free vampifyed photo from Twili-fye.

Don't forget to email your pictures by 11:59pm EST on May 10th to twilightersdream@gmail.com. Voting begins on May 11th and will be open for 48 hours.The winners will be announced on Friday, May 13th!