OUR SUMMER SOIREE | 2016

Our first annual summer was a success. If you are following me on Snapchat or Instagram then you already saw a few peeks into our weekend, if not I'm going to share today! Fair warning: This will be a picture heavy post. The weather wasn't in our favor for our soiree, but thankfully it did let up a bit that afternoon and we were able to get out and play a few games of cornhole.

I'll start with our drinking station. I wanted to keep our soiree as simple as possible, as well as budget friendly! So we cut out the soft drinks and stuck with the classics. Sweet tea, lemonade and water. I had lemons and limes cut for people to add to their drinks, if desired.

 I picked up some cute yellow washi tape and put on all the cups so people could label their drinks to keep up with. Worked like a charm.

 Yellow bowls can be found at Target.

Next up is our appetizers! I made a loaded baked potato dip and lil smokies. Looking back now I wish I would have just made the loaded baked potato dip. It was gone within minutes of getting it out of the oven.

"Hello Summer" pineapple printable + Pineapple cookie jar

I will be sharing the recipe for this delicious appetizer this week!

Our sides table is next. We had baked beans, cole slaw, and potato chips! I found the cole slaw recipe a few weeks ago, and it turned out pretty good. I'll share that recipe soon, as well.

I posted a picture similar to the one below on Snapchat Friday night as I was getting everything together and immediately I had people asking where I found these wooden platter/utensil holder. Well, I got the from my FIL...for free. For his meetings and networking lunches at work he has a caterer that does all the meals for him, and she uses these wooden platters to serve the food in. At the end of those meetings he is left with all of them so he started bringing them home. We used them at Thanksgiving and Christmas and they are absolutely perfect. He has so many of them that he gave me some to have at our house for parties and I love them! I found scrap pieces of fabric at WalMart for $1 a piece and cut them to fit in some of the wooden platters.

 I found red paper sacks at WalMart and cut them with decorative scissors. Since we were using hot dog baskets I knew it would be hard to have a hot dog and chips in there without them falling through the holes, so I went with this option. It worked great and made for an easy cleanup!

And now for the hot dog bar! I searched everywhere to find what toppings I should have out, and eventually came up with a good amount.

For fun I put these hot dog menus out. I got that idea from Kristen's blog! The mini easels they are on are from Target's dollar section, and I actually borrowed those from a friend at work. They worked out perfectly and now I want some of my own.

I made all of the labels through Picmonkey. Easy + free.

I borrowed the hot dog baskets from my mom. She had a ton left over from my nanny's 50's theme birthday party a few years ago. Again, made for an easy cleanup!

The Hot Dog bar:

- Diced onions

- Green onions (left over from loaded potato dip, just set it out in case anyone wanted it)

- Diced tomatoes

- Shredded lettuce

- Pickle spears 

- Shredded cheese

- Nacho cheese (canned from Walmart, just threw it in the crock pot and left on low)

- Chili (canned from Walmart, just warmed it up on the stove and then set it out right before we ate)

- Ketchup, mustard, mayo, barbecue sauce, and relish 

We ended up just boiling the hot dogs since the rain kept us from grilling them, but they turned out just fine! I did a lot of the prep work (cutting & washing) the night before so all I had to do was pull the toppings out of the refrigerator a few minutes before we ate. The chili and baked beans I threw on the stove about 45 minutes before it was time to eat, just to warm up. I made the cole slaw the night before so the ingredients could be mixed together and it really soak up all the flavor, and I made the desserts the morning of our soiree. If you're looking for an easy an inexpensive way to have a cookout then a hot dog bar is definitely the way to go! I enjoyed being able to visit with everyone a little more instead of having to cook everything up until it was time to eat this time. 

The dessert bar is the last little bit. I made white chocolate and caramel blondies and chocolate chip cookies and my best friend, Kathleen, brought over cheesecake. Yum!

Despite the weather working against us, we still had a great time and enjoyed having everyone over. We are beyond thankful for our group of friends, and love throwing dinner parties with them!

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OUR SUMMER SOIREE | 2016