“If You Are Not In Fashion, You are Nobody!”
-Lord Chesterfield
Every year women from around the world pack their bags with Designer Wool Coats, Fancy Scarves, Expensive Boots, and their Fashion Handbook for New York Spring Fashion Week. Fashion Week is known for its exciting Fashion Shows, its wide celebrity attendance, and, of course, the clothes!!! For many of us we just dream of the days when we can clear our work schedules, make enough food to feed the husband for a week, and sell our less-vital organs for a chance to sit along the glamorous runway.
Just because we aren’t there sitting next to Heidi Klum doesn’t mean we can’t use Fashion Week for a reason to get together with our closest girlfriends and have a dinner in honor of Fashion!
Fashion Weeks Annual Girls Night In
Time: Right Around the time of Fashion Week, Preferably on a Weekend Night when Work is not a conflict and your ladies can take time to dress up and go out.
Suggested Event Colors: Pink, Black, and White!
Summary: Invite your girls out for a night of Good Conversation, Great Clothing, and Fabulous Food. A Dinner Party is easy to put together and challenges your creativity. For this event, dinner will follow in a 3-course meal. The First course will be a yummy Green Salad with Fruit, the Second will be Apricot Chicken with Steamed Vegetables (Salmon can be substituted for any vegetarians in the group), and the Final course will consist of Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes. Of Course Delicious Cocktails will be served through the dinner, a Pink Musketeer for your social drinkers and a Non-Alcoholic Fizz for those who prefer not to drink. The night will be filled with Great People, Fun Music, and Conversation.
Hint: Use this event to be charitable. “Have a Used Clothes Drive” for your local Goodwill or Homeless Shelter. Women love going to out when they know they are helping themselves and others.
Invitations: About a week before the dinner send out invitations to your hopeful guests. The invitation sets the stage for the event For this event I recommend a little creativity.
“Hanging Out” Invitations
Needed:
24-guage Metal Wire (Found at your Local Home Depot)
Wire Cutters
Needle Nose Pliers
Cardstock
Scrapbook Paper (That will look good behind the Invitation)
½ inch Width Colored Ribbon
1-Hole Punch
Using Wire Cutters, cut about 5-inces of Metal Wire for each guest invited. Next, use Needle Nose Pliers to form a mini wire hanger out of the Metal Wire. After you have completed the hanger print of invitations on White Cardstock, then mat the invitations on your Designer Scrapbook Paper. After all the cuts and corners have been completed punch a hole in the top left corner of the invitation. Feed 3 inches of Ribbon in the hole and wrap around the neck of the hanger. Finish of with a nice Bow and Done!
Table Set-Up: For dinner you want to set up a room that will remind your guests of a night at a Fashion Show. A Long table strongly reflects a Runway and can help socialization with your guests exceed what it would on a round table.
Pick a Table Cloth that best represents the themed colors of the party, in this case Black. (Plus spilled food doesn’t show)
Run a Pink Table Runner down the center and off the sides of the table. On top of the pink Runner place a White Smaller Table Runner (a mini runway) in the middle. Napkin Linens will be best as white, and if you feel like spending the extra money for Chair Covers I encourage you to get creative and have fun!
For Centerpieces you can do anything from Designer Shoes “walking down the runway” to a classic twist with Mirrors, Candles, and Pink Rose Petals (on sale right after Valentines Day).
During Fashion Week Seats are assigned to the guests and your guests will love finding their Name Cards on the “Runway Table”. Name cards can lay flat or can be folded to stand up, either way is up to your style and unique ideas. For example I am going to use flat cards that can be left on the table, this gives me the opportunity to place a small Chocolate Covered Strawberry at the top left corner of the card.
Fun Napkin Folds can be important to your table setting since dinner will be 3 courses, the table will not be set prior to the event. I like to stick it to a classic fold which can be found (along with many other ideas) at: http://zoomyummy.com/2010/06/01/cute-napkin-fold
Music Playlist: “Girls Night In” calls for playlist after playlist of Girly Dance songs. Some artists I would recommend would be Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, etc. It is also very easy to get online and download Runway Music Remixes that have been used in past Fashion Shows.
Cocktails:
Pink Muskateer
Serves: 2
12 fluid ounces Vodka Kurant 8 ounces Lychees
12 fluid ounces Lemonade 1 cup Strawberries
Pour a whole tin of Lychees (including the syrup) and a punnet of Strawberries into a blender. Add ½ a bottle of Vodka while blending. Pour a glass (¾ full) over Ice and top with Lemonade. Garnish with a spray of Mint.
Non-Alcoholic Fizz
Serves: 2
3 fluid ounces Cranberry Juice 3 fluid ounces Orange Juice
3 fluid ounces Club Soda
Using a Shaker, mix Orange
Note: Best to serve these two drinks in a Clear Glass with a Pink Stir Stick or Pink Straws.
Dinner:
Green Salad With Fruit
Serves: 6
Salad:
5 cups Mixed Lettuce Greens 1 Ripe Pear
1 Sweet Apple ¼ cup Pomegranate Seeds
¼ cup Golden Raisins ¼ cup Sliced Almonds
Dressing:
¼ cup Light Olive Oil ¼ cup Pomegranate Juice
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
½ Teaspoons Salt ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
Combine all ingredients for salad in a large salad bowl, tossing the salad frequently.
Combine all ingredients for the dressing into a blender and blend until dressing becomes a light pink color.
Lightly coat the salad in dressing and serve.
Apricot Chicken
Serves: 6
6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 cup Apricot Preserves
1 ½ (1 ouz) Package of Dry Onion Soup Mix
1 (10 fl.oz) Bottle of Russian Style Salad Dressing
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Place Chicken Pieces in a 4 quart casserole dish.
Mix the Soup Mix, Dressing, and Jam together and pour over Chicken.
Cover dish and bake for 1 hour in preheated oven.
Note: Salmon can be substituted for Vegetarians at the party.
This dish is best served with Steamed Carrots, Peas, Broccoli, and Asparagus.
Dessert:
Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes: 24 cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes:
3 cups All-Purpose Flour 2 cups White Sugar
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 2/3 cup Vegetable Oil
2 cups Water 2 Tablespoons Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Preheat Oven 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mix together Flour, Sugar, Coca, Salt, and Baking Soda. Then, stir in Oil, Water, Vinegar, and Vanilla, until blended. Pour mix into muffin tins until liners are 2/3 full.
Bake for 22 minutes until Cupcake tops are slightly firm. Let cupcakes cool before frosting.
Strawberry Frosting:
¾ cups Fresh Strawberries without Stems 1 cup Unsalted Butter
2 (1 lb) Boxes of Powdered Sugar Couple Splashes of Milk
Mash Strawberries in strainer getting rid of as much juice as possible.
Puree Strawberry Mush in a food processor.
Cream the Butter, add Strawberry Puree and a couple cups of Powdered Sugar at a time, mixing all the ingredients together.
When Frosting is too thick to mix add a splash of Milk. Continue adding Powdered Sugar until it is at the consistency you like.
Note: To add extra sweet goodness to the cupcakes you can add a chocolate covered strawberry to the top.
Favors: To say, “Thank you” to your guests for attending it is best to give favors. Preferably something that signifies the evening that way they remember the fun time they had every time they see it.
Yogurt Face Mask
Makes: 1 Mask
1 Tablespoon Natural Plain Yogurt (Not Low fat or Nonfat)
1 Tablespoon Runny Honey
Combine Mix! Place in small plastic favor jars (you can find at any Dollar Store or Party Supply Store) then send home with your guests!
Write Up:
Thank you for Spending the Night Glaming it up with the Ladies. Here’s a Little Gift to Help You Keep Your Glamorous Self!
Yogurt Face Mask
Leave on for 15 Minutes
Wash face with Steaming Washcloth.
So what if we aren’t the first to know about Marc Jacobs New Dress or Vera Wang’s New Crazy Design? Life isn’t about looking back and regretting, it’s about looking forward and making the best of our situations. So get out there with your girlfriends, have a Fabulous Dinner in that Fabulous Dress, and, maybe, even Give Back to the Community!
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